Summer Week 7

We had such a fun week with Lori, Cody, and Elena in town! I told my family about Follow The Flag, and they wanted to see it too. We went there on Sunday evening and hiked up to the flag.

We spent a while looking at the flag and listening to it flying in the wind. Grandpa Ham led us in The Pledge of Allegiance before we headed down. 

Everyone came over to our house for dessert and visiting after that.

Based on the sounds coming from the basement all night, I think these girls had a good time! :)

Monday night, we went to the Scera Outdoor Theatre and saw Willy Wonka. It was really cute.

Tessa gave Hallee this dress at her birthday party earlier that day. It was so cute that I bought one for both the girls, so now they have matching dresses. :)

We spent Tuesday afternoon at South Fork with the family. Tessa and Hallee play at their garden every time we go there. They plant seeds that they find, and water them. They were so excited when they went to check on their garden and it was full of flowers. I think half of Tessa knew that the flowers were not because of the seeds they planted, but half of her really wanted to believe that they were. I want her to stay young and innocent for as long as she possibly can, so I was totally fine with her believing in a little magic. :)

The kids all had a great time playing in the river and playing games with their cousins.

The weather was very pleasant up there, so I only spent a little bit of time in the river. The water was too cold for my liking.

Mel told Cody and Jonah that she would give them each a dollar if they stuck their heads in the river. They didn't hesitate and ran right over there! :)

When we were at my parents' house on Wednesday, I noticed my old bike from when I was a teenager hanging in their garage. I asked my dad if anyone uses it and he said that nobody does anymore. So I asked if I could have it. :) Paul was in the neighborhood showing a home the next morning and brought the bike home in his truck. I have had so much fun riding it with the kids every day since then! Tessa and I have gone on a few bike rides around the neighborhood, and I took all the kids to ride around the church parking lot one morning. 

Rockwell and Tessa had fun climbing the tree at the church.

Paul has been ordering a lot of masks for the school year. Tessa loves this one and wears it around the house with her cat ears.

Matt decided to drive back up to Utah Friday after work, and then drive home with Lori and the kids on Sunday. They canceled their flights for Wednesday and stayed for a few more days. We were all so excited to spend more time with them. I got to go up to Sundance with them on Saturday and do the zip line tour. Paul was proctoring the ACT test at the high school, so he wasn't able to come. We were all bummed about that.

It was so beautiful up there! Everywhere you looked, it was just gorgeous.

After we got our gear and safety training, we got to ride the ski lift up the mountain to start the tour. That was peaceful and beautiful, and we got to see deer and Stewart Falls. We all enjoyed that part of the tour.

There were four zip lines, plus a trainer one. After the first one, we rode another ski lift up even higher. The last three zip lines were super long! We carried our own gear in a back pack, and the guides would hook us up on each line. We controlled our own speed by pulling down or up on some handles above our heads. It was different than any other zip line we've done, but it was kind of cool to control our own speed.

The third zip line was really steep and it was hard to stop at the end of it. Elena, Matt, and I all crashed into the springs at the bottom because we didn't slow down soon enough. By the time I tried to slow down, I had my handles all the way up and it didn't really do anything. It didn't hurt at all, we were all laughing when the springs stopped us, but the guides ran over asking if we needed medical help. :)  It was so funny to hear Matt say, "I'm coming in hot!" as he crashed into the springs. Elena and I were still laughing about not being able to stop ourselves, and we thought it was so funny to see Matt do the same thing. It was so fun to do the zip lines in such a beautiful place, and to spend the afternoon with the Ham's!!

We went to Al & Keith's house that night for dessert and visiting.


Matt brought Maizy with him, and the kids were so excited to meet her. Damon thought she was so funny sleeping in the crack of the couch. We're sure going to miss having Matt, Lori, Cody, and Elena here!