Life Lately

Rockwell went to a basketball camp at Timpanogos High School. He had a lot of fun.

Every day the coaches would ask a few questions, and whoever answered correctly got to shoot a basket. If they made the basket, they got a prize. Rockwell was so excited when he won a t-shirt on the 3rd day.

He got to shoot again on the last day because a coach saw Rockwell cleaning up an activity they had done without being asked. He called Rockwell the Good Samaritan and told him he could shoot one more time. Rock tried for a 3 pointer because he wanted a sweatshirt, but he missed. We're very proud of Rockwell for choosing to be like the Good Samaritan in his life. He's always been very good at living that way.

Tessa went to Kid's Camp at her friend Bryce's house again this summer. They did a lot of fun activities and she loved seeing some of her friends every day.


Damon had a preschool activity at Miss Roxi's house. She does these throughout the summer so the kids can meet her and get acquainted with her house. Damon wanted me to stay, so I sat on the deck and watched. He participated and had a lot of fun.



My mom came to visit a few weeks ago and spend some time with the kids. They showed her how they ride their bikes, she pushed them on the swings, and we all went to Subway for lunch. It was fun to spend the day with her.




Tessa and I had a fun girls day going to see Ataiya in Frozen Jr, and Amarie's dance recital.

We went with Al, Caitlyn, and Hallee, which made it that much more fun.

Ataiya did such a great job! I love watching her on stage. Tessa and Hallee loved meeting Elsa and Anna after the show too.

Amarie did such a great job too! She's a beautiful dancer. On the way home Tessa said she wants to be a real ballerina, like Amarie.


We had fun celebrating Paul and the wonderful man that he is on Father's Day.

We sure appreciate how hard he works to support our family. I love that he sees the good in me.
Rockwell loves that Dad wrestles with him.

Tessa loves that Dad plays with her.

Damon loves that Dad calls him Pickle. :)

He was excited about his presents.

We all enjoyed the Dad Jokes book. :)
  
  
My personal favorite joke was, What does a tropical fruit wear to the beach?... A bikiwi. Ha! :)
We let Paul have a peaceful, restful afternoon. I took the kids up Provo Canyon and we hiked a small trail in Big Springs Park.

The trail wasn't anything amazing, but it was very beautiful at the top!

Family Vacay Day #1

We like to do a family vacation every summer, but didn't feel like we had great options for a trip this summer. So we decided to stay local, and do Family Vacay Days every now and then throughout the summer. Instead of spending money on hotels or houses to rent, we're going to use that money to do fun things around here. We had our first Vacay Day on Friday. We started off by hiking to Stewart Falls in Sundance. 

There was a little bit of everything on the trail. There were some very muddy spots.

There had been a couple avalanches, so there were trees knocked down for large portions of the trail. We climbed over, under, and around them. There was also a part where we had to walk through the snow.

There were some very beautiful views!

There were parts along the way where we could hear the waterfall. Damon was so cute when he would put his hand to his ear and ask us all if we could hear the waterfall. :)

It's two miles to get to the waterfall, and the kids did awesome getting there! 

But things fell apart when we were actually at the waterfall. There was a strong spray and the water was really freezing. Tessa and Damon didn't like that one bit.

Rockwell wanted to explore a little, so Paul took him to do that.

We went back up further to get away from the water spray and have some snacks.

It was very bright. And an ant crawled on Damon's leg, which made Rock and Tess freak out on his behalf, which made Damon freak out that they were freaking out. They all just wanted to leave at that point. So we headed back, carrying the little two. After they were far enough removed from the waterfall and the ant, they were fine to hike the rest of the way. :)

After the hike, we had some lunch and then went to the theatre and saw Secret Life of Pets 2. 

We had dinner at Costa Vida and then loaded the kids and their bikes into the back of the truck and went to the church parking lot.

The kids love riding there because they have so much space and don't have to worry about cars.

It was a great Family Vacay Day!!!

Bridal Veil Falls and the Hot Tub

The kids and I decided to hike up to Bridal Veil Falls one morning. 

We made sure to bring water shoes, so our feet didn't hurt so bad this time.

It was pretty chilly up in the canyon. We all thought the hot tub sounded like a great idea when we got home.

We've had a lot of fun with the hot tub this week. There have been some cold days, so it's been perfect on those days.

The kids last much longer than I do in the water. I love to sit out on the deck and read while they keep swimming.

Battlecreek Falls

I took the kids to Nielson's Grove to feed the ducks and play at the park last week.

While we were there, Al asked if we wanted to try a new hike with her. So after the park, we hiked to Battlecreek Falls in Pleasant Grove. There were a lot of little paths that Rockwell and Wyatt loved to wander off and see how high they could climb.

Tessa and Hallee were so cute.

Whenever someone would walk past us, they would tip their hats to them and say, "Greetings." :)

There was a fun bridge.

A few good places to throw rocks in the river.

And a little cave that the kids liked to climb into.

The waterfall was beautiful.

It was very rocky, and very painful to walk without shoes on. Tessa and Rockwell didn't let it bother them too much and made it up to the falls. Damon wanted to be carried, and so I made it as far as I could before my feet had had enough.

It did feel good to get a little wet and feel refreshed for the hike back down. 

The view from the top was beautiful!