Bells Canyon Hike

One of the things that I've felt for the past few years is that we waste living in Utah with our kids.  Granted we've had babies for a lot of years and that complicates things, but now we're just letting sport and work and school and busy schedules get in the way so this summer I was determined to do more.  First up:  more local hikes.  

We literally live within a 5-20 minute drive of hundreds of amazing short, long, easy, difficult, fun hikes to rivers, lakes, waterfalls, over looks, and mountain peaks.  

To start us out- let's explore Bells Canyon.

The reservoir was steep to get up to and then there wasn't much space for the kids to play around it- no beaches.

So we ate a snack and headed up to the falls.  A much longer hike but very worthwhile.

Now we know, this is not the hike for playing.  Not much space at the falls to play in plus lots of cold snow-melt spray.  Ethan refused to even come close so I let him take our picture.  Isaac cried the whole time that he was freezing!  It felt good after the climb up and then steep descent.

The boys made up a sort of bowling game on the way down which was fine as long as we weren't running into other people.  Pick a rock, throw it down the trail and see where it stops.  Not my cup of tea, but they were very entertained the whole way down.

And of course a quick stop to throw rocks in the river was needed.

A little bouldering fun when we find them.

I left Isla home with Taylor on this hike since I knew it would be too much for her and since he needed to get work done.  Fun to be enjoying Utah with my boys though.

Random June

Ahh, June was a good month.  The end of Isaac's 1st year of cub scouts- roasting s'mores and doing a presentation of what they learned.  

Eating out with dad after a long two week car trip without him.  We certainly missed this silly, fun, loving daddy.

Not sure what this is, but I couldn't pass up taking the picture.

Snuggles with daddy who missed us just as much as we missed him.

Playing with cousin Ezra and Stella.

Teaching Ezi how to vacuum.

Hikes, hikes, and more hikes.

We live in the best neighborhood, a 10 minute walk to get into the mountains and then in less than an hour up this high with this beautiful view and amazing friends to share it with.

A short visit from Jessica and her kids.  Teaching Darcy how to scooter.  Anyone noticing a pattern?  Isaac is a natural mother and it is so nice to have him in our family.

Teaching Darcy with Kahn Academy.

Walks with the cousins to get snowcones.

And zoo trips with the cousins.

Movies with grandma Tina, grandpa great and the Woodbury cousins.

Swim lessons!!!  This little girl is a fish.  She LOVES her lessons and is fearless.

Hanging with friends at the pool.

Real soccer games with dad's work.

Playing in the fake sand with Darcy.

Hill Air Force Base Air Show

Who knew this show was so cool?  Taylor's been working on projects at Hill Air Force base the past year or so and he wanted to go check this out so we took my grandpa, an Air Force Vet and headed up.  

Lots of military vehicles to explore which the kids would have done all day long.  

They were somewhat impressed with the air show but Taylor and I could have watched all day.

We did not come prepared and will do a better job in two years- chairs, umbrellas for shade, food, and lots more water.