Fourth of July

 Grandpa's really cool, really big flag

 Luke like being tossed in the pool by his big cousins

We spent the fourth of July at my sister Liz's house with all my Utah siblings and their families.  We had a great BBQ and enjoyed swimming in the pool.  Grandpa fired off his candy canyon, much to all the little kids' delight (and all the teenagers').  Unfortunately, Draper had their fireworks show on Saturday instead of on the actual fourth, so I took my kids home thinking we wouldn't see any.  However, Utah just passed a law allowing arial fireworks, so when we got to Grandma's we saw fireworks going off all over the valley.  They kids ran around my mom's neighborhood looking at different patches of sky with fireworks.  Our favorite were the ones just going off behind the angel Moroni on the River Jordan temple. 

Boating

While in Utah, my sister Liz and fam took us boating on Utah Lake.  My kids had a blast on the tube and trying out the surf board.  One of my absolute favorite things in life is sitting in the very front of a fast boat and feeling the spray.  Ahh...utter relaxation.

Bryce Canyon

We hiked straight down steep switchbacks to walk among the towering rocks in Bryce Canyon.  My favorite part of the hike was on Wall Street where the switchbacks were small, went straight up, but the walls were close to you on all sides.  This was our last stop before heading to my mom's.  The kids hiked twenty miles on our southern park tour--I really can't believe Luke made it.  After hiking around the park, we took the kids to a rock shop.  I loved rock shops as a kid and I discovered--I still do!  I bought two necklaces and it was hilarious watching the kids take forty minutes to decide which treasure to buy and take home.  Luke went through like twenty different things.  All in all, a very fun trip.  Matt and I have been talking about doing this for more than seven years. 

Capital Reef

We hiked the Grand Wash in Capital Reef and to Hickman Bridge.  The kids went to a geography/erosion class in the park, we drove the scenic loop, and ended the day looking at petroglyphs.

Goblin Valley

We spent an afternoon hopping hoodoos in Goblin Valley with Matt's Aunt Katie.

Arches

We began our summer roadtrip by driving to Arches National park.  We shared a cabin and beds with a pack of mice, but spent our days hiking around the arches.  This was my favorite stop of the trip.  The kids hiked ten miles in two days and I'm amazed at how much Paul has grown the past year.  He didn't slow down or complain on any hike this year.  Luke needed a little prodding and dragging and Jarom loved hanging around in the backpack.  Elyse--we couldn't keep her from climbing on every rock in sight.

Pillows

Before we left for our trip, we finished a couple more projects.  I made a couple pillows for my music room and Elyse brought hers with her on our roadtrip.