La Jolla

The weekend after Lake Powell, Mark had a triathlon in San Diego. After buying our own kayak this summer, we decided it would be fun to take the kids out in the ocean on the kayak. After our trip to La Jolla last summer, Mark and I thought it would be perfect for our kids. Smooth water and fun things to do. It was a hit! Definitely a good purchase!

We each took turns hopping in, besides Clara, to cool off and see if we could see any fishes. We did see some ghirabaldi fish and lots of sea lions!

We also kayaked through one of the caves and Mark and Tyler swam through one while I sat with Clara.

Some sea lions on the in the cave.

This summer has been such a blast! I don't know if we can ever surpass it!

Lake Powell

Labor Day weekend we went with our friends, the Whitings, to Lake Powell. So much fun! One of the best weekends of the year for sure! We sure are grateful for such good friends! We boated out to a spot on the lake shore to set up camp. Then spent the next 4 days boating and hiking and having a blast!  

Each day there was a short storm that came and went, but left our camp in disarray! Once our tent blew over and the rainfly shredded. By the end of the trip we were pro at quickly putting down chairs, taking down anything that would blow away, and holding on to our tents for dear life. There was always a beautiful rainbow at the end of each storm. This one was particularly awesome! 

I wake boarded for the first time ever this trip. It was all fun and games until I crashed and twisted my knee! Luckily, I could still move around and kneeboard and ski. I just stayed away from the wakeboard. When I got home the doctor told me it was a strained joint and after a few weeks I was all better. 

I think I ended up deleting pictures of me or Mark. From afar its hard to tell who is who. This is me? Or Mark? Either way, it represents us both wake boarding!

Tyler's favorite was the tube or should I say inflatable couch!

The kids and the dads climbed up this huge sand hill. My knee was busted by this point and climbing in the sand hurt way too bad. There's the boat way down there in the water. The kids made it all the way to the top!

We probably used the knee board the most! Everyone could take a turn. Malarie is talking me through a rope switch. 

We did it! We switched sides!

This was Clara's favorite. The ski trainer. It was awesome! 

Once the boat got going the kids could stand up like they were skiing. Clara loved it!

A whole different kind of beauty here at Lake Powell!

With the dads' help Clara and Harlee got to knee board too! The dads held on to the back to keep the boards stable. 

Tyler and Siena had the dads help at first, but once they got going the dads let go and they went around the lake on their own! Tyler loved it until the boat stopped to pull them in and his board flipped over and he couldn't get out of the strap! It was probably one of the most terrifying moments of my life! Watching him struggle while Mark swam as fast as he could to save him!! Luckily, every once in a while he was able to get his mouth above water to suck in some air. Turned out Mark had strapped him in too tight and he couldn't slip out and was too panicked to unstrap himself. After that he was slightly traumatized and didn't enjoy things quite as much. 

Traumatized enough that he didn't want to stand up on the ski trainer.

The next day, we bribed him into getting back on the knee board. We didn't want him to gain a fear of the water so we wanted him to see that it was a fluke accident. We showed him that he had been strapped in too tight and how to slip out with a loser strap. He finally agreed to it if Mark went with him. He doesn't look too thrilled. 

This picture cracks me up! Mark's trying to high five him but he gave him the stone wall. 

Mark and I did duo knee boarding too. 

I'm trying to kiss him!

I had to prove to myself that I could still get up on skis. And after a couple falls, I did! Woo Woo!

Life on the lake! Awww! Paradise!

Lake Powell is bigger than I could fathom! I'm so used to Oregon lakes. Lake Powell is CRAZY huge! To put it in perspective - Detroit Lake, where my family went to boat, is 5 square miles; Lake Powell is 284 square miles! Mind blown! On Sunday we boated to the Rainbow Bridge hike. It took us over 2 hours to get there and that's not even half way down the lake! By the time we got there there was a storm brewing and you don't want to be on the lake during a storm! So we hiked the mile in, took the picture, and hiked the mile back out as quickly as possible so we could get back on the boat and hopefully beat the storm back to the campsite! Luckily we did!

Such a fun fun fun trip!!

First Day of School and Rain

Tyler started kindergarten in August. He was so excited and he's done so well. The teacher loves him and he's learning to read like a champ! He still loves to go and is really thriving in that environment. He's become so much more mature and such a little man. I love this kid! 

Clara also had her first day of preschool. She was so excited to be in Tyler's old class. I can't believe my kids are so old! 

The rain posts never get old. Well there is rumor we are in for an El Nino winter so maybe eventually they will get old. Here's hoping! My kids love the rain and run outside the second it starts. Puddles and jumping on the tramp are the favorite rainy day activities. Tyler also learned how to count to see how far away the storm is. This day it wasn't very close. We've had some terrifying storms lately!

Oregon

Our annual Oregon trip was awesome! I love Oregon in the summer and I love spending time with my family! We split the time in half - a week with my mom and a week with my dad. 

My grandma died in April and they were getting ready to put her house on the market so we paid it one last visit. It was weird to see if empty, but it still smelled like my grandma! I was very, very close to my grandma. The first 5 years of my life I lived right down the lane from her and once we moved away, she came up to Oregon or we went down to California to visit a couple times a year. When I left for BYU she was in SLC on a mission and I spent a lot of time with her my freshmen year. I even got to go with her on a few European trips. Throughout college and into my married years I spoke with her on the phone about once a week. When she moved to Oregon to be closer to her kids I would visit every time we were in Oregon. When she started going down hill it was rough! Luckily, I was able to FaceTime her only a few days before she died and she still knew who I was and who my kids were and I was able to tell her I loved her. She died Easter morning, which was very fitting. She loved her Savior and had one of the strongest testimonies I ever heard! Her funeral was perfect and I was able to sing with my mom and sisters. I have wonderful memories of my grandma and I can't wait to see her again!

Earlier this year my mom and Jim purchased a RV, or as Tyler calls it - a home van. He's been dying to go camping in the home van, so my mom reserved a campsite for the weekend and Tyler got to fulfill his dream. He was SO excited! The campground was only about 30 minutes away, but being Oregon you felt like you were in the middle of the forest and a beautiful forest at that! Seriously - death by nature beauty!

Hanging out at the campfire with grandma and being silly.

After taking a few pictures, we realized that the flash made the reflective strip on the chairs glow so Mark had the idea to make it into a light saber. 

We went on a few hikes during our camping trip. It's seriously Ferngully! Even though I grew up here, I forget how green everything is! And the smell! Awwww! That is what forest is supposed to smell like!

My Oregon daisy princess. She loved picking all the flowers. She had quite the collection by the end of the camping trip!

It rained for a while one of the days so we stayed in the home van. Clara liked to climb up in the front and pretend to drive. 

We also played games like Dino-monopoly (or Dino-onopoly as Tyler called it). Tyler LOOOOOOVED this game and by the end of the trip every one would take off running when Tyler got it out. We started volunteering each other to play in order to avoid being recruited ourselves. NO MORE DINO-MONOPOLY!! 

When we got home from the camping trip Katelyn, cousin Madi, and Melissa came to visit from Washington. We love Madi!

Mark wants to hit as many Oregon waterfalls as he can. This year we visited Wahclella Falls. It was a beautiful hike and waterfall! 

The trail followed a river/creek up to the waterfall.

At first we thought this was the waterfall....nope. Just a little bonus along the way.

Ginormous trees!

The real Wahclella Falls. Oregon perfection!

The hike was a loop. You took one way up to the falls and a different way back to the parking lot. On the way back we found a little cave.

We also found this wall where water was just dripping down the entire surface. Not just a stream, like a wall of water. It's hard to see in the picture. It was so refreshing after the hike up. It was like being in a nice cool sprinkle of rain. 

We also found this snake enjoying the sprinkle.

On the way home we had lunch at Burgerville. Best. shakes. ever. I want one right now! The food is so fresh and amazing! Tyler decided for the first time ever that he actually liked hamburgers after eating here. He kept saying, "This is so delicious!" The great part - in the kid's meals you get a packet of seeds instead of a toy. Oh Oregon - I love you!

For Mark's birthday, my mom and Jim got him a round of golf at this fancy shmancy golf course. Kyle was supposed to go with him, but couldn't get off work to come down, so I got to go. I spent most the time in the cart reading. Not a bad way to spend a morning.

Clara loves the Sophie dog!

The kids first ever sparklers. They aren't legal here, in Apple Valley. The only one who got burned? Me. 

The second half of our trip was with my dad and Sheila and all the sibs. My dad rented a house on the Deschutes River in central Oregon. I'm still trying to convince Mark we should move here. It's just perfect for Mark - outdoorsy, half desert, half forest. I mean what more could you ask for? He says maybe when we retire. Only 30 more years! This was the backyard. The house had a dock and we could jump in whenever we wanted. 

My dad also rented some kayaks. I didn't get any pictures because I was always in the water with no phone! But it was so fun! Heather and I went on a 10 mile kayaking trip and our little family did a nice 3 miler. We had so much fun playing in the water and spending time with my family. My other grandma was there and we got to play lots of games with her. So many good memories! 

GORGEOUS!

We spent the last couple days in Portland before we had to come back home. We had to go to Kruger's Farm before we left! While we were there blueberries and peaches were in season. So Yummy! We love Oregon!