Snowbird

Today we headed up to Snowbird Resort to ride the tram and lift.  My little travel companions are always up for "an adventure" and were eager to go somewhere new.

Riding the large tram up the mountain.  Cameron was super excited.

You can tell by her face, Kenzie was excited yet slightly concerned at the same time.  The ride was relatively smooth, but at times the tram would tip one way or the other and that felt quite disconcerting to our stomachs. 

Parker was in awe.  "Wow, look at that scenery!  This is awesome!"  He didn't stop commenting the entire ride up.

Atop Hidden Peak.  Elevation of 11,000 feet.

The boys immediately put their sweaters on, but I personally thought 60 degrees felt wonderful after roasting in the valley below all summer.

We wanted to take the chair lift back down the hill for a different experience.  The website listed an, "Easy trail," between where the tram drops off and where the lift is.  Apparently I have a different interpretation of "easy" from other people.  It was steep.  I even asked a worker if the path was right before we headed out, because as I looked out it sure seemed like the path went straight down the mountain.  Ack.

I thought this was cute.  Kenzers had taken it with her phone.

Way up top you can see another tram coming in.  That is where we started and we hiked the steep switchbacks down to where the lift is.  At least I did it right and we started at the top and walked down.  Even though I hate the feeling of slipping on gravel down steep hills, I cannot imagine the kids would have enjoyed hiking up.

There was a tunnel to walk through the mountain.  Kind of novel I guess.

Then we rode the Peruvian chair lift back down the mountain.  I worried this would seem scarier than the enclosed tram, but actually this was far smoother and didn't tip and sway like the tram.  

The kids all liked this.  We enjoyed views of small streams, patches of ice and snow still, and lots of pretty trees and wildflowers.  Not too many people were riding the lift, either, so it wasn't awkward passing a bunch of other people coming the other way.  Aside from Parker and Cameron both chattering non-stop, it was peaceful. 

 I thought this was funny - there was a bit of a breeze!  I thought it felt great, but the kids were glad we'd brought sweaters.  After we reached the bottom of the mountain we were amazed to look way back up at how far we'd come.  It was a little more of an "adventure" than I had expected, but we made it!

Temple Square

 This morning I had an internal debate with myself on how to balance all the boring stuff that needs to get done (laundry, errands, work, being out of milk and fabric softener) with the fact that summer vacation is whizzing by and over half over already.  Obviously hanging out with the kids won out this morning.  We only spent 2 hours total (5 more minutes and we would've had to pay for parking - Parker was really impressed by our timing) but it was nice.  Thunderstorms were building, too, so it actually wasn't miserably hot like it's been.  

 I do enjoy visiting Temple Square around Christmas to see the lights, but it's always such a zoo.  Sometimes it's so nice to visit on a random Wednesday morning and actually find it peaceful there.  

 Parker with the Christus.

 These are some of my favorite people right here!

 As always, a glowing screen captivated them and they had to sit and watch a video explaining the Book of Mormon at the Visitor's Center.

 Kenzie really wanted to go see the fountain.  I love Cameron's face here.  He was starting to get tired of walking, so we headed to lunch. 

He perked right back up then!  He was super excited to have some chicken at the Lion House Pantry.

 I ordered 3 kids meals and 1 adult meal, and then Kenzie and I switched.  She ate the adult meal and I had some chicken strips.  Growing kids are fun to feed! 

Walking around on our way back.  We stopped in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building only briefly, because I know Kenzers is a sucker for a chandelier.  Sure enough, she was very excited and took several pictures. 

Parker wanted to take a picture, so here we are.  We bought milk on the way home and will have to run some errands tomorrow instead, but I'm glad we spent some time hanging out this morning.  The kids all said they had fun, so it will be worth folding laundry later than usual tonight!

Floats

Today we briefly walked through the Expo Center to see the parade floats, like we usually do every year.  Kenzie really liked the little baby cougar on the BYU float, so we took a picture.  Cameron is going, "Oh, it's so cute!" in a silly way.  Other people were chuckling at him (which is a common thing with that kid).  

Music for a Summer Evening

We finally made it to the Conference Center together!  For several years now, we have tried to watch something together in the Conference Center, and something always comes up, we can't get tickets, or someone gets sick.  Anyways, we finally made it last night to the Pioneer Day concert that featured Alex Boye.  Since we were dressed up, we even went to dinner at Gourmandise instead of grabbing a hamburger like we probably would have done otherwise (we're a fancy bunch!).  Kenzers was watching the boys (they had TV dinners and watched movies and thought it was a terrific evening), so I checked in with her by sending her this picture of us.  She immediately responded with her own selfie:

Goofy kid.  She made us laugh.  We bought her a chocolate filled croissant from Gourmandise as her payment, and she was thrilled.  Not a bad deal for either of us!

Bowling

We finally made it bowling today!  Three different times this summer we have said, "Let's go bowling tomorrow," and then each time someone felt sick the next day.  This time I outsmarted fate by not saying anything until about 20 minutes before we left.  

 Check out Parker's form!  He kind of cracks me up with how he holds the ball.  He's so scrawny he can barely heft the 9 pound ball, but all the 7 pounders are bright pink!

 

They had a good system going - Kenzie aligned the ramp for Cameron and Parker brought the ball over.  Cameron just gave it a push and then cheered for himself.  Whatever works!

O.W.L. Camp

We just returned from picking Kenzers up from O.W.L. Camp.  This Harry Potter camp (O.W.L. meaning Outstanding Wizarding Levels) was held at the West Jordan Library and Kenzie was pretty impressed.  She had to enter into a lottery system to even be accepted, and when her fancy acceptance letter came in the mail back in June she was beyond giddy.  This morning she packed her wand, a Harry Potter book, and some snacks in her bag and off she went.  She is sampling some butterbeer in the picture, but besides that I did not understand a single thing she did (I haven't read the books or even made it all the way through any of the movies).  It was easily one of the things she was most anticipating this summer, though, so I'm glad it didn't disappoint!

Casey's Wedding

Here's Mr. and Mrs. Casey & Christina Branham!

 My cute Cameron waiting outside before we took a few pictures.  He told me before we left, "Weddings are boring!" but he was still very good and pretty quiet for the ceremony.

 Parker had accidentally left his new Rubik's cube in the backseat of Uncle David's rental car the other day, so he was happy to get it back and held on to it at the reception (except for when the rest of us "helped").

 Kenzie insisted she had to take a picture of the cake.  Parker could not be convinced it was real, and kept asking why there was a fake cake.

 I hadn't seen my cousin, Ashlee, on the left there in a long, long time.  I told her, "The last time I saw you we played Barbies!"  (although in full disclosure, I am several years older so I remember it being boring!)  It was fun to get to see family members I hadn't visited with in years.  (Side note: since when can Kenzie block even part of my face in a picture when she's wearing flats?)

 Me with my cousin, Casey.  I still picture him as about 7 years old, even though I did see him a few years ago.  Kind of weird how we all keep getting older...  Anyways, congratulations to him and his bride!

Uncle David's Visit

A goofy picture of a goofy bunch of people!

 On the 4th, my Uncle David, Aunt Laurie, and her mom, Judy, flew in for my cousin's wedding on Friday.  We were able to spend a few hours visiting before the rest of their week was taken up with wedding preparations.  We went to dinner at The Pie and then the kids ran around in the sweltering heat of the backyard with Uncle David for a bit.

This one made me laugh of in-action frisbee-throwing Parker.  He had a great time.

 Kenzie is extra giggly in these pictures because they all got hot and tired at one point, so she flopped down on the grass while playing soccer.  Her great uncle offered to go get her some water, and as he left, Kenzie popped back up and scored a goal, yelling, "You didn't call time out!"  They both laughed and laughed about that the rest of the evening.  Cameron even yelled, "Dead dog!" when she jumped up, making it even funnier and giving a name to the fake-out.  

They all got along pretty well, which was fun.  

Here are some pictures of all of us using the camera's timer.  I was impressed everyone was actually looking for both attempts!

Payson Lakes Day 2

 Cameron starting his day off with some donuts and chocolate milk.  I liked that he was still in his pajamas but had put his little backpack on.  It was filled with toys and he and Parker actually did a pretty good job entertaining themselves.

 Most of the squirrels were tiny and timid, but this bigger one was very happy Kenzie had dropped some of her hash browns.  We pretended he was asking for some of the donuts, though, with the way he kept coming out and looking at us like this. 

 Later we tried to take the "hike" around the lake.  It was flat and there were little boardwalks over the streams.  Cameron was tired and would have none of that.  He whined to be carried before we had even gone 10 steps.  Here Kenzie and Parker are pretending to be exhausted as well.  Usually being goofy perks Cameron up a bit, but even that didn't work!

What did work, however, was stopping to throw rocks!  Cameron suddenly had all the energy he had been lacking mere moments before.

 We still didn't make it too far around the lake, but Cameron was willing to walk to the next spot to throw more rocks at least.   

 Later that night hanging out by the fire.  Parker started telling us a very intricate story about a dream he had based on video games.  It went on for an amazingly long time!

 This goofy kid was so filthy that I thought he had a black eye!  It turned out to just be a smudge of dirt.  I really had to wipe him down before he got ready for bed.  

He had worn himself out!  I told him once I helped Parker get cleaned up I would help him into his sleeping bag, but he didn't wait and told me, "I got myself all situated!"  He was out in no time at all!  The next morning we just packed up and headed back.  Another fun little weekend that wore us out thoroughly!