Stalagmites,Stalactites, and Caves Oh My!

 We planned a day to have a special outing with just our little family while in Utah, and we decided that because we enjoyed hiking so much we would go to Mount Timpanogos. We didn't even let the website that described the hike as 'strenuous' get in our way. The kids were whining a little bit on this hike, and switchback after switchback I can't blame them, but to climb 1100 feet in 1.5 miles was a big task for these sea level living children. The views were gorgeous and being in the mountains is always a joy when we are back in Utah visiting. Just remind me we need to at least retire somewhere with mountains to climb.

 Taking a little water break, it was hot and it was a lot of up hill, good for the muscles we kept saying!

 Catching up to Dad was our first form of bribery for Mason, then the fruit snacks were pulled out and he was even more willing to hike the hike.

 There were some grumbles and some smiles from this little firecracker. 

 We even helped hold the tunnels up for a moment.

 Still smilin'

I'm not really sure how many bags of fruit snacks Mason went through, but it got him to the top without Mike having to carry him and ruin his back some more, so it was okay in my book.

Tiny spaces to walk through

 The cave was gorgeous inside, and I wish that the pictures could give it justice, but taking pictures in caves is a bit more time consuming than what we had time for. Mason was not a happy camper about more walking, more stairs, and just more moving…and then, they turned out the lights to let us see just how dark it was in there when the discoverers of the cave would have come down. The darkness is a surreal thing, nothing can compare to feeling like you are shut in when you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Mason thought this part was fabulous, he was giggling softly to himself.

Carter standing in front of the "Heart of Timpanogos"

Brennan being such a cool dude in this one

Mason did swindle a couple piggy back rides, but overall he did much better on this hike than the last. 

Taylor and Brennan loved giving us mild heart palpitations by getting as close to the edge of the path as possible. There is no guard, just a big drop off. This made for some fun as we were trying to get them to obey the Ranger’s rules on the way down and just walk—no running, jogging, skipping etc. We just happen to be in a group that had with them a couple special need young adults. When we left the caves we got a small briefing about being safe on the hike down. As we got started back down I loved what one of these young men said, "Did you hear that lady, stay away from the edge, it is danger, danger to the death!" Couldn't have said it better myself!

Love this "Conquering the Mountain" picture of Taylor

Learning about the different types of rock you will find on the mountain

Half way down..the way down goes much faster than the way up.

After Timpanogos we went to Cabella’s, we just HAD to get some new camping treasures(more on those later) and the kids loved the inside of the place with all the stuffed animals. We also were able to meet up with our ‘little brother’ Kirk AKA Elder Kats. These are the moments where I was having too much fun and kept forgetting to take pictures. L All in all it was a wonderful day and one not easily forgotten. 

3rd Weekend of Fun

 We went to BoonDocks with all the Christiansen cousins and had a fun time on the racetrack, on the water tubes and running around in the arcade.

 We had a great time at the splash pad on base, and also at the Roy Aquatic Center. Once again, trying to get pictures of 16 children running around in the pools didn't work out as well as I wanted, but I'm glad we caught a few.

 Cameron in his new swimming attire(Thanks Aunt Mindy!).

 Carter's first time on a diving board! He just jumped right on the high one and then started to get a little daring on the smaller board. I was impressed with his dive--straight as an arrow.

 Landon also got in on the action and these boys spent a good hour--maybe 2 jumping from these boards.

 We had some relaxing time as well trying to keep some of these wee babes out of the sun...that involved some creativity at certain times.

 Mason LOVED the slides! He took some convincing to break away from Dad and come with mom at first, but didn't want to stop going. As these pictures show Dad was a lot more graceful going in the water than Mom was.

 To our surprise we also ran into Wynter and Skye while swimming. Taylor was very happy that she had some extra big people to take her down the slide--older cousins can be pretty useful! :)

 Also someone to catch her--thanks Wynt for doing everything Taylor wanted, she had a great time.

 Dad, Mason, Jace, and Nana wading in the shallow end of the pool. We ended up being there from open to close and everyone was very tired by the end of the day. However, Carter and Dad needed one more jaunt down the drop slide--not Carter's favorite, but he was willing to go again so I could get some pictures!

 Maela decided to just give up and do what each of us really wanted to do ourselves!

First Solids

 Cameron could not wait another second for what he considered a very important milestone in his life, he finally got to have some of that food off a spoon that he sees everyone else eat! Cameron has been our one child that could not get enough of those smashed banana's to start him off with eating solid food. Don't get me wrong if you want to count sampling Dad's ice cream, a random Oreo, or other things Mike decided to give him then this was not his first 'solid food'.