Florida Getaway

Kathryn and I were able to take a belated anniversary trip to Florida. First off, a huge thanks to Suzanne and Tim for making this possible! Since this was apparently a theme park year, we wanted to cross off a couple more things from our list. Namely, since I went on a work trip back in 2014 to Universal Studios and saw Harry Potter world, I’ve wanted to take Kathryn there. Also, I’ve wanted to go see the Star Wars rides at Disney. So, we pulled it off. Here are some of the highlights from the vacation/trip.

Fish tacos at The Cheesecake Factory. Yum.

Hanging out at the hotel.

The Adventure Begins at Universal Studios…

Hulk coaster. Awesome.

Lots of old comic book and cartoon themed Marvel rides.

Welcome to Hogsmeade!

Butterbeer.

Hogwarts Castle.

Late lunch at the Three Broomsticks while it rained outside.

What a cool building.

It’s true.

Next day at Disney Hollywood Studios on the Millennium Falcon.

Honey, I shrunk the kids!

For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. This was one of my favorite shows. Lots of little jabs worked in, and a nice relaxing place to sit. I love it when Disney makes fun of itself.

Potatoland nightmare from one of the Mickey Mouse movies.

The big Stars Rise of the Rebellion ride. Very impressive.

We worked in a work trip meeting in Tampa, then had just enough time to make a quick stop at Clearwater beach and get another Grouper Sandwich from Frenchies and dip our toes in the water. Wish we could have stayed a lot longer there.

That’s just a small sampling. Kathryn and I had a blast together. It was so fun to act like “kids” again and just run around and do whatever we wanted without worrying about naps and strollers, etc. etc. Thanks for the fun trip Kathryn, and thanks again Suzanne for running the show at home.

And if you’re wondering, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure won the prize for this trip. Favorite Ride: Jurassic World VelociCoaster. Runner Up: probably Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

Late Summer Happenings 2022

It’s back to school time already. Here are the girls on their first days of 3rd and 1st grade.

And Landon started preschool too!

I hiked some more mountains. Here is Timp:

And Lone Peak:

Very large hat.

Josie, Jimmy, and family came to visit us and we got to celebrate Laura’s birthday with them.

In spite of stormy weather, we made it to Splash Summit and we got the boat out too. The weather didn’t look to bad down in the valley, but it was pouring rain up in Heber. We headed over to Strawberry Reservoir and had a window to put the boat in and get some runs in before we were rushed off the lake by more rain and lightning.

Freezer corn assembly line. So much less mess doing it outside!

“Walking the dog”

Homemade pesto pizza. Pesto made with basil from the garden. So delicious!

Washing the dishes.

Weekend visit to Idaho.

Early birthday party for Eliza!

Kid sponsored concert and dance party!

Eliza’s birthday morning.

Cupcakes for the chicken themed friend birthday party.

We might need to put this girl in softball. She really wacked the piñata hard.

Seven years old. Crazy.