Summer is here, no doubt about it. We’ve been having a great time taking the boat out this year. Utah Lake is full, pretty clean, and great for a quick evening trip or a long afternoon outing. One of the kids favorite activities on the lake is to drive the boat. And when they drive, you better watch out and hold on tight!
Ashley and Eliza came with me on a hike up Spring Creek canyon. They did great!
More boating! With Grandpa Ray and Grandma Julie.
We visited Gina and John at their incredible property in Wallsburg. Quite the view..
Father’s Day afternoon at our house. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful father, and with the opportunity to be a father myself to 4 amazing kiddos. Love all you guys.
Mom even got on the crazy cart and took it out for a spin 🙂
More boating! New tube.
Landon did T-ball this year. It was fun to see him hustle.
While I was on a business trip, Kathryn took the family to the Saratoga Springs Temple open house.
This was the sunset over the Great Salt Lake on the way back from the trip.
Puppy time!
Chicken Rex
Happy Independence Day! No better way to celebrate than a fun day at Lagoon with the family. Thanks for coming up Mom and Dad.
Mom on her favorite ride.
And thanks Tim and Suzanne for coming as well! And Ben and Emily.
Crazy how much these kids have grown up over the years coming here.
2017
2018
2019
2020
Fireworks!
Kathryn came with me on a hike up to Big Baldy. She did great! It was a lot of fun to hike with her.
Nicklemania!
So many EGGS!
More boating 🙂
And the first summer squash and zucchini of the year.
We’d been intending to go on a trip to San Diego for a while, and after looking at the crazy summer and all the activities already booked, we decided we had a now or never weekend opportunity to go down. So, in typical K&L fashion, we planned a last minute trip, loaded up the car, and hit the road!
We were tempted to try a night drive and get there in the morning in time for Sea World to open, but we chose the sane option and had a quick stopover in Vegas before hitting the road super early the next morning. Kids always LOVE hotel rooms, that is until the novelty wears off.
Things worked out great and we showed up at Sea World just after opening time. It was a really great day. Some sun, not too hot, not too crowded, and all the rides were open.
Weird shark! Not just an optical illusion, it really did have a funky face.
Stroller party!
Now everyone get in!
The shows were all great, but the Dolphin show is our family favorite. The kids wanted to sit in the splash zone. They got the perfect amount of splash, just a little, but not enough to get them wet. We were sitting up a row higher and it was great.
We stayed at the Best Western on Coronado Island. Great little place, and close to the bay side of the island. We took the ferry across to San Diego and then got on a harbor cruise.
The harbor was loaded with Navy vessels of all sorts. There were even 3 aircraft carriers in port. Very interesting to see up close.
In the afternoon, the sun decided to come out, so we headed to the beach in front of the Hotel Del Coronado.
Sun
Sand
Forts
Hand Stands
Chills
Baby feathers and Mama feathers. hehe
Dodging waves
When it was time to go, the fort was still standing, despite several waves that almost wiped it out.
On Sunday, we found a nice ward in Pointe Loma, and then headed out to the tide pools. They were mediocre, but we did see an octopus and lots of crabs.
We went to the Pointe Loma lighthouse. Navigation has come quite a long ways in the last 100 years.
We made a quick stop at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. It was impressive to see all the straight rows and a flag for Memorial Day fitted at each gravesite.
Next up we went to the USS Midway Museum. What an incredible experience. If I’m ever back in San Diego, I want to plan another 1/2 day to finish looking around. 100% recommend if you’re in the area.
I think we had the best seats in town for dinner. So fun! Both the New England (White) and the Manhattan (Red) clam chowder from Bluewater Grill were top notch.
Last year I went on a Young Men’s campout to the San Rafael Swell area and we hiked Ding and Dang Canyon. (Here is a post on that trip: Ding and Dang Canyon. ) It was one of those places that I really wanted to come back to and bring the family. Sometime this last winter, we were planning out trips and things we wanted to do this summer and this trip was up at the top of the list. Plus, it’s the kind of place that you want to go to in the spring before it gets too hot. We ran the idea past Stan and Kevin, and they were both in for the adventure, and thus the trip was planned.
Campers are something I’ve never experienced, and never really understood. You see them all over the place on the highway, in peoples yards, and in huge lots jut filled with them all for sale. We’ve also seen the Cruise America campers driving around and always been curious about the prospect of renting one. So, we looked into it for this trip. We saw that they had a trailer you could get so we decided to go for it and try it out. In the end, it only cost us $242 bucks. Totally worth it. Flushing toilet and bed, oh yeah.
Here we are, all packed up and ready to roll out in the morning.
Our biggest and littlest explorers all ready to go.
I’ve always just driven through Price, and this time we had time so we decided to stop at the Prehistoric Museum. It was really fun and educational. It was great to learn more about the prehistoric origins of the region and some of the factors that created the amazing geologic features in area.
They also had 1/2 of the museum dedicated to the Native Americans which was interesting to learn more about too.
We then completed our drive down into the swell and to our campsite at Temple Mountain. The area is so named due to this interesting rock feature that looks like a temple on the top of the hill. The scale is difficult to judge, but it’s actually quite large. This was also the site of a small uranium mining village in the 60s.
There is also the Temple Mountain Pictograph that the area is known for. This one has mostly spalled away, but they said the it was originally over 100 feet wide, and 6 feet tall. It was created in different eras, with the earliest additions possibly being 2000 or more years old.
It’s just a really interesting area!
Here is our campsite. It’s just the most incredible little spot nestled up against the rocks on three sides. I was really glad that no one else was here and we were able to get it. This is where we wanted to camp with the Young Men last year, but it was already taken.
Another angle looking up at the backdrop. The kids just absolutely loved this spot due to all the climbing options. Look close and you can see Ashely and Eliza up on the hill. Basically, no spot was left unexplored by the time we left!
Lot’s of fun places to play!
All the kids proved to be remarkable climbers and explorers, but Eliza seemed to enjoy it the very most. She was a delight to hike around with.
We got in lots of fun cousin time on this trip. Zoey is growing up!
The sky was so dark and clear and presented an incredible display of starts and planets. That is Venus that is standing out so brightly.
Cooking a triple batch of pancakes for the hungry crowds!
Goblin Valley. What a bizarre place. I can see how this could transform into a maze of Goblin nightmares if you were here at the wrong time and got lost in the dark. In the daytime, it was quite the playground to explore.
The moms with their kiddos. Moms are tough.
After Goblin Valley, we headed over to the Little Wild Horse slot canyon for the big hike. All told, it was about a 4 mile hike. I was very impressed with the kids!
Mission accomplished.
It wouldn’t be a proper campout without some good late night fire talk. Kathryn thought this log looked like Baby Groot on fire. Two little black eyes and the smiley mouth that would blow fire out of it.
Then we broke down all the logs into this intense bed of coals. This was putting out some intense radiated heat. Felt good.
Kathryn got me this shirt. This last season of the Mandalorian was great if you haven’t seen it yet. These were wildflowers that Landon and Eliza picked.
For our last adventure, we hiked to the Wild Horse Window. This was another really cool feature. So unexpected. Basically a large cave where the center of the roof caved in.
Love this shot of Eliza.
I took the kids and we hiked up on top of the cave.
The kids were sad that we were going to leave and go home. So we baited them with the thought of getting ice cream on the way home which cheered them right up and they started making up hiking songs. So funny.
