It’s incredible to think that I’ve been married to this fine lady for 10 years! It has been an incredible journey so far, with so many fun, exciting, challenging, and spiritual moments along the way. I love you Kathryn. Thank you for saying yes!

This year we had a bit of a different anniversary. Suzanne took the kids for two nights and we mixed in some play along with a huge house project getting our beloved red brick house ready to list.

Guys and Dolls play after a fancy dinner the kids wouldn’t have touched!

Working like crazy on the house getting it ready to list…

Golfing at Hobble Creek.

Then a bunch more working on the house getting it ready to list…

Then out to catch a movie, then back to working on the house getting it ready to list…

And finally, done! The photographer came to take pictures and we hopped in the car and headed out to get the kids and then continue on to Idaho for our Moore family reunion.

Lots of fun cousin time!

And hanging out time.

Checking out the last load of wheat from this years grain harvest.

Just in time before a huge rainstorm came through.

Really Great Grandparents getting a love.

Tie dye family photo.

Happy Anniversary Kathryn. I love you!

As part of our Hawker family reunion this year, we planted a flag pole at the cabin.  This was a really neat experience and instilled great feelings of patriotism. It was also great to contribute something lasting to the cabin.

Just a couple days later, I was on a work trip out in the Baltimore Maryland area. After finishing our business, we took an opportunity to visit Fort McHenry where the 15 star and 15 stripe Old Glory was flown and Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Spar Spangled Banner.

Did you know there have been 27 different official US flags?

There is this really great trail up in the mountains behind us called Squaw Peak Trail. It connects Hobble Creek Canyon with Provo Canon and is full of amazing views along an incredibly rocky road. We’ve done this trail several times over the years, and we do the first little section at least once or twice every year as well.

On dirt bikes with James and me in 2010
+Kathryn with the ATV for most of loop in 2012
+ Ashley with the CRV in 2014
+Eliza with Thunder in 2018
+Landon with the Can-am (in 2021)

This time, we borrowed a good friends UTV to make the journey. Although this was probably the dirtiest way to make the drive, it was definitely the fastest and most comfortable vehicle we’ve taken. I’m sure the drought factored into the dust level as well though. Also unfortunate on this drive, we had some really thick smoke in the air that blew in from California and Oregon fires. So, the vistas weren’t quite the same, but we had a lot of fun anyway.

For this trip, we brought the stove up and cooked up some Mountain House dinners and then later grilled our mallows for our smores over the stove flame. Good stuff!

We love these kids. They make life exciting.

Time to clean everyone and everything up. What a great drive!

Here are some throwback pictures.

2012 on the ATV

2014

2018

Going “Jeeping”

Around the time Landon was born, I did a project with girls to create a ready-to-wake clock. The basic premise is that the clock turns green in the morning when it’s okay to wake up. The clock does a lot more than that though. It’s got cool light patterns and engraved acrylic plates that light up complete with pictures of Ashley and Eliza and Minnie and Baby Kitty. Because this has been such a fun thing and a part of the kids life each day, I thought it would be cool to use it to tell them if our new baby would be a boy or girl. I added in a new light routine and countdown timer to the clock for a grand reveal at the 4th of July dinner with the Hawkers up at the cabin and my family on a video call.

I had way too much fun dragging things on telling all about the clock and all the fun things it could do.

We’re so happy to be welcoming a new baby girl to our family later this fall! Ashley and Eliza couldn’t be more happy. Landon doesn’t quite understand yet what this means, but we know he’s going to be a sweet big brother.