Summer Happenings 2022

August 14, 2022 Larry Moore

I’ll admit I’ve been a little focused on posting about my hiking endeavors. That doesn’t mean that’s all we’ve been up to this summer. Here is a recap of some of the highlights.

Backyard fun with the kiddie pool and slip and slide.

Basically every day playing on the swing set

A Stop at Hill Air Force Base on our way to visit Idaho for the weekend.

Cousin time!

Grandpa Gerald time!

Pool time!

Sunday breakfast with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Gerald.

Monkey time!

Check out this doggie corner! This girl’s dream is about to come true…

Picking out a puppy…

Pickup up a puppy! Welcome to the family Kacho. He is a mini golden doodle.

Showing off to friends

The Fiesta Days rodeo

Popsicles

Costumes

Art and crafts. Check out this person that Landon drew 100% on his own.

Such a cutie

Parades

Backyard glamping and smoores

Sunday cookies

Grandma Suzie visits

Hanna and Sam visits

Adam and Todd visits

Hosting our Romanian girls for the World Folk Fest.

Celebrating 11 years of wonderful marriage to this super kool kat.

Monster Truck Madness!

Laundry madness!

Oh, and what’s that out the back window?? Why yes, that is the Cobalt heading out to the lake.

The Fairy Princess Puff Cloud returns

Wait, who’s driving the boat?

Grandma Suzie!

Knee board throwback

Launching kids and then just chilling out in the lake

Cutest baby ever

Visiting friends and feeding the alpacas

Grocery shopping with Ashley, blowing her mind how much the bill was, and causing her to ponder on the need to get a better paying job than working in the yard.

Necessity is the mother of invention. No more getting off to push Landon.

Bodacious garden

Cooking up 10x worth of pancakes for Kathryn’s backyard violin concert and brunch event.

So proud of Kathryn and the impact she has on all these kids’ lives

Enjoying the left over pancakes with my boy.

Giving Thunder a wash. I almost don’t recognize him now. Kinda like Harry the dirty dog.

One night when Kathryn was out, I looked around at our cute kids, and couldn’t help but grab the camera and document what was going on. And no, life is not always like this, but every once in a while it is, and it’s sweet.

Life is not always easy, especially in the moment, but when you look back, you know it, life is good.

World Folk Fest 2022

August 14, 2022 Larry Moore

It was back in 2017 that we hosted some folks for the Springville World Folk Fest, details here: World Folk Fest 2017. After a few year hiatus, the Folk Fest was back on this year, and we decided to give it another go and be a host family again. This year, we had two Romanian girls stay with us, named Ariana and Antonia. They tagged along with Kathryn and kids for the week. We were impressed by all their costumes. They had a unique one for each of the 5 performances.

Our girls were in the front row, stage right.

It was a lot of fun hosting them and having this splash of culture. We wish these two girls the best! Thanks for visiting.

Half Dome

July 31, 2022 Larry Moore

I had a last minute chance to hop in with some friends from work and head to Yosemite to hike Half Dome. I’ve always wanted to go, and I jumped at the chance. It was a whirlwind trip lasting just 46 hours. We left at 5:30 am Sunday and were back at 3:30 am on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, there was a fire that broke out near Yosemite that blew quite a bit of smoke in the valley. Fortunately, this kept quite a few people away and the crowds were much lower than normal.

Merced river

El Capitan. This was fun to see in person after watching Alex Honnold climb it in Free Solo.

We stayed in Curry Village. These were the type of tents we stayed in. Not too bad.

Monday morning, start of the hike. The moon was rising over Half Dome.

This was the most manicured trail I’ve ever seen. Where else do you have granite steps like this. And it was like this for a lot of the way!

Vernal Falls

Nevada Falls

There it is! Half Dome.

The cables!

I took a careful look over the edge at the 1800 foot cliff and 4000 foot drop off to the valley floor. I think the picture makes me more woozy than actually being there.

On the visor. Again, approached with extreme caution.

Nevada falls from the John Muir tail side on the way down.

Then the long drive back home. What an awesome trip! Thank you Kathryn for you support and letting me go on this great adventure.

Seven Peaks

July 31, 2022 Larry Moore

Hiking started for me in 2019 when I got an invite to hike Mt Whitney with some friends from work. Mt Whitney is a serious hike, reaching an elevation of 14,500 feet and clocking in at 22 miles round trip with 7000 feet of total ascent. Needless to say, that is a hike you need to be prepared for. Lucky for me, we are surrounded by incredible mountains here in Utah. The first serious training hike I tackled was Spanish Fork Peak. That hike was the start of something wonderful. Maybe it’s the definitive nature of the hike that I love. There is the incredibly push up the mountain, requiring immense physical effort. There is the clear goal of the summit, always pulling you forward and upwards. There is the feeling of accomplishment as you reach the summit and marvel at the great distance and elevation you have covered to arrive there. The views are incredible, and pictures just never do it justice. Then there is the long decent, less strenuous but also physically demanding. The clear goal now to return to the car and finish the hike. Once you get back to the car, there is the feeling of relief and pride knowing that you have bagged another peak. There’s just something wonderfully satisfying about this process. Every day as I look up at those mountains all around me, I love thinking “I’ve been there.”

So, here are the Wasatch Seven Peaks, in the order that I hiked them.

Spanish Fork Peak

August 2019