School picture day success!

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.

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.

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.