Red Castle Lakes

 School started and life has been exhausting. We have to wear masks. They aren't horrible just annoying.

We started teacher meetings August 14th. We had two very long days of meetings. Friday after a long day of meetings Amber and I headed out for a quick backpacking trip. I was exhausted and questioning all my life choices Friday before we left, but I had a great time and in the end I recovered and was fine before school started. 

We got into the China Meadows Trailhead close to 8pm and started hiking. We hiked for one hour before stopping for the night. It was dark and cold when we stopped. We ended up having a very cold night in the high Uintas. I should have stolen Moki's blanket but it just didn't seem right!?

Saturday we hiked 14 miles round trip to Red Castle Lake. There is not very much elevation gain and we just had day hikes so we hiked pretty fast. It was really hot in the day time despite how cold it had been at night. It was a nice day and not too crowded on the trail.

You are in the forest for a lot of the hike. It is always great when you get the first views of your destination. 

 

 

 We hiked up to the lower lake and spent sometime on the shore.

 Moki laid in the water for a bit it was so funny. then she swam and ran around. Amber and I put our feet in the water. It felt great! 

Amber and I managed to get one picture togather as we were leaving the lake. We have not been great at this recently:(

We got back to camp pretty early. We realized we had a long time before dark. We discussed are options and realized we definitely had enough time to get home on Saturday night. All of a sudden sleeping in our own beds at home sounded amazing. We decided to pack up and hike the last three miles out to our car. We ended up hiking those three miles pretty fast and getting to our car in just over an hour. It was a little crazy but awesome. I got my camera out for the hike back to the car.

Oh I forgot to mention Moki did not want to hike anymore:) After our 14 miles she crashed in the shade by a tree. When it was time to go she looked at my like I was crazy and literally just kept laying there. She did not even move a little muscle when I said it was time to go. It was seriously the funniest thing. Finally on the third time asking her to get up she complied. She was hot and tired, however 5 minutes later she was chasing a squirrel. She is crazy. She looks so cute with her backpack on!

It was a really nice evening on the hike out. The temperature dropped and it was quite enjoyable.

It is always good to start to see the big signs. Then you know you are getting close to the cars!

We stopped and had dinner in Evanston and then drove home. We got home around 10:30. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed. I dumped all my stuff in the guest room, shut the door and left it for a week. I didn't clean it up until the following weekend. Life is like that sometimes. I was also glad we got home Saturday because I had in person church on Sunday and it was nice to be able to attend. I slept all afternoon Sunday. My legs were pretty tired. 17 miles is a lot even with very little elevation. I did sleep too much though. I could not fall asleep Sunday night. I should not have made that mistake but at the time it felt so good. I am glad we snuck in this little backpacking trip.

One Last Hurrah!

 At the beginning of summer my cousin Melissa invited my cousin Katie and I to come to Logan to play. The only time that worked for all three of our schedules was the last three days of summer. Katie and I headed to Cache Valley Monday evening. Melissa and her family live in Hyrum. Luckily Moki could come. We got there an hour before the sun was going down and we finished the evening with a really nice walk.

Tuesday Melissa, Regan, Moki and I went on a little hike close to their home. they live in such a beautiful area. I was in love. I am missing the small town feel more and more. They live at the mouth of the canyon and so they had easy access to all my favorite recreation!

We spent the majority of the afternoon at Porcupine Dam. It was a cute little reservoir where we paddleboarded. The water was beautiful and a great temperature. It was really fun.

Moki chilling at the lake.

The only picture I have of the water.

 That evening I went on an awesome 28 mile bike ride. I rode through lots of little towns on fun country roads. I love Cache Valley. I have biked there for Little Red many times and have always loved it!

Wednesday Melissa and I started the morning with another hike. Moki joined us.

We spent the afternoon at Bear Lake. We started at the ropes course where Emery works. 

  

Melissa and I did the swing. It was pretty fun!

We had lunch down by the lake and then went and checked out the lake.

We then headed back to Melissa's and Katie and I headed home. I started work the next day and was feeling like I needed to get home and get prepared. It was a fun little getaway right at the end of summer.

Me and Sam's Kids

 At the beginning of summer Sam asked if I could take their kids the weekend of Amanda's birthday so they could get away. I said yes. I was glad to have them. They never ask and I sure love those kids. I was excited for the adventure and some quality time with them.

I spent the night before at Dan's house. This worked out because I woke up and went on a very early morning bike ride before I picked up the kids. I figured I better get my exercise in while I can!

 I picked them up at their house on July 31st, Amanda's birthday. I picked them up because I wanted to use their van. It is so much easier to have a van with three kids. It was great!

The first thing we did is meet up with Hannah and swim at her Aunts house. Her aunt has an awesome pool and because of corona virus none of us had really swam in a pool all summer. We had so much fun. It helped that it was almost 100 degrees at 10am.

 Audrey was in such a good mood. It was the happiest I had ever seen her. She was having so much fun!

Moki swam so much. She was in heaven. She is a great swimmer but isn't always super excited. This day she was in the water the entire time. Maybe it was the heat?

All three kids played so hard. Hannah's aunt also has a playground and so the kids did that as well. It was fun to have a space of our own to swim and play for a few hours. We left when we were all starving. We picked up Little Caesars and headed back to my place. We chilled in the afternoon because it was soooooo hot. The kids watched a movie and I napped. After dinner we ventured out to the park by my house. It was fun but it was still super hot. We didn't stay too long but got some energy out before bed. It was a first great day!

Saturday we hung out at my place in the morning. The kids did activities indoors. Then we headed to Dan's after I got breakfast cleaned up. Dan was a champion this weekend and helped a ton. He watched the kids while I exercised, which meant I stayed sane. The kids played at Dan's while I biked for an hour and a half. We then had lunch at his house. Saturday evening was Hannah's baby shower. It was at a park/splash pad in Vineyard. It was still super hot so that was great. Emerson was in heaven. The kids played so hard until it was time to go home and get ready for bed. This was also the day of the poop incident. 

As I was leaving the park I felt like my shirt smelled super weird but I wasn't sure why. Once we were home Audrey announced that she had pooped. Most the time this is just something she says to get her diaper off but occasionally she has actually gone poop. This time it was legitimate. The unfortunate thing was that she was wearing a swim diaper so she pretty much had poop specks all over her body. The kids needed a bath anyways so we headed up to the bathroom. The boys got right in the tub but she was throwing a major fit. Finally I left her sitting in the bathroom to run the poopy diaper downstairs, it was very stinky. It was also the smell that was all over my shirt. . . . boo! I came right back upstairs and Audrey had pooped on my bathroom mat. Then she had knelt in it. The boys were laughing. . . until Andrew started dry heaving because of the smell. Audrey on the other hand was freaking out. I got the boys out of the bathroom and Audrey in the tub. I still had to force her in, obviously at this point a bath was not optional. Luckily after the crying bath it was all cured with some homemade ice cream. It was another fun day with these cute kids. There were definitely more hiccups this day. Emerson fought me every time we left somewhere and everyone was tired. But we survived.

Sunday we did church in the morning. We took the sacrament with my usual Sunday mid-singles group and then went back to my house for the lesson. My lesson was good for about 5 minutes:)

Emerson is hiding behind Andrew because he did not want o be in the picture.

I was very surprised little miss Audrey agreed to wearing a dress. She looks so cute!

It was so hot so we spent the day playing inside. Then we headed to Dan's for dinner. After dinner Anthony and I snuck away for a hike up Bell's Canyon. We were definitely gone too long because I got the kids to bed super late. That was MY BAD!!!!

The hike was nice though!

Monday was my last day with the kids. The kids woke up and played while I did some chores. 

We headed to the rec center early. The outdoor kid pool is open for 8 and under two hours earlier than the rest of the outdoor pool stuff. We got there one hour before everything opened. It was great! It wasn't very crowded and the kids had a blast. We took a lunch and spent close to 4 hours there.

Andrew kept helping Audrey but half the time he was almost drowning the poor girl:) The kids played hard.

At noon all the outdoor pool attractions opened. Andrew was so excited about the slide. He did it on repeat. Emerson also wanted to try the slide. I took him one time and he loved it. Then we realized he and Andrew could ride together. They spent the afternoon going on the slide together and they were seriously the cutest!

 I hung out with this cute girl.

We had so much fun and were so tired. After swimming I tried to convince Audrey to wear this cute outfit I bought her for her birthday. She wanted nothing to do with it. Little stinker!

Audrey was so tired after the sun and swimming. She took over a two hour nap. I eventually woke her up so she would go to bed that night. She is so cute when she sleeps.

We played and had dinner at my house before returning the kids home to their parents. It really was a fun filled few days. I was exhausted after. It takes a lot of stamina to always be on your A game with kids. I love these kids so much and am always grateful to spend time with them!

Sawtooths Day 3

 Our last day in this area we woke up to a warmer morning. We packed up camp and loaded the car. We wanted to do one last hike on the way home. We decided to hike Alice Lake. It was an amazing hike. Again not a lot of elevation gain. We started next to a beautiful lake and then ended at a lake as well. This trail was pretty crowded. There were lots of hikers and backpackers. It is such a beautiful area.

The hike was very flat the first few miles as we hiked parallel to the lake. Once we climbed up above the lake there were a few switchbacks. The views were amazing the entire way. The weather was great as well! 

Moki had to be on leash on all the trails. That was super an

noying but we survived. This hike had a bunch of river crossings and so I let her cross those on her own. My hands were so sore from holding the leash for three days straight. Eventually I let her off leash and had her walk between me and Amber. She did great and stayed on the trail between us the entire time. 

Alice Lake was gorgeous. the mountains in the background made for such a beautiful place.

We stopped and had lunch at the lake before we headed back to the car. Moki did a little swimming but not much. I think she was worn out:) One selfie on the way back down.

This hike was 11.17 miles and we gained 1,611ft of elevation. It took us 5 hours with our lunch stop. It was a great morning hike before we started the 6+ hour drive back home.

 On the way home we stopped in Twin falls to see the water fall. I have seen so many pictures and so has Amber, we decided we had the time to check it out in person. It was a low water day. Meaning not as much water was coming over the falls. It was still really pretty.

It was great to have a little pit stop and walk around for a little bit. It broke up the driving quite nicely.

 We got back to Provo around 11pm, I think. It was late but it was a great day. We got in some exercise, saw some great things, and made it home before Sunday! This was a fun trip and I would love to go back sometime. the only lame thing was that Amber and I are not in a single picture together. SO DUMB!