silver lake hike

i figured that as long as we were already up american fork canyon and accomplishing new years goals, i would tick another one off the list - hiking. i looked up a couple of hikes that were nearby our campsite and once we were all awake and packed up in the morning, we headed out to hike. we had decided on the easier of the two that i had narrowed the list down to, but when the trail head for that one was not readily apparent, we pressured beth and bruce into the harder one.

the hike we end up going on was silver lake. not to be confused with the silver lake up little (big?) cottonwood canyon, this one was past tibble creek reservoir, up a windy, rocky, three-mile dirt road to the silver flat reservoir, where the trail head was located.

silver flat reservoir



madeleine all ready to go

the men were kind enough to carry the children while beth and i carried the gear. the hike was beautiful, through aspen trees and with a constantly gorgeous view, but pretty steep at times and this out-of-shape girl definitely felt it in her muscles and joints. randy, who's been training for a marathon, patiently brought up the rear and probably didn't even breathe heavily.

beth, rachel, bruce



another blurry attempt at the view



rachel found the hike quite relaxing

a blurry picture of silver lake at the top. silver lake was really beautiful. unfortunately, there weren't any good wading areas and madeleine wanted to get in the water really badly. she kept trying to jump off cliffs, so after eating lunch, we didn't take much time to stick around. we figured the life of our daughter was worth the trade off in exploration.

even though randy wasn't that physically stressed by the hike, he did break a sweat. can you tell where the backpack was?

rachel hanging out in the backpack during lunch

loaded up for the hike back down

camping

i've been wanting to go camping this summer since the beginning of the year, but about a week and a half ago, i got a bee in my bonnet and decided that this weekend was going to be the weekend. of course, i chose a holiday weekend (utah's pioneer day) to go, so it was hard to find campsites that were close to home and open (i didn't want to go that far since i knew it was going to be a short camping trip). we finally found a spot at little mill campground up american fork canyon on the alpine loop and i talked beth and bruce into joining us. so, thursday afternoon, randy somehow managed to fit everything into the corolla and we headed out.

this was the view from our campsite. of course, it is a blurry picture that doesn't do it justice, but i am posting it anyway. i am always surprised at how beautiful and green the canyons still are when the rest of utah is looking pretty desert-ish.

beth and bruce were smart and brought along bubbles, which madeleine loved.

both kids did really well the whole time, but rachel seemed especially happy to be in the great outdoors.

we set up the port-a-crib for rachel to play in and of course, madeleine wanted to get in with her. madeleine dumped her waterbottle all over rachel and then wanted to get out within a couple minutes, but rachel seemed perfectly content to play in the water that madeleine had left for her. it probably felt nice and cool (the campground hadn't quite cooled down at this point).

randy manning the grill and the tin-foil dinners. they did not go according to plan. i will not be doing those again.

madeleine showing me the dirt on her hands that she had been playing with.

despite the heat and the tin-foil dinner issues, we had a great time hanging out in the canyon with beth and bruce and randy and i stayed up by the fire for a while, just enjoying the fact that madeleine was quietly asleep in the tent. camping was surprisingly enjoyable with an eighteen-month old and who knows, maybe we'll head out again in august.

diaper blame

i am watching rachel and just had this exchange with madeleine:

me: are you poopy?
madeleine: (visually debating for a few seconds) points to rachel

i was not fooled. i had just changed rachel's diaper, plus, anyone who has had children can smell the difference between the diaper of a child that is eating solid foods and one that is still breastfeeding.

nice try.

beating the heat

yesterday, i went up to my aunt and uncle's to go swimming with my sisters and their kids. we had a blast and it was such a nice cure for the 100 degree heat. gross. i am not cut out for desert climates. here are some of the highlights from the day:

rachel



madeleine



madeleine has figured out how to stay upright in her tube and spent most of the time in the pool just floating around on her own (with me keeping a close eye on her, of course).



beth and rachel





austin, elizabeth, audrey and matthew



the three little fish



two loungers







austin, matthew, and madeleine all jumped off the diving board with audrey and me. this is a short clip of madeleine's adventures:

chit-chat

i realize that this is blurry, but it is still a really funny video of madeleine talking to randy. she does this all the time. heaven help us when she can actually talk.

fourth of july and swim pictures

we had our annual fourth of july pool party up at my aunt and uncle's house and i was bad about getting out the camera and taking pictures. i did snap a few:

madeleine and my cousin, abbie



madeleine and randy

and here are some pictures of madeleine playing in our little blow-up pool in the backyard:

we've still got it

i think that my favorite part of our trip to boise was boating on saturday. jeanie was VERY nice and took madeleine for several hours so that randy and i could go out on the lake with kyle and bob.

we all got a nice ski run in before the water started getting choppy and the lake got crowded. here's randy:

he's been looking forward to skiing for weeks now and looked like a pro out there.

i was a little worried when it was my turn because i haven't been skiing in two years, and even then, it was only one run up at mccall because i was studying for the bar and pregnant and had to sneak it past jeanie as it was. also, i am pretty out of shape. i got up on my first try though and i lasted longer than i thought i would. i loved every minute of it. the water was really refreshing and i felt great afterward, although i was kind of sore the next day.

(so i cheated and wore a wet suit, so what?)

it was a great day on the lake and brought back a lot of great memories of being out on the boat with my dad on lake cavanaugh. i have some really fond memories of 6:00 am ski runs that will always maintain their place as some of my favorite memories. there is something relaxing and carefree about being out on a boat that is hard to understand unless that has been part of your family culture. i am grateful that i married into a family that shares my love for the water.