Thankful Thursday

Caution: Picture Overload :)



Today I am thankful for the beauty that surrounds us here in Utah. We often take for granted the things we see everyday...like the awesome mountains...so it was nice today to go up the canyon and be apart of the beauty for awhile. I'm also thankful for the super fun day I spent with my kiddies. Brian left for his backpacking trip today so we thought we needed to go have some fun as well. :) (NOT that I personally would classify a backpacking trip as "fun" but Brian seems to think so.) :)



So we stopped at Costco and got our all day fun passes and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird.

This is the view from the parking lot...doesn't get much better than this!!!


Nick getting ready to do the bungee trampoline.

Hailey got some big air with those bungee cords!!

Nick getting ready to go down the zip line. It shut down for 10 minutes before this for lightening so it was a little nerve wracking to be back up there trying to beat the storm even though they told us we were clear to go since they hadn't seen any more lightening for 10 minutes.

Hailey being strapped in.

The view from the top of the zip line. My fear of heights started kicking in but I pushed through since the kids had gone ahead of me so it was either zip down or walk down...I chose to zip. :)

They really should warn you more about the abrupt stop at the end but it was very fun!!
The door opening as Hailey's about to shoot out.

About 10 minutes after we finished up with the zip line the rain started to pour. It was the perfect time to break for lunch so we ran into this restaurant with the most incredible views.

The rain stopped near the end of our lunch and by the time we paid the bill and came back outside they were just opening up the bungee trampolines again...couldn't have been better timing. This is Hailey doing a back flip...they got pretty good at that.

Nick doing his back flip.

Hailey loves the rockwall!!! Nick doesn't so he chose to sit out this one...this time.

Riding the chairlift back up for the Alpine Slide.

Getting their sleds ready to slide down the mountain. This was my favorite activity!!!!

Hailey on the ropes course. She hadn't done anything like this before and absolutely loved it.

Nick also loved the ropes course. He started out a little hesitant but by the end he was cruising around without a problem.

The little critters are very people-friendly there since they're so used to them. They obviously like Cheetos's too.

The 2nd time we went over to the rock wall Nick actually tried it. He did pretty good but he still says it's not his thing.

Hailey's a little monkey on that wall.

Near the end of the day I decided I was going to face my fear of heights yet again and get up on that ropes course. I did ask the worker if anyone had ever been paralyzed by fear and had to be rescued off it and he said, "Actually yes". Hmmmm...I guess I was hoping he would say, "No, it's really not that bad." Honesty is overrated. Hahaha. But I actually did it. Very slowly but I did it. Nick went around the course about 8 times in the amount of time it took me to go through it once but that's okay...I did it!!!

So I then decided to go for the gusto and get on that bungee trampoline as well. That might've been my biggest mistake of the day. Haha That harness could not be more flattering...NOT...and more comfortable...NOT!!!!

This is Nick's shot of me doing my one back flip I did...I think I pulled every muscle doing it. I keep forgetting I'm old!

It was a very fun, beautiful day!!!

Golfing Merit Badge

Nick loves to golf so we thought that would be a fun merit badge for Nick to work on this summer. One of the requirements is that he has to golf at least 2 rounds of 9 holes on a regular golf course. We've taken him to an executive course before where most of the holes are par 3's but this was his first time on a long golf course and he really did well. He's great off the tee and on the fairway!! It was fun to spend the morning out on the golf course with my boy. :)

Of course his favorite thing to do is drive the golf cart but if it's any indication of how he's going to drive a car I am VERY nervous...he took us right through tree limbs rather than going around them and up and over some obstacles that I didn't think I would need to tell him to go around...lol.

More Biking

When we first decided we were going to do the "Bike the Bear" 50 mile ride this summer I had serious concerns about participating. After my ride a few weeks ago where I was literally throwing up in the weeds I was ready to inflict an injury on myself in order to get out of it with a good reason. :) But after our ride this week I'm actually feeling a tad optimistic that maybe I can do this. Nick and I rode 25 miles on the Jordan Parkway Trail and it actually felt pretty good.

I did have a minor dog incident along the trail that nearly caused me to go flying over my handle bars. A big dog decided he wanted to run along beside me for a while and then suddenly cut right in front of me to head back the other way. I slammed on the breaks and braced for impact but when I opened my eyes he was safely heading the other direction. It'll be a miracle if I survive all the animals along this path.

I brought my camera along this time to take pictures of snakes, skunks, etc and didn't see any so I just took a picture of the path. :)

I took this picture of Nick while I was still riding...just aiming the camera behind me. I was pretty impressed that he is actually in the shot and that I didn't wreck. :)

Girls Trip, Basketball Camp, and Happy Birthday to Nick!! :)

Last week I went on my annual girls trip with two of my BFF's. This year we decided to go to California to soak up some rays and it was awesome! We left on Wednesday morning and came home Sunday night and spent the days lounging in the pool of Cara's in-laws home which was BEAUTIFUL; going to movies, eating and shopping. We never did make it to the beach because we didn't want to get off our floats in the pool...we were overlooking the ocean from the pool so it was like we were practically there. :)

Chris' GPS didn't stick to the window very well so either she held it or assigned that job to Cara...very convenient. :)

We stopped to eat lunch in Cedar City and felt like Mexican food so we looked up Mexican Restaurants. We came across this one and the reviews were telling us that people planned their trips around eating at this place. Ummmmm...we'd like to know what these people eat normally because this place was NOT all it was cracked up to be...we all felt a little sick the rest of the day!

The first movie theater we went to was very cool. It was really small and everyone had these rocking chair seats with table in between. It was like being in someones personal theater room. Cara's brother lives there so he joined us for the movie.



This is the amazing infinity pool out in the back yard of Cara's in-laws. It was in an amazing neighborhood (according to the realtor Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods have houses there). Of course Chris and I had to bring a little reality to the neighborhood and did cannonballs into the infinity pool. So fun! :)

Chris and I eating our cheese and crackers without actually having to get off our floaties...what a rough week.

Cowgirl Chris in the pool...woot woo!!!

We just had to get a picture in the big rocking chair at a gas station in Beaver. :)

So then it was back to reality and no more lounging in the pool all day. Key learning from the trip though...you really need to turn over every once in a while on those floaties or you get very burned on one side and still stark white on the other. :)

Hailey went to basketball camp this week at the high school and really enjoyed it. She went with her friend Cammie and thought it was a lot of fun.

My "little boy" turned 13 today!!!! I really can't believe it. As Brian and I were sitting out on the back patio after his party today we were talking about the day he was born. He was a preemie and only 3 lbs 13 oz so he was immediately whisked away to the NICU...Newborn ICU. As we were talking I started crying thinking about what a hard day it was the day after he was born to leave the hospital without my little baby boy. My parents were driving down from Boise as I was giving birth and they honestly didn't know if they were coming for a birth or a funeral because he was so early. Now he is 13...where on earth has the time gone. I love that boy so much and I am so grateful he is my son!!! I REALLY must love him to give him the party he wanted today...FEAR FACTOR 2...grosser than ever!

There was no actual "eating" of the worms but Nick and CJ thought they were pretty brave to get them this close to their mouths and I think Nick licked it. :) The worms and maggots were in a pail filled with dirt and keys that they had to dig through to get the keys to unlock 4 locks.

The first challenge wasn't a gross one...they just had to pop each others balloons tied to their ankles. It was funny to see all the "dancing" going on as they tried to step on each others without theirs being popped.

This was the grossest challenge to watch...the eating of the baby food...mashed corn and rice. Briggs (below) was the one that sent me running for the barf bucket because he was trying so hard to get it down but kept gagging on it...disgusting!!!

Nick went straight for the barf bucket the minute the first spoonful went in his mouth.

Digging for the keys amongst worms and maggots.

Catching gold fish...this was Nick's best challenge and the only one he won. :) CJ dominated the challenges by winning 4 and Brigg's won the other 2.

I didn't take a picture of the one I thought was the grossest...I didn't want to be anywhere near it because of the smell. We had a bucket full of whole squid that we hid coins in and the had to dig through it to find the coins. It smelled TERRIBLE and looked even worse...guts, eyeballs, slime, etc. Boys are gross!! :)

Nobody had a real big appetite for the pizza and brownies after all the gross-ness but they pushed through. :) We did a couple other challenges involving raw eggs and oatmeal that I didn't get pictures of, but all in all it was fun for the boys and I'm relieved it's over!!!! :) Nick better REALLY appreciate this party!!! They ended the party by feeding all the worms and maggots to the chickens. I tried to give the chickens away as party favors but for some reason Nick and Brian objected to that. :)