June adventures

 Our adventures continue from our home base in Draper.  Audrey had a wild girls' camp the week after we got home from Costa Rica.  It snowed 8 inches on their tent, and they had to leave for home.  The leaders improvised, and I think everyone still had fun, though they never returned to their camp site.  Meanwhile, we played at the Children's Museum with the little kids.  Bob the Builder is one of Graham's favorite - and it was fun to check out their Bob exhibit.

 In the midst of it all, Graham learned to ride a bike, and he is very good at it.  Here he is, riding very easily.

We had a girls' night at Grandma's house.  That was really fun.  The girls loved craft projects, hanging out, and eating at a restaurant.

The next day, we all had a family get together, and played sports, laughed a ton, and had dinner.  It was a tremendous time for us all to catch up with each other.

June is Wasatch Back, and this year, we did it Ultra Style.  Half as many people, same distance to go.  I can't believe the six of us did all of the nearly 200 miles of back-country mountain climbs and passes.  What an accomplishment.  It was so fun.

We got our re-visit of the aquarium in.  It was fun to see all the animals in their exhibits, and share it with Kate for the first time.  We also did the 4-D theatre, which was really cool.

We have done 7 peaks twice now, and we are going strong to hit it a few times more.  Here is Audrey with her friend Morgan at 7 peaks.

We went to the former Incredible Pizza turned into All Star bowling - and had a fabulous time.  However, it is not so much a pizza place anymore.  We ended up getting lunch at a pizza restaurant, and then buying passes for here.  The kids had a ton of fun, and we had to hurry home to beat dad there at 6:30 pm!

Fourth of July festivities:  We ran the Sandy Classic 5K - ALL of us!  Even Graham ran it.  They all did really well.  Carson and Kate have been training, and Audrey's soccer keeps her in shape.  Graham just worked his heart out, and he did so well to finish.  We are so proud of these little guys!  Graham got 2nd in his age group, and "won" his race. He was very proud of that.  Audrey got 4th, so just missed a medal.

Then we partied at a carnival in Riverton.  It was fun to ride the rides and watch the kids have fun, but it was VERY hot.  We brought spray bottles to spray ourselves with, but in the end, we all decided to leave and go to the reservoir.

Here we are playing at Herriman Reservoir.  This is such a fun activity for the kids.  We could really spend more time here!  We had to leave for dinner, but we could have stayed longer.

 And finally, the most exciting thing this whole year - Kate was baptized!  July 5th, surrounded by family and friends, our sweet angel was baptized.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  I know the Holy Ghost testified to us about the sacred and important nature of baptism that day.  What a wonderful memory.  Thank you everyone that shared it with us.

Costa Rica will never be the same!

 Our amazing trip to Costa Rica!  Here are the cloud forests we drove through on narrow, wind-y roads.

Audrey becomes fast buddies with fellow team mate, Morgan.

 Body boarding on the beach at Jaco.  Teaching the girls, then not seeing the boards again until we left.

 Hiking rain forests most days of the week we were there.

Visiting downtown San Jose, Costa Rica.  What an experience.  Very fun to see the fusion of latin with modern, with colonial, with american culture.  What a unique place.

Helping out in an orphanage for 2 days, seeing the girls play together, love being together, then crying when it is time to say goodbye.  What a neat experience.

Playing soccer in the Heredia stadium.  One of the best teams in central america, and we were there, in their stadium for 4 days, being trained by expert coaches.  And the tournament was really neat.  It made every one long for an annual cultural exchange.

Catching soccer fever with the rest of  Costa Rica.  Audrey and Chad wearing the Heredia uniform.  World Cup began, and seeing the country celebrate after their first surprise win.  Very fun to experience.


 Ziplining near Arenal Volcano.  Here is Audrey, brave enough to volunteer to go first!

Canyoneering in Lost Canyon with Desafio adventures.  definitely a high-light of our adventure!

And finally, white water rafting with Desafio - on the Sarapaqui River.  Great times, fun to share with each other.  I am sure the start of more adventures like it.

Spring 2014

 Spring flew by, and in review, I chose a few pics that showed some of the things we were up to.

Over spring break, Kate flew to California and hung out with her cool cousins there.  Meanwhile, the rest of us did things close to home.  Here are Audrey and Carson at the new aquarium together.  It was fun to see the new space, however, we were surprised how many animals had not made the move yet.  We were looking forward to a return trip, and taking Kate there as well.

Carson's birthday party was during spring break.  We celebrated a mine craft party with "Steve" birthday cake, mine craft - craft projects, a Foosball tournament, and of course, a little mine craft.  Fun night, Carson!

 Now for Easter.  We had fun Easter egg hunting, celebrating at Grandma's Easter Party, and other such adventures.  On Easter morning, the girls wore the dresses I made for them this year, and we had a sweet day.  It was an especially poignant day for me as I remembered my dear mom, and the very real hope that Jesus' Resurrection brings for being together again.

 We celebrated Kate's birthday party in May.  We wanted to celebrate before school ended and life got really hectic.  She chose a Frozen theme, and it was really fun to plan the party.  We did "ice castles", snowmen, and marshmallow shooters.  later we had a fight with the shooters and "snowballs" of paper in the back yard.  We danced to Frozen music videos, and did a relay race.  It was a ton of fun.  Kate is EIGHT years old now, I can't believe it!

 May was recital month.  Kate had her dance from the movie Brave.  She is such a beautiful girl, it is a pleasure to be involved with her recital.  Grandma took very good care of her the night of the recital.  And we hear that she had a ton of fun.

Travels:  Chad and I went to Chicago in May, the weekend of the recital.  So, we actually missed the recital.  But, what a sweet experience Chicago was.  We connected with several of our friends from Chicago over dinner in Hyde Park.  Then the next day attended many reunion festivities for the Booth Graduate School of Business 10 year reunion.  My how time flies.  It seemed as though it was just yesterday that we lived there.  I found myself thinking about where I would take Audrey the next week.  Then freak out, because 10 years has passed!  We had a nice visit that included a trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Giordano's pizza, and the old Hyde Park ward.  Wonderful visit.  Glad to go.  Meanwhile, Julie and Josh treated our kids well with BYU pep rally visit with cheerleaders and football gear and s'mores in the canyon.  I don't think we were missed.

Also, Chad spent a week in India in May.  He has crazy stories about running with monkeys, and such.  We are glad he made it safely back to us.

 We did a little hiking as well.  Over Memorial Day weekend, we found a moment to hike Adams' Canyon.  The waterfall was amazing, the hike was great.  The kids enjoyed getting out, despite the incredibly hot temperatures that day.  We thought it was a short hike, but it was probably more like 2-3 miles each way.  Poor Graham got worn out, but he did the whole thing!

And we did soccer, soccer, soccer!  This was Graham's first go at it.  He had a ton of fun, but he was most excited that the coach was his mom.  I on the other had was surprisingly nervous and flustered about coaching.  We all hit our stride mid season, and had some fun.  We are a very young team, but we learned a ton of skills.

Kate had a great season.  She scored several goals, like this one here.  Since she plays mostly defense, that is pretty remarkable.  Her skills are really coming along.  We have really enjoyed watching Kate improve.  Chad is her assistant coach, and one of his favorite jobs.

Audrey is still playing competitive soccer.  Her team jumped from Division 4 to Division 2, and their record shows the challenge that was for them.  However, we think they are on the verge of emerging as a great team.  It will be fun to see the games this fall.

May also saw the return of my dad and Elaine for a visit.  They stayed with us for a week.  It was fun to hang out with them.  Here Bruce is on a field trip to Wheeler Farm with Graham and I.  It was a neat experience to share together.  Thanks for coming, Dad!  It was Elaine's daughter's wedding.  Their reception was my kids favorite one ever.  They threw a very fun party, and I am sure that will be hard to live up to!

That is about it - what fun it has been.