Another Summer in the books

It was a great summer full of trips and fun activities. It was our first summer going on family trips without Tate. We sure do miss him but we managed to still a blast. 

Here's a recap of all the things we did.

PUERTO RICO TRIP WITH THE FAMILY

I already covered this one in another post, but the kids talk about this trip all the time.

CABO WITH HUDSON

Hudson and I took our Daddy-daughter trip. Spent 3 Days, 2 Nights in Cabo. We did a lot of things, including, kayaking to the arch, horseback-riding, shopping, and getting offered drugs.

BEAR CANYON SUSPENSION BRIDGE

We went to this place again on a random Sunday. It was super fun.

BEAR LAKE WITH THE COUSINS

I also already talked about this one, but we had a great time hanging with our cousins. 

GRAND CANYON WITH HIKING BUDDIES

My friends and I went to the Grand Canyon. North rim. We attempted to hike Nankoweap trail; which is rated the most dangerous hike in the park. We ended up turning back.

BRYCE CANYON

Sadly, I have never taken the kids to Bryce Canyon National Park. On our way back from St. George, we stopped by and hit some trails. It was super beautiful. Unfortunately, the girls were in an unpleasant mood so we did spoil the mood a bit with arguing.

One thing that warmed everyone back up was just outside of the park, we took the kids for a bike ride along a trail near red canyon arch. The kids loved it so much we did it again. 

PLAYING IN THE RAIN

Sometimes Megan is much more spontaeous than me. Playing in the rain is one of those things. She inspired the girls to run out during a big rain storm. 

MOVIES OUTSIDE WITH FRIENDS

By far one of our favorite features is the movie screen outside on the deck. It was the favorite place to watch shows the entire summer.

CITY OF ROCKS

We did a camping trip out at the City of Rocks with Matt and Russell's kids. I haven't been here in a long, long time. It was really fun. So many trails, rocks to explore all around the campsite.

CAUSEY RESERVOIR

We've gone to Causey every summer. I've taken Megan and all the kids there to camp on separate occasions. This year, the kids discover cliff jumping, so we came back a few times with friends and really got into the jumping. Surprisingly, Harper was our most daring jumper.

LAGOON

Megan and I are actually not huge fans of Lagoon, but the kids like it so we always set aside one day to knock it out. We try to ride as many rides as we can and always stay until the park closes.

BOYS' TRIP TO LAVA HOT SPRINGS

We've been trying to do a boys' trip every year; just like the girls' annual trip. This year we went to Lava Hot Springs. It was a blast. We camped and ran the river. 

The favorite part for the uncles was axe throwing contest. I dominated the tournament, but took second to Derrick in an hilarious upset where he threw a nearly perfect set (out of nowhere).

SNOWBIRD

Ah, snowbird. This is a very beloved vacation for Megan and her side of the family. We did all the fun things; 

This year was interesting because we weren't able to book all the activities this; particularly Bingo. This was unacceptable for the family. So, Megan drove down and bought a bingo set and we played our own private version. I'm pretty sure everyone won at least once.

CAMPING IN THE UINTAHS

I try to take the boys camping just with me at least once each summer. This year we went up to the Uintahs and stayed at 

SNOWBASIN TRAM

Because we have season passes to Snowbasin, we made sure to go up a couple times during the summer to ride the tram. Once was with just the boys and I mountain biking down; which was more intense (steeper) than we expected. 

The other time, we whole family went up to hike and see the fall leaves. It was really beautiful.

JAZZ AND RSL GAMES

I was offered tickets to a couple RSL games and a Jazz game, which is odd because I've never been offered stuff like this before. We took advantage and hauled along friends every time.

 

MOAB

Megan's work retreated ended being in Moab again this year. We packed it in with biking, hiking, climbing, and swimming. 

Here are the boys living in luxury at our swanky hotel room.

What was would esteem as the highlight of the trip (while others would call it the grossest moment) was the car ride home and Reece kept complainging of needed to pee. We were so close so we tried to push through. Reece took matters into his own hands and relieved himself into a water bottle.

HIKING WITH HARPER

I already mentioned my hiking buddy and I spent numerous mornings doing hikes around the valley. Here's another one called 'Temple Loop' up above the Bountiful Temple. We kind of got stuck in a blizzard.