Maple Canyon

I love Maple Canyon. It's one of my favorite places in the world, and probably my very favorite place to camp. (Don't come at me, Summer Range.) David and I have decided to try to go camping here every other year. You have to book camp sites pretty far in advance, so we booked a week, and then when we realized that might conflict with David's schedule we booked a different week. As both weeks approached, it was looking like we weren't going to be able to make either of them work. I was very disappointed, but was managing it decently well. The first reservation passed (we canceled it beforehand) and it was just looking like the second reservation wouldn't work either. The first day was the last opportunity we had to volunteer at the Saratoga Springs Open House, then David was leaving for a work trip, then I had volunteered to help a friend with her daughter (months in advance) and it happened to be on the last day. I had considered trying to get Jenna to come camp with me while David was out of town, but it was just too tight. 

We had let go of the option to go camping, but apparently, I had been holding a tiny 1% hope that somehow I could make it work. I volunteered at the temple open house for the morning shift. David was scheduled for the afternoon & evening shift and I had volunteered to babysit for someone during that time so that they could volunteer, too. When I got home and he was leaving, I said something like "if they cancel on me - I might just go camping anyway, FYI" and he said "Okay". So when they called and canceled 5 minutes later, I shot him a text that said I was taking the kids by myself and we would miss him. 

We threw the camping basics into the car, and stopped at a walmart on the way down to pick up the easiest camping food that there ever was (cup of noodles, marshmallows, oatmeal packets). 

We didn't build a fire and didn't bring our tent. We just folded down all the seats and set up our sleeping bags in the back of the van. It left us with more time to explore our campsite and hang out that evening. 

Bedtime was the most stressful part of the whole thing because Austin got a bloody nose that wouldn't stop, and after about an hour of trying to read aloud and snuggle the kids, I was seriously considering taking him to the emergency room. Thankfully, it finally stopped and we all fell asleep quickly after that. It's the only time that I really really wished that there was another adult with me, because it's hard to know what to do in tricky situations when you're the only one making the decisions. I'm so glad that it wasn't a worse situation. 

The kids slept great and in the morning we went on my favorite Box Canyon hike. We went over and under boulders, played by the waterfall, and enjoyed the morning very much. 

After our hike, we ate lunch then drove in to Ephraim. I had REALLY been wanting to take the kids to the AC pool (The Snow College Activity Center) to go swimming. It's not a particularly special pool, other than it's the one I grew up swimming at each summer and the deep end goes down to 12 feet. The kids loved it as much as I hoped that they would. We stopped to get our traditional sodas at the Malt Shop and headed home. It was super short, but I am SO glad that we went ahead and did it. I hope my kids grow up loving Maple Canyon as much as I do. 

Independence Day

We had a really great Independence Day this year. I think that the 4th of July might be Austin's favorite holiday (or maybe just right behind Christmas). He loves fireworks and has been looking forward to this for months. He convinced the rest of the kids to save up $50 of family economy money to be able to buy a bunch of fireworks. We went to the store and found one large package and a smaller package and Austin was in heaven. We actually sent Lydia up to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Walker on July 3rd because they got a new puppy and she really wanted to be there the first few days they had the puppy (see more below). 

We had a delicious dinner and celebrated are 90th bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch that Shantel and I have bought together. 

Then Austin (with help from Caleb and Lucy) went about taking all of the fireworks packages out and organized them on the counter. 

Lydia was not there, so we decided not to do all the fireworks, but we let them do quite a few on the 3rd since we have a neighborhood firework party on the 4th. Here is Lydia so happy with her sparkler. 

Then Austin was in charge of the firework show and lighting everything. We had quite a few neighbors with their kids (including the Wards) come to join and they had some fireworks they did as well. 

We had to go up to Morgan to get Lydia on the 4th, so we decided to drive up early that morning and make a day of it up in Morgan. 

First up was the Morgan 4th of July parade. The kids had such a great time at the small town parade and were happy to get candy and see all the fun things. 

After we went to the park for their celebration event and did the bounce houses and some of the activities. 

As mentioned above Scott and Lori decided to get another dog, a Teacup Doodle (or something like that). Essentially she is the same as Rugby, except will be a little smaller. Lydia was so happy to snuggle up with the little puppy for a couple of days. 

Then we did the rest of the fireworks and the kids were so happy. Austin loved it and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. 

Lucy requested Grandma Knowles to paint her toenails and she did that and Lucy was so happy. 

We headed back to Lehi in time to make it for our big neighborhood street party. It is so fun because there are a lot of fireworks by the time you have several families who buy quite a few fireworks. Plus everyone brings different desserts and you have a street just full of kids and people and desserts and then everyone lines up along the sidewalk to watch. I think this year they started shooting fireworks around 7 or 7:30 and they were shooting right up until 9:30 or 9:45 before everyone scattered to watch the big firework show at Thanksgiving Point. 

Caleb's favorite part was all the treats and he was so happy and loved it. Here he came back with a whole plate full of treats. 

After he ate those, he came back with another plate full of delicious desserts and could not have been happier. 

These are my favorite two pictures. You can see Austin just watching the sky as the fireworks are shooting up into the air. 

Eventually we moved down to our corner because they were still shooting off fireworks, but on the other end of our street another group was shooting off a bunch of aerial fireworks as well. 

Shantel took Austin and Lydia over to the Stake Center parking lot to watch the Thanksgiving Point show while I stayed at the house since Caleb and Lucy were already asleep. When they got back we finished up by letting them do some sparklers. 

I'm grateful to live in this country and for the many blessing we have here.