Table Rock

We planned a camping/hiking trip to Table Rock this weekend. Kyle's parents were so nice to meet us up there and let us camp with them. We went up Friday afternoon and had plans to stay the night and then Kyle and I would get up on Saturday morning and go hike Table Rock while the kids stayed with Kyle's parents at the campsite.

Here's my cute little Dallin boy. He's growing up so fast!Don't worry- he's not really driving :)
Dallin and Kyle
Me and Hailee- she was a bit cranky, but I got a little smile out of her :)It didn't help that just a little while after we got there Hailee fell on the trailer stairs and scraped up her knee pretty good. Here she is with Grandma Wright and her little band-aid on her knee
Dallin and Hailee sittin in their cute little chairsSittin around the fire with Grandpa WrightBright and early on Saturday morning we got up and Kyle and I started off on the trail. This was the first picture I took. You can't tell from the picture, but the moss on that tree was neon green. It was really cool looking!The scenery was so beautifulThere was so much green everywhere! There were flowers (or at least what was left of them) everywhere!
This was like a tunnel of trees. Awesome!
We had to cross this creek several times. We brought our flip flops in our back-packs so we wouldn't get our feet wet. It was a pretty good idea. There were a lot of little creeks everywhere I think especially with the high level snow pack they had up there. We even saw a little creek that came from out of the ground.Taking a quick breakGetting closer to the top! You can see the little bump in the distance (towards the right, it looks lighter than the other bumps) That's Table Rock!
A creek coming down the rocks kind of like a waterfall. It was beautiful. If you look closely, you can see me about halfway up in the picture.Another picture closer to the top! (there's Table Rock over at the far right) I can't believe how far away it looked the whole time until we were really close. It was funny, there was a point where I could see tiny specks, (people) that looked like tiny little ants. I wondered if we were ever going to make it up there! :)
I didn't take a lot of pictures between here and the top because the hike got pretty tough and I was worn out! My hip also started to really hurt. I felt like an old lady, especially when there really were some older ladies that passed me! I'm just so grateful for Kyle and his encouragement while he waited for me to wobble my way up there!

Finally reached the top- the view was breathtaking! It looked like a postcardIt was pretty busy at the top- so it was kind of hard to even get a picture without other people in itThere- I cropped them all out :)
Me and Kyle
Here's a cool short little video that shows a 360 degree view from the top



I didn't get any pictures on the way down, because as soon as we started to head down from the top, we noticed some storm clouds gathering in. Of course I didn't want to be caught at the top with a lightning storm around us, so we started to hurry down as fast as my blistered sore feet would let me go. (so we really didn't go very fast :) We were still pretty close to the top above the treeline in the meadows when the storm hit us. It was drenching rain, hail, and lightning. I was pretty scared that we would get hit by lightning because it was really close, but we kept pushing on. It got even tougher when it started to hail really hard and it really stung our sunburned skin. I was hesitant to find cover under any trees because you always hear horror stories of people standing under a tree and getting hit by lightning, especially since there weren't very many trees up there, and out of the few that were up there, you could see that many had been hit by lightning before. So we decided to keep going. Lightning, thunder, hail, and drenching rain, I had never been so exposed to the elements before. I even saw a moose in the trees not very far away during the storm. Of course I was pretty scared, but we made it! I remember thinking it was funny that we had packed flip flops in our backpacks so that our feet wouldn't get wet, when walking in the downpour, the trail had turned into its own stream, and we were soaked to the bone.
Even though there were moments where I was really discouraged, it really was such a wonderful beautiful experience. We made it down, muddy and soaked, but I had learned so much.
1. I should have been more prepared with better shoes, some hiking poles, and a Poncho
2. I need to strengthen my hip so I can do this hike again without the awful pain (I'm not about to give up!)
3. Wear sunscreen!
4. Heavenly Father has created such a beautiful earth for us to enjoy
5. I have a wonderful, amazing, patient husband who helped me so much through the hard moments

I'd really love to go again next year, but I think I'll practice with a few smaller hikes earlier in the season to help condition myself :)

Fun Summer!

This Summer so far has been full of fun. I made my to-do list of chores that I needed to get done this around the house this Summer, and also my to-do list of fun things I wanted to do with the kids. Let just say I've only passed off one thing on my chore to-do list and lots and lots of stuff already on my fun to-do list. That's the way its supposed to be though right?! :)

Here are some more pictures of some of what's been going on this Summer:

I just love these little goof balls!
A beautiful double rainbow I wish I would have done a panoramic view, because it was gorgeous all the way across
Some cool looking clouds
My cute little Hailee bugHere's kind of a random picture- I took a girls' trip with my friend Megan and her neighbor down to Utah just to have some fun and we stayed with one of my old roommates Melodie. We happened to stumble upon this little burger place. We didn't end up eating there, because there were quite a lot of people waiting in line and we were in a hurry, but I thought it was worth taking a picture. This little place was featured on the food network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Kyle and I like to watch that show. I'll have to go down and try it out with him sometime
This past weekend we went to the Wright Family Reunion. It was fun! We went up Friday night and camped out in the tent. The kids did pretty good considering it was Hailee's first time sleeping in a tent. I just wish the wind wasn't whipping the tent sides around all night long. At least it stopped at about 4am so I got a couple of hours sleep before Dallin and Hailee were wide awake at 6am!

They have a lot of fun little things for kids and adults to do, including shooting guns, a treasure hunt, playing in the dirt, the water slide, and the little train you can see here in this picture.Hailee pretty much hated the little train though. Even though it was probably only going about 2 miles an hour :)
Here you can see the giant water slide in the background that they set up for everyone. It was a lot of fun!Here's Dallin havin fun!Dallin went up and down the slide nonstop for about two hours!
Dallin going down the slide- it was actually pretty fast! I went down it a lot too, and I'm still feeling the bumps and bruises :)Here are a couple of videos at the reunion: (sorry the videos are really small- I took the videos on my i-pod, and I didn't realize I was supposed to turn it the other direction)
The first one shows a mad Hailee on the little train. Its actually kind of funny :)

Dallin going down the big slide:

Here are a few other videos I've taken in the past month:
This is a video of Dallin doing what he does best- being silly of course! He's playing with his little guitar that he got from Burger King

Dallin and Hailee playing on his little trike. Cute! I love how they can play so well together sometimes. (I just wish it was all the time :)

Here's a video I tried to get of Hailee talking. She can say all of these things by herself without me having to tell her- but she was pretty distracted when I took the video. I just love her little voice :)

Fun in the Sun!

The past couple of weeks we've been playing a lot out in the sun and water! The first little adventure was just over at Ririe Reservoir with the kids, my dad, and my friend Becki Kress. I was hoping Kyle would have been able to come, but my Dad had to move the boating a little bit earlier than we had planned, and Kyle had to work- so I scrambled to find someone to come with me to help me watch my kids (and have fun of course :)

Here's Hailee all ready to go. So cute! The only sad thing is that we lost that cute little hat she was wearing in the reservoir :(

Me and Dallin after our tube ride :)

Hailee wasn't too happy about all of this, but at least by the end of the trip she was talking to us again! :)

Dallin and I swimming. He jumped right in!

Me wakeboarding

My Dad, my kids, and my friend Becki Kress. She was so awesome for coming and helping me watch the kiddos!This last Friday we went to Bear Lake and met up with some families in our ward. It was so much fun! We played on the beach and the water all day, and one of the families brought their boat so we were able to do some wakeboarding too!

Dallin swam and played in the water all day! He loved it! He hardly played on the beach at all. I love bear lake because it is so shallow close to the shore and only very gradually gets deeper, so its really easy to keep track of the kiddos.

Hailee on the other hand didn't want anything to do with the water. Here she is on Daddy's lap.

After a while though, she discovered all the fun she could have in the sand and was really enjoying herself as long as she didn't have to go near the water! :)

A thin and slim Kyle out playing catch with the football in the water with the guys.

Me and the other ladies