Sundance lift to Bear Claw...

Michelle and I enjoyed a very lazy and relaxing day taking the lift at Sundance all the way to the top and ate at the Bear Claw Cafe. The views were amazing, especially because the fall colors were at their peak. We decided this is definitely the way we enjoy to take the lift...warm sunny weather instead of snow and blizzardly weather! 

 

Hike near Squaw Peak...

Part of Becky B.'s birthday celebration was this hike up a different side of Squaw Peak than I've been before. It was a good workout, and the colors didn't disappoint! I have so much fun laughing, and sometimes crying with these ladies. We missed Heidi, her foot is broken and she's recovering from surgery. 

 

C.H. Reunion lunch...

 

This month, Tanya was in town for our monthly lunch date! It was so much fun to catch up with her in person, and we even had Wendi join us on Face Time for a little while. These ladies are like sisters because we were raised together and shared so many experiences together. We are planning a weekend reunion in Austin for January, and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with them all! 

Kazie and Sarah's cake creation...

Heidi asked Kazie and I to make a cake for her daughter, Ashlyn's 16th birthday! We had so much fun brainstorming and shopping for this cake creation, and we loved how it turned it! It was so tasty too! Ashlyn was so surprised and she loved the cake, so it was really fun to see her reaction. We got to stay for the party and watch Ashlyn get keys to a car she gets to drive!!

 

Blazer's 10th Birthday!!

My baby turned 10! Unbelievable! We recently went to Blaze's parent teacher conference, and I was a little nervous that his teacher was going to tell me that he hadn't been keeping up with him online work. Because of Covid19, he does in person school on M/W, and online school T/TH. I was presently surprised when Ms. Laura told me that Blaze was way ahead on his math lessons, performed ahead on his reading test, and she said he was like her perfect student academically and socially! I love this kid so much! Watching him grow up is killing me though! At home, he will still happily sit in my lap while we take turns reading Harry Potter. One day we were in the carpool line for drop off at school, and I asked him to come sit on my lap and talk to me until it was time for school. Blaze looked around, and then hesitantly declined my offer and said that his friends might see him. Kills me! Our house would not be the same without Blaze's kind, fun loving spirit! He is definitely a peace maker, great at sharing, can entertain himself for hours, has comedy routines memorized from listening them on his Alexa, and he can build anything out of Legos! 

We surprised Blaze and took him to dinner at Penny Ann's , where he enjoyed too much stuffed French toast!

I also made him a candy gram with an obscene amount of candy on it.

Poppy and Ce Ce came over for dinner, the same dinner he always requests: pizza rolls, chicken alfredo, watermellon, and peppermint cheesecake. 

He got Legos, a hand controlled drone, and a rip stick. 

 

Willow Lake Hike...

So, I read online that this Willow Lake hike was supposed to be one of the best family friendly fall hikes. I'd say it was the ugliest hike I've been on this summer, even worse than our neighborhood trails! Once we got there, I remembered that the Peirce's had done this hike, and Lance was complaining about how much he hated it and the entire 600 feet of elevation (which is less than walking the hills in our neighborhood!). Brita showed us a picture of Lane taking a break on their hike, leaned up against a tree, looking like he was going to die! We each did our own version to text to Lane and let him know that we agreed...this hike is lame! 

 

Primrose via Flat horse...

Kazie and I took our kids on a gorgeous hike off of the Alpine Loop, and we were lucky to catch the leaves turning color! The kids moaned and complained about he hike, but when we got to the top, for some reason they started hunting for geodes and thought they found some. We kept them going with the promise of dinner and ice cream at Thanksgiving Point. It's definitely a mental and emotional challenge to drag the kids along for hiking, but I'm hoping that someday they will love it! 

 

Kanab with the Swains...

We had quite an adventure with the Swains, without our kids, for a quick weekend trip down to Kanab. We discovered the Beaver Creamery and ate there on the way down and back because it was so good. On Saturday, we hiked 20 miles into Buck Skin Gulch. We were hoping to make it to to a spot that intersected with another hike we wanted to try, but we got to a certain spot and there was the nastiest stagnant mud mixture that we couldn't just walk across. James and Justin were intent on making a rock bridge for us to cross, and once James embarks upon a project, he will not abandon it! The problem is that the rocks would just sink into the mud (on our way out, a couple we ran into told us there is quick sand in the canyon), so this was a seemingly fruitless project. Kazie and I weren't too much help as we weren't willing to get dirty, but we did carry some smaller rocks over to help with the bridge. At one point I almost peed my pants laughing at James when he slipped off one of the rocks and landed in mud up to his thighs! He was the Biggest, Stinkiest mess I've ever seen! It was ridiculous. After about an hour and a half, we were finally able to hold our breath and hop across the rocks hoping we wouldn't fall in the mud. Much to our dismay, a few yards past our bridge was another deeper "puddle" that was impossible to cross! It was very disappointing, but luckily, we were able to cross the sinking bridge to the other side before it completely disappeared. This experience was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, and we got lots of laughs watching the guys' determination to cross the mud puddle!

We checked out some caves with Indian hyroglifics in them which were pretty cool. Inside the cave, there were several places where people had built fires and left behind charred bits of wood. Visitors had taken the charred wood and written on the walls of the cave thinking it was no big deal because it wasn't permanent. James, of course, who is always pushing boundaries, picked up a piece of wood and started writing on the cave walls. A guy with a camera around his neck approached us, shaking his head, and said in a very agitated tone "sewiously!" and walked off giving us dirty looks! So Kazie and I like to say "sewiously" to James anytime he is stepping out of line! 

It was such a fun weekend with the Swains and a much needed recharge, so I hope we will do another hiking trip in the spring. Justin worked as a professional photographer for years, so I was so excited that he shared all of his pro photos of our adventures in Kanab with us! On Sunday, we went to Bryce Canyon and were fine to just do the little hikes around the park since we had exhausted ourselves the day before. Utah, in the summer, is such a beautiful place!