It was so good to be reunited with Scott after our trip to New Mexico.
The kids missed him and I did too!
The day after we arrived, we headed up to Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Bell's Canyon was in my bucket list for cool hikes, so we headed up there.
I'm always up for a fun adventure with my family!
The hike was an adventure to say the least.
We made it to the beautiful reservoir and really wanted to make it up to the upper falls. We hiked for 2 hours and it kept getting steeper and steeper. The kids were doing great, so we kept going. People told us, 'oh, just another half hour to the falls'...half an hour turned into another 2 hours. We decided to stop because it was already 4pm. and didn't want to run out of light. It took us another 2 hours to get down. We were all a bit disappointed that we never made it to the falls.
But we have these pictures to prove that it's always a good time when we are together as a family:
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Scott had to work on Father's Day this year, so I made a yummy dinner and we met up with him at the VA. The VA food, according to Scott is the worst! So he requested some steak, potatoes and salad. It was a nice day and I'm glad the kids got to spend a few minutes with this awesome dad they have. They are so blessed to have Scott, he is such an amazing dad!
Our primary gave the kids these to fill out. Brielle's got wet so it's a little hard to read.
1. My Dad's job is a doctor.
2. My Dad's favorite Primary song is 'Called to Serve'.
3. My dad loves to eat at Olive Garden.
4. When my Dad is alone he likes to do notes.
5. With my Dad I love to ski, camp and love.
6. I love my Dad because he's my dad.
Scott and I couldn't stop laughing at #4.
He sometimes comes home and finishes up notes from work.
In Brielle's little mind he actually 'likes' to do them!
This one was Braden's and I particularly love the drawing of him and Scott.
We are so blessed to have Scott in our lives. I couldn't have asked for a better father to my children. Glad we got to celebrate that he is a good dad.
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I love the primary in our ward. There are so many fun kids in there and the presidency plans such cute activities for them. This time, they planned a field trip to Temple Square.
These two girls are so cute, they got baptized on the same day!
Cute Savannah with the little 2 year olds.
Scott had the day off, so he was able to join us.
It was a beautiful day and we feel so lucky to be so close to our Church's headquarters.
These two making the same exact face!
Scott has a picture of him, his mom and his two brothers sitting in front of this fountain when he was probably about Brooke's age. For a long time, I looked at that picture and wondered where it was taken. Until one day, soon after we had moved here, we were walking in Temple Square and I realized that this was the same fountain on the picture 30 years earlier.
It's kind of cool to see Scott with his own kids in the same place.
As we were heading to our car, we were walking with our friend Stephanie, who was meeting her aunt for lunch. Her aunt is one of President Monson's secretaries. She is the nicest, kindest lady. She invited Stephanie to come inside one of the Church's administration buildings, where President Monson's office is. Stephanie and her aunt were kind enough to invite us to join them. So our whole family got to walk around the building and be in President Monson's office. What an opportunity! It was an interesting experience being there and seeing his things and be in his space. We all felt a sense of reverence while we were there. Scott pointed out how cool it was that the office was really beautifully crafted, the walls were beautiful, the ceiling was beautiful, the paintings, but everything else that belongs to the prophet was simple. He had his scriptures carefully set on top of his desk and they were marked and worn. He had pictures of his family and gifts that people had given to him. It was such a cool experience. With Stephanie's aunt's permission, the kids sat on his big chair.. Brielle couldn't contain her excitement. She said, "I am never washing this dress again, it has President Monson's DNA!!!" It was so funny and sweet, I think she understand that President Monson is a special man!
Braden also got a turn.
We were so grateful to have been able to experience this as a family.
It made the field trip, that much more exciting!
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Jana and I took our kids on a fun hike to Hidden Falls.
It was the perfect little hike.
I love how well all of these kids get along!
We had been planning to take these kids hiking for a while and had to cancel plans because of rain. We decided to try again, and that day was cloudy with a chance of rain. We decided to venture up there anyway. We didn't realize it was going to be cold too! We didn't bring jackets but the kids were good sports and took turns warming up with the only blanket we had.
It really was the perfect little hike with a little waterfall at the end.
We had some yummy snack and enjoyed the beauty around us.
We had to take a picture of us!
We always have pictures of the kids and none of just me and Jana!
I love that girl!
At the end of the hike, it really started to come down and
they got creative and used the blanket as shelter!:)
Funny kids!
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Another day, we headed to Millcreek Canyon with our neighbor friends.
This time, it was a sunny day.
Millcreek Canyon has got to be one of my favorite places to go explore here in Utah.
I'm so grateful to live in such a beautiful place where we can get to the mountains and explore in less than 15 minutes. I can definitely see why people who come to Utah, stay here. The beauty of the mountains is like no other!
