BeUTAHful

We've enjoyed lots of hiking this last little while.  On occasion, we like to run up to Red Butte and wander around their gardens and mountains.  On our last adventure we got a little lost and found a really cool ruin.

Red Butte Garden after I got home from work!

Hiking the mountains

Love that red rock hair!

It's cool to imagine what the Pioneer might have seen as they came down Emigration Canyon.

And then we got a little lost...

"I know where we are, Kelsey!"

"Okay, I don't know where this is..."

Can you spot the hidden creature?  I'll give you a hint, it's not Tannin

Bunny!

The Quarry Home

Then we hiked Lake Mary and the Brighton Lakes Trail with Uncle Rob from Canada on Saturday.

Mid-discussion about glacial smoothing on the granitic rock.

Uncle Rob is a geologist, and had once spent a full week mapping the geology of this area.

He and Taylor had a lot to talk about.

 All the wild flowers were out and beautiful.

As we walk through fields of gold...

Uncle Rob could literally tell you the difference of how these peaks were created.

I love all the colorful plants growing out of the rock.

Taylor guessed correctly on how this granitic rock got it's layers.

Nerdy Taylor FTW!

Beautiful! (meaning Kelsey; the scenery fails in comparison) <--TayTay

Then we went on a hike to Catherine's Pass up Little Cottonwood with my Mom on Tuesday.

This field of wild flowers was my favorite!

We ate lunch afterwards with my Mom, and then Taylor saw these little guys and had to get them to relive his childhood.

I could only handle a few...

Also, I'm so proud of my Taylor.

Lizards Deserve to Kayak Too

I'm really proud of Taylor who's now gotten 10 Secondaries!

He's been hard at work with all the many essays now. More to come by next week!

Here is Tannin helping him out with her expert lizard advice.

"Hmm, yes, that's very good, Dad, but shouldn't you add in something about fat worms?"

Our home had been in chaos ever since we got our kayak and have been re-doing furniture.  Here's a snippet of the Great Mess That Gives Kelsey Anxiety.

Yep!  Our kayak is longer than our living room....

Tannin is jealous she doesn't get to come along.

I don't think she realizes this boat goes into a big lake.

And I don't think she'd like the choppy water if she doesn't even like a calm, warm bath.

We hiked to Timpanogos Cave with the Justice parents for a belated Father's Day.

And on to the next piece of furniture...

4th of July-2015

We started our Fourth of July celebrations by camping at Tanner's Flat up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We were excited to try our new tent!

It's SUPER roomy and very tall. The hinge door is pretty cool. The rainfly looks dismal, but it's because we decided not to put it up halfway through the process...

Our camping backyard was pretty fun, and full of adventure.  Lots of granite boulders to hike around. 

And we always find wildflowers in the weirdest places.

For dinner we made tin-foil dinners.

And for dessert, campfire blueberry-lemon cake.

Best. Dessert. Ever.

Taylor finally found out how to take revenge on his physics book. 

Fulfillment!

This is why we took the rainfly off: so we could watch the stars and trees through our tent as we went to sleep. 

In the morning, TayTay made eggs and blueberry pancakes using our new camp stove. It was awesome to have breakfast made quickly.

Bluberry teeth!

After breaking down camp, we took out our new Sea Eagle 370 Kayak, to try it out on the lake. 

Kayak!!

On the actual Fourth of July holiday, we went on a hike with the Drake family to Willow Heights Lake (Pond). 

It was beautiful!

This is the view once we reached the lake (pond). 

Wildflowers were everywhere!

Yeah, we look hot (sweaty).

Tay just likes to rub it in everyone's face. 

Smell that!

This cute towel that Gma Linda made sums up our 4th of July holiday well:

America the "bee-utiful"

Gpa Bill made us an amazing fourth of July dinner (that Gma Linda made awesome decorations for).

On Sunday, we had a BBQ with the Justice parents and Gma Yvette and Gpa Jack.

And I got to bike ride for the first time since I've hurt my back!