The Last of Summer

For our last big hooray before school began, we held a mini-family reunion up in Park City. Dad got a steal of a deal on a house in Deer Valley. It was amazing!! There was an indoor hot tub and sauna and a gigantic kitchen and a beautiful large family/living room. There was also an enormous drop-down screen and big bedrooms.

We headed up Friday afternoon and enjoyed getting settled in. Mom, Chris and I walked around and explored our surroundings. It began pouring! But the fresh clean air smelled incredible. There was one grill for the complex, but it was down by the pool. We had planned on making shish-kabobs, and didn't want to go all the way down to the pool in the downpour. So Chris and I pulled on raincoats, and pulled and dragged the grill all the way up to our porch. We carried it up stairs and across a muddy hillside; but all of the work in the end was worth it--the food was amazing!This is Nate and Chris moving the grill back the next morning

That night we had a YouTube night on the big screen, and then we all went hot tubbing, mom and dad even joined in on the fun.
Dad and mom were very generous and gave Chris and I the master bedroom for the weekend. It had a big master suite bathroom with a jetted tub and a beautiful shower. The hot tub had a door connected to the bedroom, and the room had beautiful big windows that made you feel like you were outside.


Saturday morning I woke up early and Laurie and I did some yoga and X-Stretch with Tony (P90x) with the big screen. It was really refreshing and so pretty overlooking the view out of the big windows at all the Aspen trees surrounding the house.
Mom, dad, Chris and I went for a hike in the afternoon up in the Deer Valley Resort. We followed a 3 mile beautiful trail up to the highest point of the resort through aspen trees and meadows. As the trail wrapped up around the top of the mountain it became SO windy, but it still was a lot of fun. Then, we took the ski lifts back down the mountain. The perfect way to hike! Get in a great workout, and then save your knees on the way down.

We went back to the house and spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the pool and hot tub. It was about 70 degrees outside, but the pool was a lot warmer than the air. After lounging around, Chris and I ran by the outlet malls. I got a new winter coat on sale. This was a great find, because I don't have a coat. I'm still not sure how I survived last winter without one. Chris was adamant that I get it.

We headed back to the house and for dinner enjoyed a big salad bar. We played Balderdash and then watched movies until bedtime.

The next morning we had french toast and packed up the house and headed back to Provo for church. It was such a great weekend get-away that we'll have to do again!

Hiking Mt Timpanogos

The weekend before school started we hiked Timp with our friends the Clarks, Josh, Andy and Esther.

A lot of people had the same idea as us, there were so many people on the trail. We began hiking at 2:30 am and made it to the top by 6 am. Chris led our pack, which meant a fast pace. We passed 94 people on our way up.

One of my favorite things about the hike was seeing the glow of headlamps all along the switchbacks

We made it to the top in plenty of time to watch the sunrise. It was so cold and so windy though!

The view was incredible from the top
We had a lot of fun, but were exhausted. We went home and showered, and then konked out for a few hours before the first BYU football game of the season vs. Washington

Late night rock climbing

The climbing gym next to REI in Sandy one Friday every month stays open late for a great deal. It's $5 for admission and all climbing equipment. This special runs from 10pm-2am. We went with the Clarks and Josh.

It was crowded until around midnight, then the crowds dispersed.

I love how the camera picked up all the chalk dust in the air

The small things

A couple weeks ago I woke up after Chris had left for work, and walked into the bathroom to find this
I laughed so hard! Being married is so much fun

Two Dollar Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point

During the month of August Thanksgiving Point had a special deal on Tuesdays that admission to the Dinosaur Museum was $2 per person. Chris had been wanting to go to the museum for months, so we jumped at such a great deal.

I had an interview in American Fork on a Tuesday afternoon, so I meet Chris on his way home from work at Thanksgiving Point.

A lot of families with young children took advantage of the great deal also. With so many strollers and little kids running around everywhere, the excitement rubbed off on us also. I was very surprised that the majority of the fossils which were used to replicate what the dinosaurs would have looked like, the fossils were discovered in Utah, Colorado, or Wyoming.
Who knew there were so many dinosaurs here?

A raptor

T-Rex

Triceritops

And then they an exhibit on modern animals. And no, I'm not waving. I had posed looking scared, but the guy who took our picture took a lot longer than we had expected