Mommy Lunch

A day in the life of a substitute teacher...  Ammon decorated my lunch sack for my teaching day.  So sweet when my kids do this for me. 

Red Pine Lake

 Fall is in full swing up in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  Melissa Yorgenson and I had gotten together to do Red Pine Lake.  It splits off to White Pine Lake but that will be another day.

View of Salt Lake Valley as we climbed higher.

This place is gorgeous!  Seriously wish pictures could show the marvel of this beautiful earth.  Not a busy day with hikers but did run into one gentleman who took our picture. 

I'd like to backpack up here and camp...

Again, the yellows of the aspen trees were spectacular, but this picture doesn't show it much.  It was sweet seeing the contrast of the yellow leaves on the deep green pines.  It was almost magical.

  A wonderland of nature.  Imagine the deep refreshing smells of the pines and a slight musty smell of morning dew of the fallen leaves.  The sounds of the breeze whispering in the pines and quaking the remaining aspen leaves up in the naked trees.  Glorious.

Family Pictures

 Before my friend Kendall Rudd Klubber moved out to Georgia, she took our family pictures.  No we aren't the perfect Utah dressed and coordinated family, but I was glad we got a picture.  It's been awhile since we had gotten one.

Wonder Woman Ride

 The entire summer I had learned and worked hard at road biking.  This is my first season doing anything with biking, and I've loved it!  It's the perfect workout for me.  I'm not a big runner, or I think it's boring, but with biking it seems to work my whole body and I get to explore the entire valley.  I find thrill in riding on the roads with traffic.  I know the rules, but I just hope the traffic does too.  This picture, I came upon these row of cars...although they are parked the thought occurred to me "I hope no one opens their doors while I ride by..." hahaha

Trent had put this up the day before my event.  I aimed to do 70 miles but my riding friend coaxed me to do the 100...so I did.

My first ever road bike event, The Wonder Woman Ride down in Payson, UT.  It started early so the picture was dark, but despite the chilly temp, I was ready to conquer something this day.

 Getting ready to take off with the 30 or so riders that are working toward the 100 miles...Throughout the day we met up with the other riders doing the 70, 30 and 15.

 All day we rode around Payson, and the different small towns like Santaquin, Genola, Mona, Goshen Canyon, Goshen, around West Mountain by Utah Lake (beautiful apple orchards), around Benjamin and back around in Payson.  It was a perfect weather day and I loved having my friend Tia White motivate me to be my best.  She is who I owe all my accomplishments to.  She taught me all I know about biking.  Everything from equipment, maintenance, nutrition, bike functions, and training.  I'm still a beginner, but without her I probably would have only tried the 15 or 30 mile event.  She pushed me and showed me what I was capable of.  I appreciate her so much and was sad that she moved across the valley from me.  I respect her and owe all of my "therapy" to her.  It was a great summer.

The one and only picture with Tia White.  She will not allow any pictures of her, so Trent was able to sneak one in of her at our finish line.  My bum was super sore, but otherwise I felt pretty good and my muscles weren't too sore the following days.  Again, this was a wonderful experience that I will always remember.  Thank you Tia for being such a good friend and motivator.

Trent and Tarin came to see me finish, and take a candid picture...

Best Buddies

 Ammon and his buddies like to come out to the hills and rock piles to explore and just be boys.  I told them to pose for a picture and this is what I got...so cute.  

Here is Ammon and Canyon McKenzie throwing rocks off the big hill trying to throw the farthest.

Here is Ammon with all of his buddies at Canyon's house for a late night, movie and fun.

Carter Steed, Corbin Brady, Canyon, Caden Schow and Bryce Schow...Ammon up top with Krue (Canyon's brother)

Big Cottonwood Canyon Marathon

 Trent had worked really hard for this race.  This summer he ate so perfectly and trained exactly as he could have.  Several runs were long and hot, so he'd run early in the mornings.  For his longer runs we'd get up at 5am and I'd drive him up American Fork Canyon to Tibble Fork Resuvior and drop him off in the dark.  He'd run down the canyon, across the valley and home to a nearby park that we'd left a car at.  He is amazing.  So it was no surprise that he shaved 21 mins off his last time!  A personal Best for sure.  Final time 3:30.24!  Way to go babe!  With your next age bracket, you are close to qualifying for Boston!  Next year!!!

Raegan and I meet him at the finish line.  Because it goes down the canyon, there really aren't many places to cheer then get down to the finish line in time.  Lots of traffic and people.  But it was exciting to see him finish strong!

Ward CampOut

We wanted to stay the night, but Trent had his big marathon race the next morning.  So I dragged the kids up Spanish Fork Canyon almost to Price Canyon, past Scofield turn off to where the girls had girls camp last summer.  This place was pretty cool.  We got there while the sun was still up and watched as others arrived.  The kids played with others and I whipped out the foil dinners that I had prepared earlier.  I was ready to do a campfire, but someone had a grill, so I put them on and cooked them up.  These were so so good!

I think I captured all the kids with friends except Tarin.  She was off exploring.

The ward had a program and our neighbors had a band that played.  It was fun to eat smores and fun desserts.

It was hard to tell them it was time to go.  But it was worth the drive and fun times.

Nils Rassmusen from the ward took this photo.  It captured the night so well.  It was so dark and clear that the stars just sang with glory.  Such a wonderful world we live in.  

The Loner

The mini van was in the shop and this was the loner.  This took me back to my childhood days.  My mom loved her astro van.  It was funny to drive this around town.  The kids loved it, because it had cloth seats!  To funny!  I guess I didn't realize how much they disliked the stiff, faux leather seats in our 10 yr old van.  For some of the kids, that's all they've ever known. hahaha.

Ensign Peak

 It was Labor Day weekend, so we all had the day off of school and work.  We decided to try Ensign Peak.  Never been there, so why not say we will.  Driving up past the capital in Salt Lake City it was beautiful.  Found the trail head and started up the steep trail.  Not too long, but it was hot and sunny.

At the top...

He found a few "wishes" at the park by the trail head and it was so cute I had to try and capture it...

Spirit Day

 Crazy hair day at school.  Ammon liked it, but was grumpy that it wasn't exactly what he wanted... I tried.  Raegan liked the all Red look.

While Dad Was Away...

 Thought I would try something new... breakfast bowls for dinner.  Bacon, eggs, peppers, cilantro...  It was good, not great, but fun to try.

Let the kids sleep in the tent in the living room...

Always a hit :o)

Weird!!

This incident still has me baffles.  Trent was out of town since a few days ago, so I sent him this picture and tried to explain what happened...if only I knew what really happened...still not sure.  Sunday morning, we had time to waste since church is at 11am.  Ammon was out on the back patio with a screw driver and hammer digging through the flower beds (he likes to stay busy doing random things...)  I'm in my bathroom getting ready and windows are open.  I hear a sudden POW like a quick explosion like a shot gun.  I went to the window and asked if he was ok... nothing.  So I called to him again, finally he responded but obviously confused.  He came in and showed me this.  I think a shot gun shell was buried in the dirt or a bullet.  With all the construction debris or even Ammon finding it and forgot he buried it... I don't know, but he hit it with the screw driver and hammer and it exploded and spread buck shot or just sandy dirt all over his leg that was close to it.  It welted up but went down after a little bit.  Just glad it wasn't worse.  He was shaken up, but was fine after most of it healed up.

Birthday Party

 Saturday after Raegan's birthday, she invited a few friends to the Lehi pool.  These are her best buddies, Sabre and Trinity.  Ammon loves to hang with me to keep me company, while these girls had a blast together.

Sunday, Gma and Gpa Wardwell came by to give Raegan her birthday present.  Yep, she wanted a onsie and decided on the owl one.  So cute.  And being a star wars fan, they got her some legos too.

Happy Birthday, First Day of School

Morning pancakes for the birthday girl!  Starting the day off right!

The big 1-1, almost a youth and only one more year of primary...the awkward year when you feel to old to be in primary and activity days...

First Day Of School

Rian is in her sophmore year in high school but also means first year in the actual building of high school.  So she hits the bus early and had to grab a quick picture.

Jarom is a freshman, so really in high school, but still at Vista Middle School building.  Our garage door will measure Jarom's height each year...Tarin is 7th grade at Vista.  Raegan in 6th and Ammon in 2nd grade.  Ammon had to do his own hair today...  A great bunch of kids!  Love them and miss them already!

 Elementary school sign

 After school Rian and Raegan had piano lessons in Cedar Hills.  While Rian was in her lesson, Ammon, Raegan and I went for a bike ride on the trails.  Miss this place.

Then while Raegan was in her lesson, Ammon and I hit the hammock the piano teacher, Lynsie Brown, has in her front yard.

Love my boy...

Afterwards, we finished the final touches on Raegan's birthday cake.  She did a great job!

Finally, it was family time to sing and give presents.  Thinking hard on her wish...

Because her birthday was on the first day of school, we decided to do her birthday lunch (check out of school) the next day.  Stretch out the festivities as much as possible.  :o)  Love you Bacon!