July 2012

July went by in a flash – here’s a look at some of the things we did this month:
We celebrated the 4th without fireworks this year due to a mandatory ban on all fireworks thanks to our super dry weather and the fact that a massive fire was burning on the hills above Alpine over the 4th of July.  We had friends who were evacuated but were never in any danger here in Highland.  It’s amazing that no homes were lost although there were several close calls and it was only through the heroic efforts of the firefighters that everyone was able to safely return to their homes a few days later.
Seth, Bryce and I ran the Provo Freedom Festival 10K on the 4th of July and Seth was super excited to run the entire 6.2 miles and cross that goal off his list.  He still loves to go for morning runs though.  We’re glad at least one of our children has caught the running bug!

Later that day, the Bakes came for a 3 day stay and we had a great time having them here!  We spent a day exploring downtown Salt Lake City and touring the Lion House.  We had planned to hike to the top of Mt. Timp. the next day, but with the fire burning, American Fork canyon was closed, so we decided to hike to the Y instead. That hike is steep and it was so hot, but the views from the top were worth the effort.  We celebrated completing our hike by spending the afternoon at Seven Peaks waterpark.  We all wished the Bakes could have stayed longer and have already come up with some fun ideas for the next time they are here. :)



Seth went to Scout Camp the following week at Bear Lake and had an awesome time being with his troop and earning tons of merit badges.  He worked so hard to do the mile swim, completing 2 training swims in the lake, but unfortunately, the day of the mile swim was very windy and the lake was really rough but Seth made it quite a ways before he had to quit.  He was disappointed in not completing the mile, but his troop was so impressed that he was the only boy from their troop to even try it, and he recovered from his disappointment pretty quickly.

Devin, Seth and Bryce all went to the Stake Encampment the next week, which was in the mountains above Beaver.  They all had a great time!  Seth got to work on even more merit badges while Devin and Bryce did all sorts of high adventure activities including hiking, biking, mule riding, canoeing, white water rafting, rock climbing and rappelling and all sorts of leadership training stuff.  Devin was one of only 3 boys from the entire stake to complete a triathlon as an individual – all the other boys did it in teams.  Of course, Bryce didn’t get any pictures, but you will just have to take my word for it that they had a great time!
While the boys were gone, Autumn just happened to have the week off from dance and Megan the week off from work, so we had an awesome Mom and Daughter fun week complete with hikes, shopping, a swim meet, chick flicks and an overnighter in Park City where we had fun alpine sliding, zip lining and riding the Alpine roller coaster.  Megan and I even got to do an impromtu run down the ski run when Autumn was able to do the alpine slide right before a rainstorm started and they stopped letting people down the slide, meaning that Autumn was stuck at the bottom alone and not knowing where Megan and I were.  She was pretty scared and very excited when she saw us coming down the mountain for her.  It was a fun week!


Bryce and I ran the Timpanogos half marathon down American Fork Canyon and I ended up getting my fastest time ever for a half, which was pretty exciting.  It was beautiful for the first several miles and really tough for the last few – it definitely felt good to cross the finish line. :)

Devin celebrated his 15th birthday with lunch at a Brazilian steakhouse that he has been wanting to try for a while and presents galore.  It’s been a long while since we have been in town for his birthday and I think he really enjoyed that.



That’s it for our month – hope you all have a fabulous August!