August is Autumn’s choreography intensive month and she was BUSY learning dances from some really awesome choreographers. Her Teen touring team at her dance school is so good this year! Autumn is one of the babies on the team (her team ranges from 13-17 years of age), so she is learning a lot from the older girls on her team. So far she is loving it. She also had a couple of days of practice before school started for her Jr. High dance team and she LOVES being on that team! The girls are all really nice and it’s a fun way for her to be more involved in her Jr. High.
Bryce and I attempted to hike to the summit of Timpanogos twice this month. On the first attempt, I tripped over a tree root about 2 miles into the 15 mile hike and hit the ground HARD. I had a mild concussion and really banged up my shoulder and knee. After sitting on the ground for more than 30 minutes until the world stopped spinning, we decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to continue the hike and gave up for the day. It was a big bummer!
We tried again a week later and after 7 1/2 miles of hiking up the mountain through some beautiful forests and meadows full of the most beautiful wildflowers...
…and after meeting this mountain goat and her two babies along the trail...
…and scaling some pretty scary shale cliffs, we finally made it to the top!!
It was a little cloudy when we first got there, but the clouds blew off to show us this stunning view...
It was exhilerating to make it to the top, for sure. Hiking back 7 1/2 miles was still beautiful, but exhausting - it started to feel like we would never make it back. :) We did find what has got to be the toilet with the most stunning view in the world on our way back down.
Devin was able to go through the temple to receive his endowment at the Mt. Timapnogos temple this month. That was a really good day. :) We also went to the Provo and Provo City Center temples with him this month as well. Also, while Bryce and I were in Canada, the kids all went to the temple and did baptisms with Devin doing the baptizing. They all thought that was pretty cool.
I tripped down the basement stairs while carrying a highchair and snapped my baby toe in two pieces - ouch! After the instacare doc said I probably wouldn’t be able to hike on our Canadian trip that was only 3 days away, I made an appointment with my orthopedist, who taught me how to wrap it like a soft cast and also gave me a steel insole to use in my hiking shoe as long as I promised to not hike “too far” and to rest it and wear the ugly surgical shoe whenever I wasn’t hiking.
So Bryce and I took an amazing 24th wedding anniversary trip to the Canadian Rockies. We flew into Calgary and then drove through Banff to Cathedral Mountain where we spent two nights exploring Yoho National Park.
Our resort was right along the Kicking Horse River
Takakkaw Falls - gorgeous! “Takakkaw” means “It is magnificent” in Cree, and that pretty much sums it up. It sounds like a jetliner is flying overhead it’s so loud.
Angels Staircase Falls
Point Lace Falls
Emerald Lake - We hiked all the way around this lake and it is stunning!
After 2 nights in the Cathedral Mountain area, we drove to Lake Louise, where we braved the busloads of tourists to see this beautiful sight.
From Lake Louise, we took the super popular trail to Lake Agnes. It was seriously bumper to bumper people the whole way up and back, but worth it to see the amazing views and make to to Lake Agnes...
We then drove to Lake Moraine where we spent a couple of nights at the Lake Moraine Lodge. Bryce told me before we got there that he thinks Lake Moraine is one of the prettiest places he has ever seen, and I would have to agree. The pictures hardly do it justice.
We took the canoes out to get a better look...
The view from our cabin...
Bryce had a little fun with the bears, and we were glad that we only saw one live bear while we were driving in our car.
After that, it was a beautiful drive back to Calgary and a flight home. We were sad to leave the beautiful Canadian Rockies, but happy to see our kiddos again. We missed seeing Autumn and Seth off on their first days of 8th and 11th grades, but Megan made sure they had a good breakfast and captured their excited smiles...
We got home just in time for my birthday. I celebrated by taking Megan and Devin to do a little shopping to get ready to move back to college and then taking them both out for my birthday lunch. :) It wasn’t until I sat down across from them at lunch that we all realized that Megan and Devin dressed like little twinners that day..
Megan headed back to Logan for another year at USU. She is loving being back in Logan and back in school. Here’s her first day of school photo that she sent me.
I helped Devin move back to Provo for another semester at BYU
He is loving his classes (mostly) and was excited to get hired as a TA for one of his microbiology classes that he took last year. He’ll be doing that along with working in the lab. When I asked him to send me a first day of school photo, this is what I got...
We ended the month by getting all new windows in our house. They are so much nicer than the windows we had and I just love them! Now we are trying to figure out what sort of window treatments we want to do.
That’s it for August - see you next month!
2 comments:
another great blog, It made me homesick to see the beautiful Canadian Rockys. Congratulations on climbing Timp. I always wanted to do that climb, Maybe in the next life. Looks like everyone is happy to be back to school.
You sure do a fabulous job with the blogs. I wish all others would do as well. Love you all.
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