We went up into the mountains near our home to do new family pictures for the first time in 4 years since that's how long it's been since we have all been together. We sure live in a beautiful place!
My sister Kim and her husband Tim came to visit for the 4th of July. She and I took at 8 mile hike to Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood canyon. It was a stunning hike!
My brother Bill and his wife Mia and their daughter Logan also made the trek from California to join us for the 4th of July holiday. We had lots of fun together, including hanging out on the patio and hiking to Stuart falls in Provo Canyon in the days leading up to the holiday.
Then on the 4th of July we started the day with a Wizard Run 5k virtual run for me, Devin, Beth and Bryce:
And then a huge BBQ and games and fireworks for about 30 of our extended family. It was a really fun day!! Happy birthday America!
Our big adventure for the month happened when Seth, Autumn, Bryce and I drove to Oregon to visit Grandma Ririe and the Bakes. What a fun week we had! We started our fun with a trip to the Rose garden and the Japanese gardens:
We spent the rest of the week at the coast, where we enjoyed beautifully sunny, but super windy and cool weather. Pretty typical. But that didn't stop us from heading to the beach for some skim boarding, walking along the beach, and for Autumn and Seth, a quick dip in the freezing cold Pacific ocean.
We never had a good low tide, but we went to the tide pools anyway and explored a bit. We also discovered this really cool tree swing overlooking the ocean and each took a few turns enjoying the excitement and the amazing view.
We discovered a new 6 mile hike through the forests along the coastline that led us to this beautiful and nearly empty beach.
We visited the newly reopened Tillamook Cheese factory. We had to have a timed reservation to enter the building, but that was actually awesome because hardly anyone was in there and we got to enjoy our cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and tillamook ice cream virtually alone.
We visited Mo's for some clam chowder and Read's for some yummy taffy. All in all, a perfect Oregon coast vacation. :)
We also visited the grounds of the Portland, Oregon temple while we were in town. We are all looking forward to the day when we can be in the temple again.
And in other July news, Megan received her diploma for her Master's degree in communicative disorders - we are so proud!! And Devin celebrated his 23rd birthday!! He has been busy teaching at the MTC via zoom and also working at a microbiology lab in Lehi. He will graduate from BYU with his bachelor's degree in microbiology in December and then hopes to work for a few months before starting a masters program. He loves being in the lab. He's a nerd and we love him for it. :) And Seth did his mission report for our ward and for friends and family who wanted to join via zoom. He did an awesome job! He is keeping busy working at BYU for the summer.
Oh yeah, and we also wore masks a lot and prayed for the day when we won't have to.
See you all next month!
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