Hiking Squaw Peak

Thursday Kathee and I hike Squaw Peak on Thursday. There were several meadows full of butterflies. All those orange specks you see are butterflies. I'm not sure what type of plant this was but the butterflies loved it. There were hundreds of butterflies and tons of bees but no bumble or honey bees.
Here is Kathee out in the meadow.
Here is Kathee in front of Mount Timpanogos. It is the mountain in the background.
This is beautiful rock canyon.
This is the view from the top of Squaw Peak. My house is down there somewhere.
This is a closer view. My house is close to the middle of this picture.
See that parking lot down there? That is where our car is parked.
Here's a closer view. Can you see it now?
Here is Kathee with the northern view of the valley in the background.
Looking West.
Enjoying a little break at the top. It was a great place to stop and contemplate the mysteries of the universe.
The southern view.
Here I am home again. I thought I'd capture Eli while showing you the view of Squaw Peak from my house. I called home from the top so Brett, Cole, and Grant could find us through binoculars.
It was another great adventure with my friend. It was worth getting up early on Pioneer Day...the butterflies, view, fresh air...ahhh.

Hiking the "Y"

Lately my friend Kathee and I have been pushing ourselves a little trying to get ready to climb King's Peak. Here's Kathee in the parking lot at Y mountain. I don't think you can tell how steep it is from this picture. The "Y" is in the picture. It's the white blob about 2/3 rds of the way up.Keep in mind as you see these pictures that this is a "come as you are party." I roll out of bed by 6:45 and am out the door by 7. Here I am at the bottom of the "Y."
Here I am at the top of the Y. Isn't it a great view?
BYU is down there somewhere. Can you find it?
Here we are again. It is nice having a camera because we always seem to make new friends when we ask them to take our picture. The guy who took this is off to China for three years to teach English with his family. He and his wife are school teachers. They have four children...ages 3 toaround 15, his oldest daughter was with him. His friend has 4 children...three of them are age three. Yep...triplets. He said that it is a real challenge. We love meeting new people.
This is from the top of the Y looking up the mountain. This is as high as we go though.
Tomorrow is our usually walk followed by yoga. We are hiking squaw peak on Thursday. Wait until you see the view from there. Last Friday my family hiked to Timp Caves. I haven't posted those pictures yet. What are you doing for exercise? Are you taking care of yourselves?

Halloween Decor is Out

I thought I'd share the latest decor at the Gatehouse on State Street in Orem. They usually have some great displays. Can you believe it is already out? It's every where, Michael, Tai Pan Trading (another favorite haunt), and Gardner Village. My girls and I decided to start working on a Halloween project. We've been off finding just the right fabrics. I'll post it when it's finished if it turns out. Enjoy!See the black cat in the pumpkin? That's what I want to add to my collection this year. I'm saving my pennies. I hope it isn't gone before I get them saved. lol


These are the little figurines that Stephanie and I collect.

Aren't they cute? I had to add that little dragon to my collection this year. (Front, left)

Don't you love this cast iron fence?
I do love the vintage reproductions that have been around the last few years.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures. If you live in the area, go check it out. It is much better is person. (I receoved permission to take the pictures btw. They were very gracious when I asked.) Hmmm, I wonder what "Dear Lizzy" has on display these days. I'm sure Candice will want to check before she goes home. They always have something inspiring.

I have two posts today so keep reading. I even took lots of pictures to post. I haven't had much computer time. Eli is home and wants his computer back. I think I'm in the market for a laptop. I miss checking out everyone's blogs in the evenings.

Happenings in the Backyard

Here is the tree house that my husband is building for the grandkids. Yep, that is him up in the treehouse. This is where we are today.Candice and Brett in the tree house. It's kind of high. I missed taking one of the overall view so you could really see how high it is. It is finished enough so Grant and Cole can play in it safely.
The view from the tree house of the backyard. This is looking toward our house.
The back corner of the yard where the tree house is just going up. Grant is trying to be very helpful.
OK, I'm kind of going backwards here because this is the platform on the end of day two.
This is the beginning of day two. Day one was pouring footings. See how the boys are trying to be helpful? Grandpa had lots of help.
More of grandpa's helpers.
Here is the shed in the backyard. When the tree house is finished, it will have shingles painted gray, with white trim and red shutters so that it matches the shed.
Here is the waterfall in the backyard just off the deck. I love to hear the water running.
Here is a closeup of our Koi. We've never had babies though. I think the big koi must eat them.
More of the backyard.
This is a post and beam arch that my husband designed and made. Isn't he handy? That's Kindis, Eli's friend. They all just finished whiffle ball with Cole and Grant.
More from the tree house. Even I climbed up there to check it out.
I wish someone would do some weeding out there. That would be nice. We have been playing lots of Bocce Ball though. It is one of our favorite things this summer.

Catch up Time

Here is Cole enjoying the parade on the Fourth of July. It is a huge tradition for the kids to save our place on the parade route. Some of the adults took turns sitting on the spot. You could lay out your blankets the afternoon of the 3rd but someone had to stay with it or the police would move everything. The older kids, like Eli, spent the night.Here are Steph and Creed with McKenzie and Ladd her fiance standing behind them.
Cousin McKenzie and Eli.
The cousins and crazy Ladd. I guess he didn't want me to take his picture. Lol
Cory and Lynette, Brett's brother and SIL. Lynette ran in a 10K that morning and came in second in her age group. These are the ones who do ironman races, marathons, triathlons, etc.. Crazy I tell ya!
Here's curios George doing the Limbo.
Look he survived it. Cory and Lynette are yelling, "Spin it, spin it, spin it." We usually yelled loud enough that they would spin the balloons in front of us.
Here is the barbeque in the backyard. We put of several flags and metal stars but I didn't really get any good pictures. Candice took everyone's picture in front of the flag you see. Wish I had one to show you, they were pretty cool.
Here is the family eating. Exciting isn't it.
More of the same but now you can see what we were eating. Yum. This is making me hungry. Cory made up some veggie burgers that Brett and I ate. They were quite good. Lots of fruit, veggies, hamburgers, polish dogs, hot dogs, chips, brownies and ice cream. Those of us trying to be good had some kind of frozen fruit thing that Cory made up. It was interesting to say the least. Not quite as good as ice cream and brownies. Ok...to be truthful, it wasn't even close.

We went to the parade and had a BBQ at our house afterward. We have been feeding the multitude lately since we had Eli's homecoming and all the kids home for a while and then fourth of July with my husband's family. Very fun and it is keeping us busy.

What else have we done? We've played games, watched movies, watched So You Think You Can Dance, (the kids watch "The Office" 3 seasons I think), went to see the play "Footloose" (it was awful), went to see "Get Smart" at the movies one night (it was fun and we liked it), Marissa and I got our hair cut, Brett and I babysat, did lots of cooking, eating, and cleaning up, took family portraits, the kids went to DI to get spy costumes and then we took spy pictures of them one night (that was a crack up...grown up kids playing dress ups. I hope they never get too old for that.), and so many other things I can't even think of. I'm off to help with the building of the tree house. I've only had to go out and help at least 10 times since I've started this post an hour and a half ago. I'll catch you later!

I forgot to mention the Lavender festival. I think I have some pictures of that but Steph posted about it on her blog if you want to check it out. Sorry I didn't link to the exact spot on her blog. I'm now off to see a play at the Hale...Little Women the musical. I love going to the Hale Theatre.