When my kids found out there was treasure hunting to be done on Papa’s Midway property….there was not a second to waste. I literally think my kids retrieved every single water-logged golf ball there was in his stream!
Papa’s Place
Fairy Forrest
the kids and I heard about this mytrhical place called the Fairy Forrest…so you KNOW we had to check it out!
First, we had to follow the painted rocks. We were climbing over trees, through streams, and over boulders.
But after about a quarter of a mile…we found it! There were thousands of painted rocks and little fairy gardens everywhere!
Good thing we stopped at a Dollar Tree earlier today, because our nail polish came in handy.
Scout’s first rock was awesome!
Here is our loot of rocks — we had to look far to find an empty tree for our loot, but we found a perfect spot.
We even covered the tree in hearts, and declared it the “Denison Love tree”.
After our shenanigans…
We headed to the local soda fountain for some AMAZING homemade milkshakes!
Today was a GOOD day!
River Crossing
The beauty of Utah, is how beautiful it is year round. The falls and springs are hard to contend with, but the wildflowers all over in the summer, might be my top pick for most beautiful.
Today, we decided to head into the mountains, and drove off a random road to find this little gem of a river.
We had to kind of climb down to it, and before I got there, the kids were already hopping in the water. We spent an hour throwing rocks to skip and make big or small splashes.
The highlight, was crossing the river. It was rushing pretty good, but down river, it was so shallow, I knew that if my kids got in a sticky situation, they would only float away about 100 feet. Scout was the first to make it through the waist deep water. Navy followed. Then Dash wanted in. I told him that chest-high water is very dangerous, but Scout assured me he would keep Dash safe.
And just like he said — completely unscathed.
Deer Valley Club
The Samuelians offered to let us use the Deer Valley Club, and I jumped on it. I have had a little bit of hormonal craziness over the last month. My doctor said it might be Peri-menopause, but I think it might be “end of the school-year recovery”! Whatever it is, I was really looking forward to a few days with just my kids. And there isn’t a better place than Deer Valley to forget real life, and hop into a relaxation / fun mode.
My kids nailed relaxation.
And they nailed fun!
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One amazing memory that came out of our Deer Valley stay, was the UNO playing. We played well into the night, and got up early to play more. While we were playing, Scout developed a song that` he sang over and over, that we were all dying over!
It started out with “Camino Capistrano”. He sang it with a bit of a Spanish accent, and then continued on with street names, city names, and names of different locations. Then when he stopped the song, there would be a pause…then he started up again with Camino Capistrano. We would burst out laughing every time! The best part, is that he was singing it very mindlessly. It is the same way when he does his homework — he sings mindlessly while working. So while he was playing cards, he sang. We all started giving him more city name and street names, and he just added them in at his leisure. It was the funnest card-playing jam session EVER!
“Camino Capistrano, Stonehill, Dana Point….”and it went on , and on, and on!
Wild Things
We are all suckers for anything wild! So on our way to the Deer Valley Club this afternoon, we went on a hunt for wildflowers. You can’t even imagine the gasps from Navy and me, when we happened upon a field of the most gigantic dandelions. Navy jumped right out, and started picking away.
She scored about forty of these beauties!
As we headed off to get something to eat — we found more wild!
This time — wild strawberries!
My kids ate every single one of them!
Then on our way up to the club, we saw a hill covered in a variety of wildflowers — so we obviously had to stop again!
Because we obviously had to adorm our table with a beautiful bunch of wildflowers.
Proposals
I think this might be about the 14th proposal between these two. He always humbles himself to one knee. And she always says Y-E-S!
Frog Catcher
After a storm, the toads were out. Leave it to Navy to catch the winner. Every single cousin was in awe of her skills!
Temple Thunder
This picture represents the most amazing thunder/lightning storm ever! We were swimming in Draper (at Jessie’s house), when the rain came. Within minutes, the sky was dark grey, and the rain was pounding down. Then the entire sky would light up with fragmented lightning that rivaled any picture I have ever seen. And when the thunder boomed…Dash and Pippi’s eyes met mine with pure fear coming out of theirs, and pure delight coming out of mine! There is nothing like a summer storm in Utah. Except a summer storm over the Draper Temple in Utah!
Dressed Up
Bella’s dress ups are amazing!
I guess all of those years of collecting, proved to be worth it!
Dash was so in character (not sure what character), that he proposed!
She said YES!
Tibble Fork Reservoir
I think we discovered one of the most beautiful places in the world today. Tibble Fork Reservoir is tucked up in the Uinta mountains, and it is so picturesque, that my kids kept going on and on about it. The water is cold, which is why everyone there was in kayaks or canoes. Well, I never got the memo…so my kids braved it in tubes.
It actually took them a bit to muster up the courage.
But rad Scout — who is literally immune to the cold, floated all the way across to the other side.
I raved about how brave he was the whole time he was gone.
So Dash…with pure bravado…got on his tube, and started floating!
A quarter of the way out, he was stranded, and I told Scout he would have to go get him. Neither Scout nor Navy would go! They said they were already frozen! Since I was fully clothed, I waved down a canoeist. They were awesome to grab Dash, and bring him back. Scout and Navy were in tears by the time he came back, because they were laughing so hard!
How cute is Dash!
Pippi stuck with me most of the time, and really loved her new Froggy she kept talking to!
We spent a few hours at the reservoir, and definitely plan on making this an annual stop on our Utah trip!
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