Utah trip 2009!

We always look forward to our annual trip to Utah! This year was especially cool with a much anticipated wedding of my cousin, Sara and Troy's 2nd annual sibling backpacking trip. This year the destination was to King's Peak. The kids and I did some extra fun things in Troy's absence but Troy had the camera so I don't have any cool pics. Oh well his photos make up for it. It feels like I was almost there.

Unfortunately we did not get hardly any pictures of my cousin Sara's wedding due to seeing people and family we don't see ever or very often I should say but here is a shot Troy snuck while waiting for the couple to come out of the Bountiful Temple.

These are shots of Troy's backpacking trip.
This is Troy, Scott, Dane and Katy.

Troy's tent...very exciting.

A waterfall with Katy and her friend/(boyfriend?) Jake!

Friends on the Falls.

This is a rock shoot they took that they could have died on.

13,000 feet!

Wild Flowers

I love these pictures and hope to blow them up SUPER BIG!


Cutthroat Troy caught for supper.

Porcupine

The Lake

On the trail

Before going on his hike Troy satisfied Gavin's (NEED) to fish by taking him behind my aunts yard to fish in the creek. They caught a Whopper!

After Troy returned to SLC we went to COWABUNGA with my cousin Diane and her cousins whom my kids adopted. It was KILLER! If your kids are 42 inches they can pretty much have free reign of the place.


Mazzy could even go on almost everything and she took full advantage of Troy at her disposal!


Gavin loves to eat!

Gavin and Colby definitely got their exercise.

We finished off almost every day with a Marshmellow fest in Ann's Backyard!

Great Grandma even joined in on the nightly events!

We LOVE UTAH!

Backpacking Over the 4th

4th of July weekend was coming up, and with no significant plans, I figured I'd take the Bobs backpacking and flyfishing. I knew a good place up in the Sierra Nevadas that was ideal for Gavin and Colby. Since they are little (6 & 4 years old), I figured I would carry most of the gear, and if they could just walk with their small sleeping bags, we would make it. We headed off July 3rd, just the three of us just to spend some outdoor time together and fish. Loralee was contemplating bringing Mazzy, by in the end decided against it.

We first arrived at Big Bend State Park to get an update on the trail. There are two ways into the lake area, unfortunately my Infinfiti doesn't have the clearance required to get us to the easy trailhead, so we had to take the harder trail, which is 2.5 miles with 1000+ elevation climb.


On the trail, it still felt like spring time in the Sierras, the flowers were out and yes also were the lizards. As sneaky as Gavin and Colby are, the lizards took them by a long shot.




Whats a backpacking trip without fire. Gavin and Colby, my guess are like all other kids (other than the fact that Colby hates shoes and shirts) in that they can spend all night throwing sticks into the fire. It was nice to be able to relax and watch the Lord of the Flys instinct start to take over.



The lake in the morning was perfect, other than the fact there were no fish.


The following morning, we packed up and got out of there. Surprisingly, the way down was much longer than the way up. Even with the downhill, the kids were tired from the night before and they weren't overly fond of the instant oatmeal in the morning so both were on empty stomachs. Plus to top it off, Gavin had to go to the bathroom so he wanted to hurry while Colby was tired and wanted to stop.


We made quick time to Denny's in Auburn, a restaurant I haven't been to in 10 years. Surprisingly, it was pretty good. the kids liked the bacon and pancakes, and then we were off again to the Bay Area for the fireworks. It turned out to be a great trip.