Big Springs Hike

Driving mountain switch backs have always been super scary for me. I have recently decided that I need to overcome many of my fears because they are holding me back. So, when the Homeschool Adventure Club decided to go up Provo Canyon to Big Springs I told myself we were going. Brandon and I drove up there on a date a few days before so I knew where to go/what to expect. We also left early so we wouldn't have too much traffic on the way up.

All this preparation paid off big time because the boys and I had a wonderful trip. I was delighted at how well the boys did. They did very little complaining and they enjoyed the scenery as much as I did.

This is a fantastic hike for little kids because the trail is well marked, is in dappled shade/sun, and there are lots of places to play in the water. The boys and I hiked farther then most of the group and we made it to the meadow that is up the main trail. Then we sat down and ate the snacks that I had brought along. The boys also loved looking thru their binoculars (the ones they made at Lowe's many moons ago).

At one point a member of the group passed us and then yelled back that she could see some dear. Luke was all over that. He immediately left us and went to go find the dear. I was okay with it for a little while since I could see him, and then all of a sudden I couldn't. So I sent Peter to go and get him. You can just see the top of Peter in this picture. Luke still refused to come back so I had to go running after him. He was so mad at me. Thankfully, a little while later the dear came down closer to where we were sitting and Luke was able to see it.

Here are just a few of the other things we saw while we were up there.....

Pretending they are fishing

There were so many of these little streams

Peter found these berries

An arrow to point they way to a magical clearning

Once we were done hiking I let the boys play with the Frisbee's I brought in this grassy area. They were in heaven. While we were coming down the mountain I gave Peter the camera and told him to take a few pictures.

I love the pictures that he got. It really was one of those days where everything turned out to be so wonderful that it causes you to stop and count your blessings.

Springville Beach

It finally took a bunch a friends going up to the beach this year to get us up there. I don't know why it's been so hard for us to get there. The boys had such a wonderful time. I am actually really looking forward to going up there again once the kids go back to school so their aren't many crowds. This year Luke really enjoyed going farther out into the water.

For some reason Peter was not happy about going, so he wouldn't get in proper clothing. He also refused to go without socks. I was literally yelling at him to get in the car. I fear he is starting on the path of stubborness that we will never recover from.

 Great friends and chips always made these adventure so much fun!

Science Experiment

At the end of June I borrowed a movie from the library about caves. It was a Bill Nye the science guy DVD. The boys LOVED it and they learned a lot of new concepts. They wanted to do the experience that Bill suggested. So, we went to the store and bought a few supplies and went to work. This experiment was creating stalagmites and stalactites. It ended up being pretty amazing. Epsom salt in water went into a plastic cup that was suspended inside a box. Then we used a metal washer in the bottom of the cup to tie on string which we poked thru the box.When we were finished we had wet string dripping salty water.

I put the box in a dark spot in the pantry and we waited for a few days. We would check on it at least once a day for the first week. Then, the novelty wore off and we forgot to check on it for a week. When we did, we discovered that his experiment worked. It was so amazing to see the end result. This is such a great experiment and we plan on doing it again.

This is what happened when most of the water in the cup dripped onto the aluminum foil at the bottom......

The salty water the pooled at the bottom ended up being super cool too. I would have liked to put some of that water under a microscope to see what it looked like.

4th of July

The 4th of July is such a great holiday, because I know we will always have a bbq at the Thomas side. My boys look forward to it every year. This year we were missing the Bunderson Family, plus Rich. It was strange to have such a small table setup. Great-Grandma Thomas joined us this year, which helped. I was in charge of bringing a fruit salad. Fruit salads are a weak point in my culinary talent, so I just bought some fruit and plopped it into a bowl. It turned out to be very yummy even if we did have a lot of leftovers.

The younger cousins love getting together when we have family dinners. It's always interesting to see who will end up sitting by whom. Quite frequently, heated arguments start. It's been super wonderful not to have any kids in highchairs/booster seats anymore.

Post dinner playing outside. Peter and Brandon have been reading Harry Potter together at night, so this is Peter and his cousin Hailey using their "wands" to fight.

Every year on the 4th we travel up to Pleasant Grove to watch the city fireworks. Dad Thomas and the fire fighters are in charge of the fireworks and they always set up a nice spot for their families. That way we can get there later and still get a premium spot. This year they are doing construction on the Jr High (where they normally have the fireworks), so they hosted it at Discovery Park. It seemed to work out nice except for the people who decided to shoot off amazing firework nearby and delayed the show about 15 minutes. We always buy a couple packs of glow sticks for the kids to play with while we wait. This time we bought a lot so all the cousins would have some.

Sunday Drive

One week we decided to go on a bit of an adventure before church. We drove down to Santaquin canyon and looked at a few places to camp down there. Brandon was trying to find a new place to take the boys on their next trip.

I was delighted by what we found, especially since I didn't even know a canyon existed in Santaquin. On of the first places we found was this large picnic area called Trumbolt Park. It was incredible! I honestly felt like we were up in the high mountains of Montana. The boys loved exploring this area, and I hope we'll be able to go back soon. This would be a fun place to do school/picnic.

Then we continued on up the canyon and finally came to Santaquin Meadow. There were cows grazing up there which was super fun. It was such a beautiful meadow and I could imagine a pioneer cabin safety nestled between the pine trees. This would be a great place to bring the boys when we start studying early American history. I'm pretty sure Native Americans once roamed this beautiful area.

The next part in our journey found us by the LDS girls camp - Camp Kaholowo. I have awful, terrible, horrible memories of this place. So, my 2nd year of camp our YW group (from payson) camped on the side of a meadow near here. Then after a few days, we had to hike into this girls camp. The entire trip was horrible (I hate camping with all my heart - too much dirt), and the hike here just compounded my rotten attitude. When we visited today it was beautiful, but still not enough beauty to erase my terrible memories. Ironically enough, I never went back to camp after that year.

We then traveled up and over the ridge line and dropped into Payson Canyon. We scouted out BlackHawk and Payson Lake campgrounds. Brandon decided that the camp sites were WAY to close to each other for his preference. So, in the end, he didn't find a better site for camping. But, at least we had a memorable Sunday drive.