Mr. Beaver and company

We are within walking distance to a fantastic trail and we walk there as often as we can, time and weather permitting. This spring we spotted a beaver living along the river and we have been spotting him off and on ever since. We got our first picture of him in May.

 

We also saw a raccoon that same day (jackpot!). This fall we discovered there are actually two raccoons living there. They were in the bushes on one side of the path and luckily we saw them in time to stop. They checked us out for a while and then figured they were safe and went sauntering across the trail to the other side and slowly up a hill. It was awesome to watch them! They are so cute even if they are mischievous! Every walk we go on we try to spot Mr. Beaver and a lot of the times we don't see him but the times that we do are exciting. Josh got a shot of Mr. Beaver in the water in September.

Then in October we got the coolest surprise when we discovered Mr. Beaver was starting to prepare for the winter.

We have been documenting his progress ever since. It has been so much fun and we have even braved the recent frigid weather to go check out his progress because we just gotta know how he is getting along!

We have gotten so much enjoyment out of watching Mr. Beaver this summer and especially watching his work the last couple months. What an amazing thing to watch unfold, in the midst of the big city we live in! The simple pleasures of life are awesome - going on walks together and seeing what we can discover in our own "backyard"!

Sail Away

We love having new adventures together and so for Josh's birthday I booked a two-hour sailing excursion. It was a brilliant idea and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! I've always wondered exactly how you could maneuver in different directions using only the wind and so it was an extremely fascinating learning experience. I think we are kind of hooked on sailing actually! We've been looking at boats in the classifieds ever since so I think we have a new goal to add to our someday life list!

 

Opa!

The same day that we went sailing we also had gone to the Greek Fest so it had been a really fun day. I love going to the Greek Fest! I love eating Greek food! ;) I think Josh is even starting to get used to the food I make him try there ha ha! We got to enjoy the outing with the parents and with our good friend. Opa!

 

 

Birthday Silly-brations!

In August, Josh got to blow out some more birthday candles. We had a couple silly-brations (as Josh likes to call it!) for the birthday boy, a double date with the parents at a play for his actual birthday and a joint silly-bration for our two August babies later on.

 

 

 

And we actually went to Disneyland! It was a sort of last minute decision and turned out to be a great idea of course. We really needed a break.

 

 

 

A unique little experience - we got stuck inside the Indiana Jones ride. It all the sudden stopped mid-way through and we got to experience the official Disneyland ride evacuation procedure. I snapped a picture of the interior of the ride early on before they started telling everyone to put their phones away ;)

 

We've now been to Disneyland and Disneyworld together. Pretty awesome if I do say so myself.



Texans in Town

July was the most jam-packed month on record and I may never get all of our happenings on here but that's ok. One of the many FABULOUS things that happened though was a visit from J&D and fam! We went from a house of 2 to a house of 8 and it was like a giant camping party but with electricity and plumbing and stuff :) Activities included a little gathering at the parent's house, going to This is the Place Historic Park, Temple Square, watching the movie at the JSM building, going to the Discovery Gateway museum, hiking to Timp Caves (which was my idea and I almost got dis-owned on the hike up but thankfully was forgiven when we finally got into the cave ha ha!), swimming, a quick stop at the Hill AFB Museum, and going to the Ogden Temple open house. I probably missed something but that's a pretty good sized list of stuff!

 

Wedding Bells!

My sister is married! It has been exciting to watch their journey and we are grateful for this blessing in our family!

 

The End of An Era - Times Two

Thursday was a BIG day. Josh finished his last two classes for his Bachelors degree (!) and Mom retired! Amazing that both events happened the same day. We started celebrating Josh's accomplishment in May when he walked at Spring Commencement and we are going to keep on celebrating!

It has been a long journey and we are so grateful to finally reach this goal. Now it's on to grad school!

And we all (except Josh because he was literally in his last final exam) enjoyed being together to celebrate Mom at her retirement party.

June...Bugs?

I thought I would continue the monthly titles but my creativity only goes so far! ;) It was time for another birthday date and it turned out to be another really awesome time! Friday night we had the typical requested gourmet dinner of Mac n Cheese, movie watching, and playing in the tub. And of course we had orange rolls for breakfast :). On Saturday it was Flag Day so we had to put up flags first thing in the morning. The boys did a good job of team work!

Then we went to his T-ball game and got to meet his little admirer :).

 

Then we went to Summerfest and he got his face painted and a balloon snake. And of course we had to ride some carnival rides and eat lots of delicious carnival food.

 

 

We figure this is the sign of a successful birthday date! We partied hard!

 

Later on in June was the air show at Hill AFB. The air show is almost like going to Disneyland for me! I LOVE JETS! We went up with the parents and spent the whole day on base watching the aerial displays and touring the aircraft on the ground and of course topping it off with the Thunderbirds. The rest of the family met up with us and we all got to watch the Thunderbirds together. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy taking it all in :) but here are a couple. The view is always better on top of Uncle Joshie!