Antelope Island

We took a spontaneous little trip to Antelope Island State Park a week or two ago. We were only there for half a day, but it was so much fun! We loved driving around and enjoying the beautiful scenery and wildlife! It was so relaxing, I don't know how we both grew up so close to this state park without ever having visited it before!

  

This was also the first time (that I know of) that I actually visited the Great Salt Lake (Whaaaaaaat???). I was surprised at how clear the water was, and I definitely had to use the showers to rinse off my hands and legs when I was done wading around. All the moisture from my skin was sucked dry in the salty water and it was a horrible, itchy feeling. Jon was smart and didn't get wet.

We also got front row seats to a buffalo sighting! We were just driving along, there were no other cars around, and boom! This guy just decides to cross right in front of us! We got so excited we just stopped and watched him for a long time before a couple other cars of gawkers joined us. It was nice to have our own private show for a while though!

Buffalo Herd

TONS of Brine Flies. Blah.

The beach was swarming with brine flies. They were so annoying. Everywhere you stepped it looked like the ground was moving. Just watch the ground in front of Jon here:

While climbing around a large cliff area, we came across a lot of BIG, fast, spiders. I hate spiders. But the webs that these ones were making were SO beautiful, we had to stop the car for some pictures. Walking through the brush to get some close ups, I needed to have Jon watch my feet and legs to make sure that none of the nasty spiders climbed on me while I was busy snapping away with the camera.

(shudder)

After our spider-picture taking, we decided to climb down the rocks to watch the sunset. The rocks were covered with spiders, and we obviously didn't want those big things crawling on or biting us! But Jon, the spider king, was able to navigate a way for us down the rocks that avoided spiders! It was amazing, because it was a nearly impossible thing to do in the first place! Jon was wearing the backpack, and I just held onto the back of it and let him lead the way. 

Sunsets on the Great Salt Lake are perfect. Although we did get eaten alive by mosquitos. I counted at least 17 bites in the next week, and it was a miserable, itchy several days to have to endure. But was that sunset worth it? YES!

Next time we come we plan to be a little more prepared so we can go hiking, and we hope to bring our bikes up too! We thought it was a beautiful place to spend a day, as long as you avoid the bugs!

4th of July!

Our 4th of July was nice and relaxing this year. We went up to Riverton for a BBQ with the Baxter bunch. I brought the camera, but neglected to take any pictures, which I am kicking myself about now. After the delicious dinner, we headed back down to Orem to have a second BBQ with the Talbots. On the way, we stopped and picked out a few aerial fireworks. Jon picked out a great big one that he was super excited about. After second dinner with my family, we all went outside and watched a several fireworks that my parent's had gotten. When those ones were done, Jon brought out the aerial fireworks and surprised everyone. They were all really excited! It was a great grand finale to a great Independence Day! I am so grateful for this beautiful country and all of the sacrifices that have been made for our Freedom.

Our nephews love it when Jon bounces them on the trampoline--from UNDER the trampoline!

Someone fulfilled their dream of being a Chimney Sweep after playing with the snake fireworks.

Jaxon getting a messy kiss from Britian

The big one that Jon picked out. It was a huge hit!

God bless America!

Birthday Suprise

My Dad's birthday and Father's day usually fall on or close to the same day. This year, my siblings and I decided to do something extra special for him, so we bought him an ipad! He has secretly always wanted one, although he would never admit it. It was pretty funny because on that particular day, my mom and little brother were sick with the stomach flu. So all of us were trying to stay far away in order to prevent getting sick. Really far away---we all met on the street corner near my parent's house. When everyone was gathered, I called my Dad (in what I thought was a disguised voice) and said, "Come to the corner, and come alone." I later found out that it wasn't very convincing at all because my Dad later told us that after thinking about it for a second, he knew that it was me. Fail. Anyway, here is the video of him opening the ipad:

Butterflies, Cows, and Imaginations

On our camping trip up Hobble Creek Canyon, we went hiking and exploring along the Wardsworth Creek Trail. It was kind of weird because it was a Saturday, and there were several other cars parked at the trail head, yet for the majority of the hike we saw almost no one. At first it wasn't a big deal, but after a while, it started to feel more eerie. 

When we got to this area of the trail, we were greeted by tons of butterflies! They were so pretty, I couldn't help but take some pictures. 

At first they seemed scared of us and flew a few feet away, but after I got settled down in the midst of them, they slowly came back. It was almost as if they knew I was there to admire them because they had no problem showing off their pretty colors and designs as they flapped their wings open and shut for me.

The longer we continued on with our hike, the more we started wondering where everyone else was. At one point we passed a canopy and gear in the middle of a field, looking as if someone had JUST left it there. It was strange. Not that we don't like hiking all by ourselves, but I have a very wild imagination, and by this time, the thought of a rattlesnake biting the occasional passerby or the the idea of a huge bear (which are known to be in the area) eating all the other people was making me a little uneasy.

Worlds biggest spider web

A few miles in, we saw a family of 5 camping along the creek. This made me feel a little better, and gave me the motivation to continue past them as they waved and smiled at us. Another mile or so in was a different story. I kept thinking I heard weird animals sounds that I didn't recognize. Every time I heard a noise I would ask Jon if he heard it too. Most of the time he didn't. We stopped for a water and sandwich break, and I told Jon about my angry, man-eating bear fears. 

Either I'm a good story teller and I never realized it, or Jon has just as vivid of an imagination as I do because after I told him my fears, he became a little uneasy himself. As we packed up and got ready to keep moving, we heard what was definitely an animal noise, but we couldn't tell what it was! It was almost like a half growl, half moose sounding.....thing. So, feeling very skittish and creeped out, we decided not to take any chances and we turned around.

As we passed the little camping family a short time later, the mother asked us, "Did you see the cows?" 

"Cows?" We asked

"Yes, a bunch of men herded hundreds of cows up this trail not too long ago. There have been stragglers coming down this trail all morning."

Feeling very foolish at realizing that the scary sound we had just heard was, in fact, most likely a cow, and not wanting to make idiots of ourselves by turning around yet again to continue down the trail, we sheepishly returned to our car.

The trail was so dusty! Our shoes were filthy by the end.

Of course, we saw SEVERAL people heading up the trail on our way back. That's just how our luck tends to work.

Jon skipping a rather large rock on a dare. He did it!

Exploring under a bridge

Next time we will take our chances with the bear.

Our First Camping Trip

A couple of weeks ago, I was randomly given a few days off of work. Jon and I decided to take advantage of this unexpected situation and do something fun! So we packed up the car, and went camping for the weekend. We wanted to go somewhere that had hiking and fishing nearby, so we decided to go up Hobble Creek Canyon where we had heard about some great hiking trails and we saw online that we could get to Strawberry Reservoir from the canyon.

We were in such a hurry to leave that we completely forgot to bring cash and the checkbook to pay for the campsite! So we picked out a site, unpacked the car, and Jon drove back to the city to find an ATM while I saved our spot. He was only gone about an hour and a half, but it sure felt like longer. I decided to set up camp to surprise him when he got back. 

So proud of myself for setting up the tent all by myself!

Our first campsite together

Tada! (Thanks again to Lacee and Travis for letting us borrow their tent!)

We had tinfoil dinners the first night. Yum!

After dinner we went exploring around the area. We kept hearing tons of cows mooing and we wanted to try and find them!

We finally did find the cows. Not that we have never seen a cow before, but it was just weird to hear and see them so far up the canyon. Apparently, the owners of the cows have a bunch of land up there so they are constantly herding them around the mountain. So we got to see and hear a ton of cows for the whole two and a half days we were there.

That first night we also roasted marshmallows for smores and starbursts, and then we went to bed.

The next day we slept in as much as we could before the cows woke us up, and off we went to go fishing! Except, we never did get to Strawberry Reservoir. About halfway there, the road turned into a gravel dirt road that had steep hills, and since we didn't want to kill our already dying car, we decided not to risk it. So we went on a hike instead (but more on that later).

After the hike, we spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing card games, exploring the area, and just talking. The guy who runs the campground (I think his name was Gus or something--but Jon just called him Santa because he looked like Santa and he drove around on his sleigh...er...golfcart... giving candy to all the little kids at the campsites if they helped pick up litter) kept stopping by to talk to us. He also gave us a ride on his golf cart to show us a doe who was wandering through the camp, and then he gave us a little geography lesson on the rocks in the area. It was a really nice day where we were able to catch up on rest and just be together. 

Hanging out in the tent

The view looking up inside the tent

We ate DELICIOUS hot dogs that night. I know they look pretty normal, but they were super tasty!

Bessie

Herbert

I told you there were cows. There were actually TONS, but here are just the ones that were roaming around away from the others

Gus/Santa told us about this beaver dam so we thought we would check it out

Yummy Smores again!

And more starbursts!

Enjoying our last night camping

Overall, our first camping trip together proved to be a great success! We definitely need to go again next year!