August 2014 (part 1)

On the first day of August we went boating with our friends Luke & Amy and their kids, and with Kevin and Mal and Beck. Blake and Callie both went "wake boarding" on the surfboard with their dad, so Alta decided she wanted to give it a try with Dan.

The next day was the first of my two bike races I signed up for. I was registered for the 30-mile distance and Anna had signed up for the 60-miler but decided to do the 30 with me. Well, the 30-mile distance turned out to be more than 36, and the 60-mile distance was about 52, so I decided I would just do the longer distance with Anna. I had been taking my training really, really slowly all summer so 50+ miles was a little much for me. By the end I hurt, and I was exhausted, but I'm glad we did it.

Some views along the way and the finish:

I had a bottle pumped and ready for Olive and she refused to eat for the 6 hours I was gone. Silly girl.

That evening we drove to Provo to have dinner with Bekah and Jim and the boys because they were leaving the next day. I loved having Bekah so close all summer and it was so sad to see them go!

Sunday evening at the Browers for a visit, I think Ellie was so worn out from all the excitement of the last few weeks that she fell asleep on the porch steps:

I thought it was funny until she threw up 1/2 hour later. I guess she wasn't feeling well!

August (and September so far too) was unusually rainy. The girls built an umbrella fort one day:

Next was a visit from the Fogts. They were only here for a couple of days, but I love that I got to see all three of my sisters this summer! As happens every time Alta and Ellie and Sierra and Katelyn get together, I didn't get any pictures of them because I never saw them. I did get a few others though. Matt sent me this one of cute Elizabeth holding Olive:

The second day they were here we were hanging out at my parents house while babies were sleeping, when Matt walked in the room and asked Dan, "Do you want to go sky diving?". Dan laughed and said sure, and the next thing I know Matt looked up a company on the computer, called them, and said they were leaving in 5 minutes. And off they went:

I'm pretty sure Dan loved every minute of it. He told me all about it in detail and even though he was home safe, I couldn't sleep that night because I had so much anxiety thinking about him jumping out of a plane!

Right when they got home we drove up to Alta and hiked Cecret Lake.

 Olive giving Grandma smiles while Dan tells Jay about the sky diving adventure:

 Cold little girls. My dad brought his fishing stuff up so all the kids could give it a try (no fish were caught).

 I've seen moose on this hike a couple of times, but apparently evening is the time they come out because we saw 4 or 5. These two were right by the trail and it made me a little nervous to walk past them:

 Proof that I was there. (I really need to be in these pictures more often)

The next day we went to Seven Peaks with the Fogts and some of the Heaths. The girls loved it again and this time we got Ellie to do some of the big slides. Elizabeth and Olive:

Matt and Lisa left the next day, and I kind of went through family withdrawals! But we still stayed busy for the last couple of weeks before school started.