Stewart Falls Hike with Great Friends

Let me just say - I love my friends!!  I love that on a spur of the moment kind of day I can get a call inviting me and my boys on a hike with many other friends.  Sharece Rowser and her three kids; Jason, Tyler and Kaylee, had been on this hike before and wanted to share it with us.  So we went with Karen, Daeman and Nicole Edwards and Cami, Patrick and Nora Boudwin.

Stewart Falls is a 2 mile hike one way. (it felt much longer :D)  The hike has lots of hill making the hike pretty challenging for our little ones, and for those of us carrying kids for the whole hike.  (I had Trent in a front carry pack and Sharece and Cami had their girls (Kaylee and Nora) on their backs.  We also packed in a lunch.

So the hike was hard, we were VERY tired when all was said and done, but it was worth it!!

The views along the hike were amazing.  Stewart Falls is in Timpanogos Canyon, so the mountains were amazing.  We were also fortunate to be hiking early in the summer so the wild flowers were abundant.

The falls are amazing.  They were a bit of a revelation to me - I had never heard of them before - and I had lived in this area nearly all my life.  It was so cool that there were two waterfalls side by side.  It was such a great reward mid way through our hike to see and hear the falls.

I was so proud of my boys for completing the hike and I was equally proud of myself for managing it with Trent on my front and the backpack full of food and supplies on my back. :)

The highlight of the hike was playing in the water right at the base of the waterfall.  The kids thought it was wonderful, and so did we!

Just look at those darling kids, 10 in all!!

The boys found a spider, oh how I love them!!

Throwing rocks - fishing with sticks - getting covered in mud, how do we feel about this?  I think Brandon's expression says it all!!  :)

Tyler was so kind to share his water with his buddies all along the way.  Like I said - this was a HARD hike, I think by the end we were all seriously wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.  We had several tearful kids wishing they could quit, I was wishing I could quit too, but we persevered, and we learned that we can do hard things.  It was a great lesson for my boys to learn.  I hope we can do many more hikes just like this.  

More May Memories

For kindergarten we had a carpool arranged with McKell, Blake, Jason and Brandon.  I thought my little biker gang was pretty cute riding home form school. :)

 I signed both Brandon and Grant up for soccer and they asked me to be the teams coach.  That was a mistake!  Brandon does not like to play any sports - or so he says.  So our games consisted of me trying to understand how the game works - even though I know nothing about it.  Then trying to be fair to the three other players in addition to my own to kids - by giving them equal playing time and attention.  I was also tying to keep Brandon's tempers in control and get him to play so that the other players could have breaks when they were tired.  I was trying to keep up the teams moral, because we were not a good team - at all.  And I was trying to get to the games on time with treats, and all of our gear and with my boys dressed.  It really should not have been that hard, but it was and as a result none of us had a good time.

 Despite the difficulties of soccer, I think the boys learned more about the game and sportsmanship.  They loved having Jared play with them during the breaks.  Maybe next time we do soccer it will be a little better.  And I wont coach. :)

 It took us a long time to get around to planning our garden, but the boys didn't mind one bit.  They were out there playing all the time.  This time they made their own dragon nest. :)

 This boy will fall asleep anywhere when he gets tired enough, I think it is so cute.

 We were out doing yard work one day and these three dear walked right down the road past our house into the neighbors yard.  That was pretty fun. :)

Oh this boy!!  I sure do love him!!

Bass Pro Shop

On our way home from California Jared wanted to stop in Las Vegas to see the Bass Pro Shop - the boys thought it was amazing. :)

 

Grant and I thought the bunk bed cats were awesome.

One last picture form the trip - this one is hilarious to me.  After our long day at LEGOLAND we came home and Brandon couldn't even make it up the stairs.  But from this angle it looks like one of those crime scene pictures.  I guess he was -dead tired- bad pun intended. :)

LEGOLAND

We had so many mixed reviews about LEGOLAND that we really debated about going.  But Grant LOVES to play with legos, and we trusted the friends who gave us good reviews so we tried it.  I am so glad we did.  It really is suited best for children 4-10 so it was perfect for our boys.  I am in awe of the amazing things people can create with legos.  I love that most of the rides had little lego building centers for the kids to play in while you wait in line - this is brilliant!

We went to LEGOLAND with Wyn, Dee Ann, and Nevaeh - Nevaeh is so much fun to have around with Brandon and Grant, they get along so well with each other.  Grant was so excited that he would be able to ride most of the rides (unlike Sea World) he could hardly wait to ride on Dinocoaster (I think that is what it was called) but as it got started he became much less interested in fast rides. :) These pictures are hilarious to me!

Thank goodness he had is grandma nearby to keep him safe. :)

This train was much more up to Grants speed. :) besides it was a train - he was a very happy boy!

The driving school was a hit with all three of the kids.  Brandon and Nevaeh went to the older driving school and Grant went to the younger driving school.  He was the best driver of all the kids which made him very proud.

The kids had so much fun on all the rides.  Even Grant got excited to ride the fast and scary rides - we went on the dragon ride and I told him that it is a lot more fun if you scream when it gets scary - he was screaming so loud - it was hilarious, but after that he loved going on fast rides, we rode on the dragon ride three times. :)

We ended the day by riding the boat that takes you on a tour through the many lego creations representing the world - it was amazing!

Hooray for LEGOLAND, we had such a fun day!!!