Hike to Wind Caves

We have talked about hiking to the Wind Caves for several years and finally decided to do it. Madison came home with us from the Bear River City 24th of July celebration and stayed until Sunday, so when Kyle and Misty came to pick up Maddy we headed for the hike. It was about a 2 mile hike up and then back down. The kids did really well. We had to do a little distracting to keep Tyson going, but he made it. It was a beautiful hike and I would definitely do it again.

July 4th, 2015

I think July is my favorite month of the year. It is a month that is filled with spending time with family and friends celebrating our country's freedoms. I love all the different events and BBQ's that happen. It's a time that there is not much expected other than spending time with family. There's no gifts expected, just maybe a side salad.

For the last couple of years, we have spent the 4th of July at my good friend, Michelle's, in Hyrum watching the Hyrum parade. This year Maisie got invited to be in the parade throwing candy for her Orthodontist (also our next door neighbor). She enjoyed it, but it was very hot. Madison and Michelle's daughter, M'Kenzie also threw candy.

We enjoyed a yummy BBQ at Michelle's after the parade.

Shopping for vacation

Misty and Maddy came over and spent most of the day going shopping for our vacation starting on Monday, July 6th. We went to Walmart, Pepperidge Farms, Theurer's in Lewiston, Sam's Club, Macey's, and Gossner's. Why do us woman have to make everything so complicating? We could have got everything at one store, but we like to make our shopping trips a day trip. We had a great time and can't wait for our vacation to Redfish Lake.

Hendrickson Family Reunion

June 30th and July 1st

I am so lucky to have grandparents that value the importance of getting together as a family. My Grandma and Grandpa Hendrickson have tried to have a family reunion about every other year. This year they rented the Sunrise Resort over at Bear Lake from June 29 to July 2nd. This place is amazing. It was so big that you would have never known there was over a 100 people staying there. At one time or another during the three days, 113 of the 125 were there. I love how much of my cousins and aunt and uncles make every effort to come.

Me and the kids went up Tuesday after work and stayed all day Wednesday. Tuesday night my family fixed Philly Cheese sandwiches. Everybody loved them. After dinner the kids went swimming in the pool. That night we stayed up late visiting with the cousins and watching movies in the big theater room.

Wednesday morning after breakfast some of the family went to Minnetonka Cave and some went to Bloomington Lake. All of the Julander family, and Crosby, and Trent's family went to Bloomington Lake and went off the rope swing. Maisie and Parker were to chicken to go off of it and I was completely fine with it. It freaked me out a little bit. We were there for a couple of hours. By the time we got back to the resort we were all starving. We had a quick lunch. The rest of the day we just hung out and visited with the family. A lot of the kids swam in the pool. Kids just can't get enough of swimming. After dinner we presented my grandparents with a large envelope of thank you cards that everyone had made for them. They loved them. Afterwards, the kids did a relay race out on the lawn. We left about 9:30 to head back home. We had a great time and I am so glad that we were able to go.

Maisie's at Girl's Camp

I can't believe I sent my baby girl to girl's camp. She is growing up way too fast. The girl's left Tuesday morning about 8:30. I went into work late, so that I could take her over to the church to meet up with the other girl's. Either Maisie is going to love it or hate it. We will see come Saturday. She said she would only go if her one friend who lives across the street would stick by her side.

Its been pretty quiet around our house with her gone. Parker is missing is big sister and has been sleeping in her bed. It will be nice to have her back.

Evening walk with Parker

Now-a-days I don't seem to get out much. I talked Parker into going for a walk/bike ride with me tonight. The evenings are so nice in the summer. There is a sidewalk that goes behind the church at the end of our street. It is a nice little walk. There is a cute little bench under a tree and on our way back Parker says, "Mom you want to sit on the bench and talk." Of course I wanted to talk. I love that he still wants to talk to his momma.

Had to take a quick selfie while sitting on the bench.

Bryce Canyon Vacation

We left Thursday, June 11th at about 8:00 a.m. Eric worked graveyards, so as soon as he got home we finished the last minute stuff and was on the road by about 8. Sallie came with us. Our first stop was in Payson, for a quick fill-up and potty break. Then we stopped at Big Rocky Candy Mountain. I had researched things to do before we left and one of the things I found was renting a ATV/UTV for the day. I wasn't sure if I could talk Eric into it, but threw the idea out there. I figured that we might run out of things to do in Bryce Canyon, so wanted to be sure I had a back up plan. We ended up reserving a six passenger Ranger for Sunday. We arrived at our campground, Paradise Rv Park, just outside of Panguitch at about 2:00. There was no body around, so we wanted for about a half hour before the guy showed up. Eric was getting very irritated. After all, he was going on no sleep and just wanted to set up camp and relax. Once we got situated we just hung out in the trailer and watched a movie.

Friday, June 12th, we cooked breakfast and then drove to Bryce Canyon, which was about 30 minutes away. We jumped on the shuttle bus that took us into the park. We hiked the Navajo Loop/Sunset Point hike which ended up being 2.9 miles. It was a great hike and the weather was perfect. I don't think it got hotter than 75 degrees. After the hike, we rode the shuttle back to the truck and had lunch and than walked into a few little shops. Then we headed back to the trailer. We cooked dinner and just hung out. We met a really nice couple, Brian and Nancy, that stay the whole summer at Paradise RV Park. I think they have convinced us to come back again next year. We will see if we can get our schedule to work out and come back for the Balloon festival.

Saturday, June 13th, we went to the tractor pulls in Panguitch. Sallie had never been to the tractor pulls. It was fun to attend a small town event. The sled broke towards the end, so we didn't get to watch the last couple of tractors. Then we went back to Bryce Canyon and went on the Mossy Cave trail. It was only a .8 mile hike. It was a perfect little hike that went up to a Mossy Cave and then to a little waterfall. Eric and the kids hiked up a steep hill to look over the hill. On the way down, Maisie was crossing the river and lost her flip flop. Thankfully it got stuck in a little cove before going down the waterfall and her dad was nice enough to retrieve it for her. She was a little upset and went storming off down the trail. I think she realized she should have listened do mom and dad and wore tennis shoes. Oh well, live and learn. On our way back to the trailer, we stopped at the little shops in Panguitch and walked through them. Not too exciting, but kind of fun to look at. They have a lot of antique shops. We hung out at camp, had dinner, and visited with our new friends.

Sunday, June 14th, we got up early, at 6:00 a.m. and cooked a quick breakfast and then packed up the trailer. We decided to move the trailer to Marysvale, since we were going to be renting the UTV and it was right there. Got is an hour closer to home too. We got the trailer situated and then went and picked up the UTV. Once we got lunch and drinks all packed, we headed out on the trail. We headed towards Monroe mountain. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the cabin. We cooked some hot dogs and had lunch and then headed down the other side of the mountain. Along the way, we went to Monroe Peak and Fitzgerald Park. We filled up the UTV with gas in Monroe and then went to the park to evaluate the map and see where we wanted to head next. We still had five hours left before we needed to return it.