timp cave.

Today was our annual Timpanogos Cave hike.

This time, Dad actually got to go and so did Annette (a.k.a. my 2nd mother who helped raise me growing up)!

We were at the visitor center by 7:00 in the morning.  Say what?!  Apparently we really like hiking in the early morning hours.  Getting up before 6 during the summer is a big deal for me.  It usually does NOT happen.  Good thing I love my family or I would have stayed in bed and got my beauty sleep.

And so, the annual picture by the visitor center...

The sign right outside the cave entrance.

Trail lovin'.

Poor T.  Every time he went to eat his sandwich for lunch (at 8:30 in the morning) we were demanding another picture.  Which explains the following...

 {Me, Annette, T}

This one's a little better.  Though this time he was interrupted eating his Clif bar.  The "Carrot Cake" Clif Bar that he was incredibly excited about finding yesterday at Sprouts market while we were shopping for hiking snacks.

What a crack up.

For the first time, Dad beat us to the top.  He had a burst of energy during the hike up the switchbacks and never slowed down!  We were struggling to keep up with him and the mama this time around.  Apparently, the younger generation is getting lazy (said Ranger Brad at the top of the cave).

 Just one of the many faces of my father.  He gets pretty funny when we're in the mountains and camping.  This is the real Daddy.  This is where I get my love of funny faces.  I blame him.

Group picture inside the cave!

Such a fun tradition.  We saw a bajillion centipedes and a handful of lizards while hiking and saw the cave bacon, ice cream sundae, and the upside down chicken in the cave.

Oh how we love hiking Timp. Cave!

another day. another hike. another birthday.

My sister Misty is a pretty special person.  She's one of the best sisters and is always taking care of everyone else.  She is one of the hardest workers I've ever known and is consistently and constantly doing everything needed to make the charter school she works at to succeed.  Her abilities at working with people and being patient with them long enough to not strangle them amazes me.

I used to go down to her room and sprawl out on her bed and we'd talk for hours about life, the gospel, and eat lots of chocolate she stashed under her bed for me.  During the summer we'd choose a night to stay up all night long on the pull-out couch and play old school Nintendo into the wee hours of the night until we conquered every level.

She was also on her mission the day T and I were married.  I cried over the fact that she wouldn't be there with us.  She wrote both of us separate letters explaining how proud of us she was for being sealed in the temple and how badly she wanted to be with us.  But, she was doing the Lord's work and He needed her in Guatemala.

She's pretty special.

Today is her birthday.  We decided to spend the day with all the girls and start off by hiking the "Y."  

I forgot how steep those switchbacks are.  Good thing the Toad and I have been working out or my legs would have been dead.

{Me, Myst, Toad}

The mama went with us too!

{Mama, Myst}

We all made it to the top and the bottom of the hike!  Hallelujah!  We even saw some older men who were running up to the Y and back.  Seriously?!  Maybe I'll be that in shape one day.

One day.

After being healthy and hiking, we grabbed some Wendy's Kid Meals for lunch.  We even got some rockin' toys!  Grandma treated us all to lunch.

Deliciousness.

Junior Cheeseburgers with a frosty and fries are the perfect combo.  Perfect size for this little girl.

Happy birthday, Myst!  

summer thoughts.

The first week of summer break is always a favorite.  I get to sleep in (no more having to get to school by 7!), exercise in the morning, and actually plan out grocery shopping!  Usually I run around the grocery store with my head cut off in a hectic craze pulling things off of the shelves that hopefully go together for dinner.

Not anymore!  Now I can finally experiment and make those recipes I've been pinning for the past 8 months.  Goodbye Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, hello healthy-delicious-homemade-goodness!

First stop, was making some broccoli salad!  T's mom makes a killer broccoli salad that everyone always gobbles up so we decided to try our own version.

Going off of this recipe as a starting point, I tweaked it to be a little healthier.  We swapped out the mayo and sugar for greek yogurt and honey.  Then we added snow peas and cashews to the mix with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to top it off!

We liked it so much that we've made it twice in the past week!

With summer here (along with the hot heat) we've been trying to not use the oven.  We made a great stir-fry a couple of nights ago and it was delicious!  One of our best yet.  We marinaded chicken in teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon, and McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning.  After it marinaded for 5 hours, we cooked it up and then sauteed the veggies and mixed it all together!

This chicken was dang good! Moist.  Melt in your mouth.  Yum.

The other thing I've loved about summer so far is exercising in the morning!  I've never loved exercising at night and trying to exercise and then get to school by 7 in the morning is kind of impossible.  Especially if you're not a morning person (like yours truly).  

Enter summer vacation!

 The Toad and I have been exercising in the mornings together and man has it felt good!  For part of our exercise today, we decided to go hiking with mom, T, and Kimberly.  Our plan was to hike the "Y", but they had it closed off due to the fact they were bringing the body of the missing BYU student down from where he fell (super sad story, bytheway).  

Rather than head home defeated, we drove over to Rock Canyon and hiked around for about an hour!

The mama had major plans today, so in order to have her come with us, we had to start our adventure at 7 this morning.  Ick.  BUT we did see the gorgeous sunrise over the mountains while hiking.  That might have almost been worth it.

Kimberly is one of the Toad's friends from growing up.  She's also a good friend of the family- we even graduated in elementary education at the same time!  It's fun having her back from her mission!

And, of course, it's always fun hiking with this handsome hunk.  He's usually nice to have around.  We actually hiked up to one of the little caves around Rock Canyon this time.  Too bad there was a bunch of graffiti everywhere on the rock face.  

Although, for picture purposes, we did like the big heart down by T's feet!  

Can I just mention one more time how much I love this man of mine?  He sure does put up with a lot and does a lot for me.  He's one in a million!

Lady is starting to get old and isn't up for hiking as long as she used to.  I used to put her in my hiking backpack all the time when I was younger.  So it was only natural to stuff her in our backpack and let her chill out for awhile.  She eventually fell asleep for a few minutes.

Spoiled dog.

Is my mom not the most beautiful lady you've ever met?  She gets more tan than any of us (from working outside all of the time and getting her lawn to look perfect.)  She also passed on some pretty awesome genes to her daughters.

And what happens when sisters buy the same shirt?  They end up wearing it on the same day to go hiking... Great minds think alike!  Or maybe we've been hanging out way too much this week.

Seriously though.  This sister of mine has been one of my besties forever.  She's seen and done it all with me.  I'm pretty lucky to have her for a sister.   Not everyone can say that their sisters are some of their best friends!

Why is it we can never take a normal picture?

{Matchy-matchy!}

Summer is treating us well so far!  Though I do really miss some of my little monsters.   It's been hard adjusting to not seeing them everyday.  

However, I'm soaking up every bit of summer that I can before I start doing things for school again!

heavenly fall break.

T and I love the distinct, sweet smell of fall leaves on the ground.  I literally go out of my way to step on the leaves that look the crunchiest to hear the satisfying crisp of the leaves.

Suffice it to say that fall is my favorite.

Mother Nature in Utah has finally gotten with the program this year and given us a beautiful fall before moving onto winter.  

And for the very first time that I can remember, we hiked Timp Cave in the fall.

It was a breathtaking hike and a vigorous climb to the top.

I love that hiking to the cave has become a tradition over the years for my family.  My mom and my sisters all made it this year and it made for the perfect hiking experience.  

The inside of the cave was beautiful and we had the pleasure of having Ranger Mac as our guide.  

He taught us all something new about the cave.  I learned quite a few things even though we've been there 10+ times!

(1) The only colored light allowed in the cave is the red one behind the "heart" of the cave to make it look more like a heart.

(2) The waiting area outside of the cave was originally a cougar den that had over 7 feet of bones piles high in it.  Apparently generations of cougars had been using it as their home.

(3) During the spring run off, if you go in the cave, you'll be standing in about 2 inches of water.  And if it rains while you're in the cave, you'll get a nice shower of water from up above.  

(4) There's a fault line that goes right through the cave and the cave has literally been pushed up from below the valley to where it is today by the plates shifting.  How neat is that?!

I love traditions.  Especially ones that include lots of family and hiking outdoors.  

Perfect fall break.