Jenny Lake

Beautiful Jenny Lake. We want this to be an every year thing. The kids were able to be wild and free and I love that more than anything.

 

1st Backpacking trip with our family of SEVEN

Conrad planned for our family to hike into White Pine Lake in Northern UT. 4 miles in, 4 out with the last mile being fairly difficult. It was a stunningly beautiful hike and camping spot. The kids did amazing, honestly I complained the most with my pack not fitting quite right LOL. Sweet Conrad ended up carrying my pack AND his! Superman. Reese was in charge of the food but Conrad forgot to grab it from the fridge so we stoped a Chick-Fil-A and hiked with a backpack full of chicken sandwiches haha! It ended up being the perfect meal- besides the weight of carrying them up:) Elle trail ran 2 miles straight. We were all very impressed. The older kids kind of took off ahead of us, they are truly amazing little hikers. Kylie and Reese set up their tent faster than Conrad and I could! Crew and Nixon loved going down to the clear lake and playing on the shore. I woke up for an early morning jog around the North end of the lake. I loved running through the meadow at the base of the towering mountain. Conrad planned, bought, prepared SO well. He is an expert family backpacking planner. We had everything we needed and our packs were reasonably loaded. He made this a wonderful experience for us all.

 

This was the perfect beginning backpack trip hike for our family. This will definitely be more in our future!

Mimi+Montana Camp

These sweet kids made my dreams come true when they came to our 1st Annual Mimi + Montana Camp. This summer we hosted Conrad and my nieces and nephews for 2 fun filled days of farm life, hiking, Razor rides, crafts, boating and yard games. It was so sweet to spend some time with these amazing kids. Our siblings are doing some amazing work in their homes, we were so impressed with such kind kids. Its such a blessing to live closer to family so we can build these relationships.

Bryce Canyon

We took a 3 day/ 2 night trip to Bryce Canyon in June. It was the perfect weather and amount of time for Bryce. Bryce felt like another planet to me, Mars maybe. It is so dramatically different from anything else I have ever seen. We all loved it so much. We did the main hike starting around 6pm and it took us a few hours. We were not in any sort of rush and let the kids play in this natural playground. We started at Sunrise to Sunset point and went to Wall Street. The switch backs were so fun.

In the middle of these towering red rock walls was a beautiful pine tree.

This hike had so many fun features to explore.

We made it to Queens Garden and finished at the overlook. All 5 of our kiddos, they love being in nature and love hiking. I would say when we start most hikes we have one or two that aren't thrilled with starting the hike but by the end everyone is in their happy place:)

 

One year old Elle.

The next day we rode bike in Dixie National Forest. We did a 14 mile bike ride starting at this trail head and finished at a camp ground where Conrad and Kylie rode down Thunder Mountain. Which was pretty intense, maybe not the best parenting move. I took the kids and rode down the same was we went up. The kids and I had a great time riding down. Kylie and Conrad felt like falling off the cliff of their ride was a real possibility :/

Yoga at lunch.