June 2024

Summer is finally here!!  We are so excited to finally be out of school and ready to have a lot of fun in the sunshine.  To start out the month of June, the kids and I headed down to St. George to spend some time with family.  While I was hiking Rim 2 Rim in the Grand Canyon, the kids got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Morwood.  

When I got back from the Grand Canyon, we went and hung out at a few of the splash pads in St. George.  The kids' favorite was the big one at the St. George Town Square by the Library.  When we lived in St. George, this was one of their favorites then as well.  It was fun to introduce this park to Charlotte and Brooklyn.

When Emily was Brooklyn's age, she loved standing by this statue and spraying people with the hose.  Look how much she has grown over the years!  And look how much Brooklyn looks like Emily.

The kids' favorite part of the splash pad was the lazy river.  They loved wading in the water and even made a human dam and backed up the water in the river causing it to overflow.

They did like laying under the waterfalls as well and letting the cool water splash on them.

The splash pad was also fun.  I think this was Brooklyn's favorite area to play in.  She liked sitting on the sprayers and letting the water spray her in the bum. 

The kids also had a blast playing in the Hughes' pool.

The pool was the perfect depth for all of the kids to play in.  Brooklyn and Charlotte are fish and love the water.  Fynlee also like playing with the girls but liked to stay on the ladder.  

We loved our time in St. George spending time with cousins.  It was hot but we loved being warm after the long winter.

Russell and I are still the Activity Day Leaders for the older boys group.  We have Logan and all of his friends in our group so we love this calling.  For one of their activities, the boys wanted to do an obstacle course.  Instead of obstacles we decided to do group challenges.

First they had to get from one point to an other using only squares, then they had to get everyone on a 3x3 square and stay there for 5 seconds.  Finally they did a human knot and had to try to untangle their arms without letting go of their hands.  These activities were fun and created a lot of laughter. We did realize we had a little too many leaders and not enough followers because the human knot ended in kids getting mad and walking away frustrated.  Oh well you live and learn.  I guess we won't be doing the human knot game again anytime soon.

June 16 was Father's Day so we had a blast spending time at Porcupine Reservoir.

The water was so cold as usual but we had a great time kayaking, swimming, picnicking, and enjoying being together as a family.  Russell and the kids went out on the kayaks and the wind was so bad that they had a rough time coming back to shore.  I think Colby got stuck a ways down from our area because the wind was blowing him back.  Finally after paddling so hard they all made it back to the shore.  Russell and I were going to do an open water swim for the first time this season but decided it was way to windy and choppy to do any swimming.  Other than the wind, we had a great time.

When we got home we gave Russell his Father's Day gifts.  Happy Father's Day!!

Mountain Bike season has started again and Emily and Colby are back on the team.  Russell is the Assistant Coach again this year so that has kept him busy. This picture was taken during their first time practicing at Beaver Mountain:

You can't tell very well from the picture but it was snowing on them!  Russell had to take a picture to document that their ride at Beaver Mountain in June was in the snow.  They said it was a pretty cold ride.

June is also baseball season.  We spent basically every night at the baseball fields watching Charlotte and Logan play baseball.  This was Charlotte's first year playing coach pitch softball and she loved it.

Charlotte did a great job playing softball.  She was able to hit the ball every time she was at bat. She also did a really good job in the outfield making sure to get the ball whenever it came to her or being ready when it didn't.  Her team was the Ladies in Pink and her coaches were really fun.

Logan's team this year was Rangers.  He had a good season and learned a lot.

Unfortunately he was only able to play catcher a couple of times because his coach put him in the outfield most of the time.  Logan was kind of mad about that but he made the best of the situation and did well in whatever position he was put in.  Logan liked playing with his teammates and making new friends.

For our big summer Day Camp activity for the Activity Day boys was a trip to Bear Lake.  We spent the day playing on the beach, swimming, and kayaking on the North Shore.  This was such a fun activity.  There were many water fights, and burying each other in the sand.  The boys had a great time.

On the way home from Bear Lake, we stopped at Macy's for some ice cream.  The boys were so tired and a couple had sunburns even though we tried hard to make them put on sunscreen.  This activity was a success.

When we got home from Bear Lake we had to hurry and get ready for the kids piano recital.  This recital was their fun "Pops" recital where they can pick and perform any song they want to learn.

The kids did so well on the pieces they chose.  Colby decided to learn "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.  He loved learning this song and did so great on his performance.  Everyone in the audience was bobbing their heads and you could tell they were singing the song in their heads.  Good job Colby!  Logan performed "Harry's Wondrous World" from Harry Potter.  I am not surprised Logan picked a song from Harry Potter because he loves Harry Potter books.  He did a great job performing this song too.  Finally Emily chose to play " I Ain't Worried" from Maverick Top Gun.  This was also a great performance and everyone was dancing in their seats to it.   This was Emily's last piano recital so it was good to go out with a good number.  She has decided to be done with piano lessons because she is getting so busy with other things in high school.  I think she has learned so much about piano and will be able to use her talent in the future.  Now Charlotte will take her place in piano lessons starting in August.  To be honest, and I might be biased, I really think these three were the best performers in the whole recital! 

For Young Men's Deacon's Camp this year, Colby and Russell headed to City of Rocks in Idaho and spent a few days learning to rock climb.  The Deacon's group had a great time and really got out of their comfort zone climbing the rocks.

They all did a great job though and took on every challenge that was thrown at them.  Colby loved climbing and was able to do all of the courses.  He was even able to face climb the whole rock on his own.  The boys also went hiking and ate lots of Oreos and food.  Some boys even went a little crazy eating Crystal Light powder. Then the boys wouldn't go to sleep and Brother Skaife had to use his dad voice.  Ha Ha.  For the last day they went to Lava Hot Springs and got to go swimming and playing in the hot springs.  A good time was had by all.  

While Russell and Colby were gone, I took the rest of the kids to Beaver Mountain for the Bjorr Mountain Bike Race.  For being the assistant coach, Russell got two free entries into the race so Emily and Logan took advantage of that and participated in the race.  This was Logan's first mountain bike race and he did amazing!  

Logan raced with other 11-12 year old boys and did one full Beaver Mountain lap which is a little over 5 miles.  He cruised as fast as he could passing a few boys along the way.  He did say he wrecked at one spot because a boy stopped right in front of him but the wreck was more of a tip over on the bike so he was fine.  Logan ended up finishing 12 out of 17 boys and getting a time of 33 minutes.  Pretty good for his first race.

Emily also did great in her race.  She has been focusing on Cross Country running so this race was just a for fun thing.  I told her to use it as a base for the rest of the season to see how she can improve.  

Emily raced hard.  She competed against the other Freshmen and Sophomore girls and did 2 laps so around 11 miles.  The hill back up to start the second lap is a killer so she took it nice and steady.  Emily was able to finish with a time of 1:02 which is pretty great!  I probably should have left her in the JV category that Russell put her in because she would have gotten a placement award.  Sorry...

In the end though they both did amazing.  I am too scared to really get into mountain biking so every time I see the kids race, I am so proud of them.  I hope they are proud of their achievements as well.

This was a great practice run for the mountain bike season coming up.  We will be heading to more bike races toward the end of the summer.  Both Colby and Emily will be participating on the Mountain Bike team.  Logan can start next year.

This cute girl has started to read!

Well okay she mostly just memorized the story with the pictures but still!  Brooklyn can read this whole book, Are You There Little Tiger?, by herself.  She was so proud of herself.  

This has been a month of fun.  We are glad Summer is here!

Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim

What an amazing adventure and accomplishment! On June 4 I hiked the Rim 2 Rim trail through the Grand Canyon with two of my childhood friends Trista Nielsen and Heidi Miller.  It was such a good experience in one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.

We started our adventure Monday night by driving out to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and camping outside the Park. Then at 2:30 am we set down camp in the dark and arrived at the North Kaibab Trailhead to start our hike at 4:00 am. With the use of headlamps we wound our way down the switchbacks and into the heart of the canyon. Our goal was to beat the heat at the bottom and make the 26 mile trek before dark. (Oh and not die!)

We were in awe at the amazing views as the sun rose. The rock formations on the canyon walls were spectacular.  It was awesome to see the different layers of rock and erosion along the canyon walls.  The canyon looked like it was striped. 

We started the hike in warm layers because it was only about 40 degrees at the North Rim.  By about mile three though, the sun was up and we were getting warm.  We stopped at the Manzanita Resthouse to strip off our layers and take a quick bathroom break.

We took a little side trail to Ribbon Falls and we’re so glad we did. 

The falls were definitely worth seeing and we rested in the little oasis for a minute before entering “The Box.” This was the area we had been warned about but thankfully we got through it by 9-10:00 so there was still plenty of shade and cool temperatures. Being in the bottom of the Grand Canyon with miles of cliffs above my head really made me feel small and humbled by the sheer majestic of this place. 

We made it to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Phantom Ranch, and mile 15 around 11:00. Here we hung out for about an hour or so just soaking in experience. 

We had to get some famous Phantom Ranch lemonade (which we called Liquid Gold and tasted AMAZING!) and of course we mailed a postcard to be delivered to us by mule. We ate lunch and soaked in the refreshing stream before making our way back out of the Canyon via the Bright Angel Trail to the south rim.

We crossed the mighty Colorado River and started up the Devils Corkscrew. This stretch of trail (about 6 miles) was rough being in full sun and heat. I was grateful for my sun umbrella hat at this point. I might have looked goofy wearing it but I was shaded. Along the way we picked up a girl that was really struggling. We took her along with us and gave her some food and water possibly saving her life. It was pretty scary.  We were so happy to finally make it to Indian Gardens and rest and soak ourselves again with water.

Some hikers coming down from the South Rim told us to hang out at Indian Gardens for a minute and let the sun go down behind the canyon wall before continuing. This was great advice because the rest of our hike out of the canyon (about 5 miles) was completely shaded. While we waited we rested, filled our water bottles, and ate some snacks.  Everyone was laughing at me when I pulled a whole Pringles can out of my backpack because they thought it was crazy that I had so much food.  When I shared my chips with them and they saw that the chips were whole and not crumbs, they realized I was a genius.  

This last part of the trail was intense with just switchback after switchback. At 3 Mile rest stop, we met up with a couple other ladies that were also struggling and tried to help them as well. They assured us they were fine but were just going to go really slowly to the top. They offered to take care of the other girl we picked up and let us head off at a slightly faster pace. 

Those last so called 3 miles were very long and actually were more like 4 + miles according to my watch. At this point we were all just on edge and getting tired.  I knew that the only way to get through these endless switchbacks was to keep moving.  I just kept telling myself to keep going and don't stop.  Trista was really struggling at this point too.  She kept telling us to go on without her and she was getting upset.  We told her we were staying with her. At this point though, we all went at our own pace and spread out from each other.  We all needed that alone time to contemplate what we had accomplished thus far and muster up the strength, mentally and physically, to push through the last couple miles.  We made sure to keep each other in our sights though so we didn't lose anyone. We came back together for the last bit of the trail and finished strong together as we crested the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We did it!! We finally made it to the top of the south rim of the Grand Canyon at 8:30 pm. 16 hours including rest stops and about 13 hours moving time. 26 miles. A marathon in the Grand Canyon!

It was dark by the time we finished so we used the headlamps again for the last little bit.  When we got to the top, we looked back down into the canyon we had just climbed out of and saw the headlamps of the other hikers still making their way up and out.  This whole trail was really a lesson in life.  You work so hard to get to where you need or want to be but it is important enjoy the journey and then look back and see how far you have come and help the people coming in behind you.

We knew we needed to find our hotel and especially somewhere to eat as soon as possible because Trista was really struggling with nausea.  For sure, we needed to find somewhere to eat because all of the restaurants were closing and we were tired of eating our hiking snacks.  We walked all over the area before finding a little pub that was open for 15 more minutes.  We basically begged them to let us in and promised we would just order something to go.  Thankfully they let us in with our smelly, dirty clothes and huge packs.  We told them to put us in the back corner or somewhere we wouldn't bother the other nicely dressed people.  They were so nice and said they didn't mind our dirt because they take in hikers all the time.  We finally got to sit down and we ordered the first thing we saw on the menu, Pulled Pork and French Fries.  When the waiter asked if he could bring us a few beers, I really thought about saying yes!  We decided Sprites and a Coke would be better options though.  This waiter was amazing.  He totally read the situation and brought our food and drinks out so fast.  We even brought out to-go boxes and another full cup of our drinks to go.  He could tell we were needing to get Trista out of there and to our hotel.  Needless to say he got a good tip.

  

Our Sprite, pulled pork and French fries for dinner never tasted so good! And the shower and bed at the hotel were welcomed sights!!  All we wanted to do was crash so after showering, that is what we did!

The next morning after a good night's sleep, we all felt much better.  I was a little sore but not bad. We had time to walk around the South Rim for a while before we had to catch our shuttle ride back to the North Rim.  We used this time to do some souvenir shopping but also to gaze over the Grand Canyon and just see where we had come from.  The views from the South Rim are pretty wonderful.

As we were getting on the shuttle, we saw the Grand Canyon pack mules getting ready to go into the Canyon.  The whole time we were hiking we kept expecting to see the pack mules walking along the trail but the only thing we saw was their poop.

The shuttle ride back to the North Rim took about two hours including a stop at Jacob Lake for one of their famous cookies.

We spent the shuttle ride chatting about our hike, sharing all of the photos we had each taken, and listening to the other passengers experiences in the Canyon.

When we finally got back to our vehicle, we decided to go check out the North Rim of the Grand Canyon before heading home.

The North Rim had amazing views as well.  From the North Rim lookout point, we had a somewhat bird's eye view of the trail we had just crossed the previous day.  While we were in the Canyon, I felt so small next to the towering canyon walls.  But looking down at where we had been made me feel even smaller!  I knew the trail was long but looking at it from above I could actually see just how long it was!  It made the whole experience seem even more incredible. 

I had my friend, Onna, make these t-shirts for each of us to wear on the day after the hike.  They turned out really good.  The saying on the shirt says, "Just Another Half Mile or So. Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim 2024."  This ended up being the perfect saying to describe this hike. In fact, we repeated this saying multiple times as we were climbing the last 3 miles out of the Canyon.  We had many people comment on our shirts and they were good conversation starters. When people asked us about them, we told them we had just hike Rim 2 Rim!  

To tell you the truth this hike went much better than I expected. I felt strong at the end and really enjoyed every moment even the hard ones.  The training I did over the last few months really helped. Would I do this hike again? Maybe. Am I glad I did it? YES! Would I recommend it? Yes IF you are prepared.  As we saw with the girl we picked up along the way, if you go into this blindly and unprepared, it could be very dangerous.  If you are prepared though, it is a very rewarding experience. This Bucket List item of mine is now checked off!!