Mud Run!

The Bonneville Cross Country Team had their first 'race' of the season. It was the Mud Run at Sandy Downs. The course went through some serious mud, up the sand dunes, over bales of hay, and through a canal. It was so much fun to watch, and Sawyer had a blast running it. The run was just for fun, but teams came from all over. There were even teams from Wyoming there. Some of the teams even dressed up....there was a girl that ran it in a princess dress. The Bonneville boys team had a plan to take off at the start and sprint the whole beginning of the race. they were the first ones through the mud, and up the sand hill. They stopped at the top of the sand hill and waited for all their team mates to get there, and then they ran the race together as a team.

The girls team.

The boys before the race started.

At the top of the hill.


Sawyer being a goof over the hay bales!

They had to crawl under boards.


Waiting for the whole team, so they could cross the finish line together.

The finish!


Grammy hugged Sawyer when he was done. I wouldn't let him anywhere near me! What an AWESOME Grammy!

Back To School!

Today was the first day back to school. The kids were really excited to get started.

Bailey's 1st day of 4th grade!

So excited to go!

I told Sawyer to look cool, because he was a big High Schooler now, and this is what I got.

Sawyer's 1st day of High School!

So handsome!

Bailey and Taylor waiting for the bus.

School friends: Marlee Whitehead, Schaneesha Davenport, Bailey, Annie Wright, Brooklyn Martinson.

I finally caved in!

BANGS!!!

Bailey has wanted bangs for a long time, and I wouldn't let her get them. We did our traditional short haircut for the beginning of the school year, and I caved in and FINALLY said she could have bangs. I must admit, she looks pretty cute. She LOVES them. She keeps walking by the mirror and giggling.

Summer Fun!

We have had such a great summer! Besides our road trip in May/June, and all of our fun weekend get-aways, the kids have still been able to do all their normal, traditional summer activities.

Bailey had a great softball season at the beginning of summer. She made some really good plays. She likes playing 1st base and 3rd base the best. She had a really fun team!

Sawyer and Bailey love to play tennis. They take lessons from Beth Ann and Brianne Baker right in our neighborhood. Their teachers are so much fun!

Beth Ann, Bailey, Brianne

Lauryn, Beth Ann, Amy, Morgan, Brianne, and Sawyer. There are boys that play with them, but they weren't there yet :).

Bailey loves to swim! She takes swim lessons all summer long. She is like a little fish, and did so good this summer. She swam the mile twice. She also had to tread water for 6 minutes. They had a day where they had to swim laps in there clothes, and be able to take them off while treading water. It was fun to watch. She is in the very last class of lessons. Next year she will finish up lessons, and then she will do the swim team.

Safety day: they were learning how to rescue people from a boat.

Bailey swimming with all her clothes on.

We are so sad that this is the final week of summer. We have had so much fun! the kids are really excited to start school though. I guess it's time for new adventures now.

Bryce Canyon National Park

We spent this past weekend hiking in beautiful Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. We LOVED it! It is such a beautiful place with some gorgeous trails. We hiked about 21 miles in 2 days, and saw everything there is to see in the park (except the back country trails). Here is a recap of our visit.

Mossy Cave Trail and Waterfall:
We started out on an easy 1 mile hike to a cute little waterfall, and a cave.

The waterfall

Bailey on top of the waterfall


Mark, Sawyer and Bailey

Fairyland Loop Hike:

Next we did the longest hike of our trip. The Fairyland Loop is 8.3 miles, and absolutely gorgeous!

We hiked all the way down into this area.

Sawyer and Bailey at the top of Fairyland.

Sinking ship.

Tower Bridge.

We rested by watching a video at the visitor's center, and then went to some viewpoints (Inspiration Point, Paria View, Swamp Canyon, Farview, and Piracy Point) before we headed back to our hotel.

Inspiration Point:

Sawyer and Bailey at one of the Inspiration Point viewpoints.

Bailey was so tired, but she made it up the big hill to the highest lookout at Inspiration Point.

Excited to start day two!

Sunrise Point: Queen's Garden Loop

Sunrise Point was my favorite spot in all of Bryce Canyon. It was so pretty, we kept saying it looked fake. We did the Queen's Garden Hike from this point.

Near the top of the Queen's Garden Trail.

Mark, Bailey and Sawyer.

Don't fall off the edge!

There were lots of these arches to go through.

Climbing back up.

Sunset Point: Navajo Loop

Sunset Point is where we hiked the Navajo Loop. It's the most popular hike in the park. This was probably the kids favorite hike. You hike right down in between the huge fins. It feels just like you're walking into a huge cave. Then you make a loop and come up between two fins on the other side.

Sunset Point.

Going down.

Taking a break before we climb back up.

This is what we came up.

We took a break from hiking and went to some viewpoints (Natural Bridge, Agua Canyon, Ponderosa Point, Black Birch Canyon, Yovimpa Point).

Natural Bridge

At Rainbow Point, we hiked the Bristlecone Pine Loop. This was an easy 1 mike hike through the pine trees with lookouts along the way into the canyon.

Bryce Point: Peek-a-Boo Loop:

Bryce Point was awesome! This is what they call the amphitheater of Bryce Canyon. It was incredible. This was the start of our last and hardest hike of the weekend. The Peek-a-Boo Loop is a 5.5 mile horse trail that takes you down into the amphitheater. All the hikes were hard, because when you went down into the canyon, you always had to come back up, but this one was VERY hard. We saw some really cool stuff along the way, but we were worn out and ready to be done by the end of it.

The Amphitheater.

The Wall of Windows.

We had such a great time in Bryce! We are already planning our next hiking adventure. In October we are going down to Southern Utah again to hike Zion Canyon. We can't wait!