Guardsman Pass

We took a Sunday drive after church today. It was a beautiful day to explore Guardsman Pass. We did a giant loop from our house in Alpine up through Big Cottonwood Canyon and down through Park City and Provo Canyon.

I seem to have lost my Montana roots, where going over Cook City Pass was nothing. When I got to the place where the grade was 10 percent and downhill I wanted to close my eyes. But I had to watch the road in case Ed became distracted by the scenery!

On the way home we drove by the remains of yesterday's Alpine fire. The red on the mountainside is fire retardant. Fortunately, it wasn't near our house, and the fire department was able to get it under control! Last night's view was a little scarier, because you could see patches of fire all along the side of the mountain!

Lake Solitude

We hiked up to Lake Solitude yesterday. It is above Silver Lake, by Brighton Ski Area. It was a lovely 3 mile round trip, with not too steep of a climb.

The trail starts with a boardwalk loop around Silver Lake.

Across from the boardwalk we saw a moose feeding on some trees!

We enjoyed our peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches by the shore of the lake.

We were glad we waited till it was well into summer before we tried the hike. There were still places where we had to walk over snow on the trail!

John worked on teaching Mabel the difference between the pine trees and an aspen trees along the trail. She's a future botanist in training!

On the way down we ran into cousin Abby going up! That was two days in a row! Brittany and John also ran into her on Friday at the Parade of Homes!

We saw yellow violets, yellow wallflowers, pink sticky geraniums, blue dwarf larkspur, yellow groundsel and white false Solomon's seal. Those were just the ones we could identify! My favorite new flower was the Aspen bluebells, which were abundant along the path!

Pinyon Friday

On alternate Fridays Brittany brings the girls over to hang out before band practice. I thought I'd lead with Clementine this time, as she is getting so smiley and interactive! She likes playing with her feet now!

We invited Zam Kabahuma over for lunch. In an amazing turn of events she is staying with friends in Alpine. Brittany was missionary companions with her in South Africa and Botswana almost 10 years ago. They had fun catching up on the last decade!

After naptime we went to the splashpad at Highland City Center Park. It has a little stream running through the rocks. Mabel loved it!

Mabel and Grandpa had a little fun in the evening as we were getting ready for band practice.

Mabel loved band practice and danced through every song. We were so loud we barely realized at one point that she was yelling "Potty!" This "no diaper" potty training has been working amazingly well! I wish I had done it this way!

Red Butte Gardens

We stopped by at Red Butte Garden yesterday after our visit to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. We get to start spacing out my lab visits to every three months now. We thought maybe we should visit the gardens each time we go up, as the flowers change with the seasons.

They have lots of terraced gardens and walking paths. It was beautiful. We ran out of time before we got to the natural open space part of the garden.

There is a nice view of Salt Lake City from the top of the garden. This is the newly dedicated Conservation garden. It is drought resistant, and in a few years will have much taller vegetation. It will be fun to watch it change over the years!

A Birthday and a Parade

We had fun going to the Utah Valley Parade of Homes on Wednesday. The house with the nicest lot was on the street where we live! We enjoyed seeing the home furnishings and decorations. Other than this view we didn't find anything we would trade our house for!

Annette and Kent went with us, and since it was her birthday we took a break and went to a late lunch at the Harvest Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point! It was the perfect choice, as it was not only delicious, but quiet enough that you could hear each other as you visited.

Annette and Kent shared a birtheday kiss. Then we all shared her giant piece of carrot cake!

We stopped by at Brittany's to see how the potty training is going. It was somewhat scary having a naked girl sit on your lap, but fortunately, Mabel is doing very well with her training. The method Brittany is using says to let them go naked for a few days so they can feel it drip. It is also nice, because you can catch them in the act of peeing. It seems like a good plan (especially if it is summer).

Ed got to hold the baby with the diaper! She was in a very smiley mood! It was a nice way to end a very fun day!

Mad Hatter Party

Yesterday the Relief Society had an UnBirthday to celebrate 175 years as an organization. Here are two Judys in their mad hats. I covered mine with fresh flowers from our garden.

Tory and Courtney were the perfect picture of elegance for a garden party!

I played a little tiddlywinks with Ana and Adela. Then we became engrossed in two truths and a lie. I learned some very interesting things about the ladies in our ward!

Who knew that Bonnie Parker was a parachutist?

After temperatures approaching 100 degrees yesterday, it was nice that it rained the first half hour of the party. We waited it out inside Cori's house, and then went out to enjoy her beautiful garden when it stopped raining. What a great way to enjoy a summer evening!

Highland Glen and Food Trucks

Monday Ed and I explored Highland Glen park in Highland. It is right behind Lone Peak High School, where the Alpine kids go to school. We were amazed that it had a little lake with a swimming area, a fishing area, kayaks, picnic tables and a ton of ducks! I stepped in duck doo-doo while taking this picture!

Afterwards we stopped in Alpine to support our local food truck roundup. The Art City donuts with Boston Creme filling were delicious!

We got to listen to a local band, the Hooligans play. It was a fun night to be out and about!