Pictures of our boys near Ensign Peak

 

Green River with Kyle and Liz

We went to Green River, UT with Kyle and Liz last weekend to go camping and rafting.  We found out when we got there that Green River was celebrating "Melon Days" by having a fair with a bunch of inflatable slides and bounce houses.  Mace had a lot of fun jumping down the slides.

We camped at a beautiful place about 10 miles or so North of the city of Green River and had a got there just a little before sunset.  I had no idea Green River was so beautiful.  Here are Kyle and Liz, and their daughter Ruby:

Kyle swam for a little just before dark.

There was a great sandy beach where our boys could play.  They both had sand everywhere.

I think this is my favorite picture from the trip.

 

Here is a 30 second exposure.  The city of Green River is lighting up the left side and the milky way is on the right.

The next day we all piled in the raft and went down a few miles.

It was beautiful.  I had no idea there was this much beauty so close to the somewhat dumpy run down city of Green River.

Cruz LIKES walking now!!

So, last night (yes, the same night I posted about Cruz NOT liking to walk) Cruz decided that he liked walking and spent so much time walking between people or chairs or couches or toys. The only thing he can't do is get into a standing position without something to balance on while he stands. So, he will crawl to anything he can balance on, stand up and walk to the next big thing.

It is really amazing how well he is doing. I have said this before, but I really think Cruz is an observer. He seems to learn best by watching first. We have practiced walking TONS, but he hasn't ever wanted to try it by himself. Once he thinks he can do something, he does and does it really, really well! He is still falling a lot, but I think by the end of the week, he will be mostly walking!

We are SO excited and proud of our littlest man! Go Cruz!

Ketchup Please

Cruz's new love- KETCHUP!! 

He was so mad when the fries were gone and I took away his ketchup.

Cruz is starting to Walk

Cruz is starting to walk, but for some reason he doesn't really like it. When he started taking his first few steps, we praised him and he was so happy. Tyler and I started making our bets as to when he would be walking full time and crawling would be a thing of the past.

As you can see in this video, he can walk more than a few steps at a time. Why doesn't he like it? Who knows? Any guesses as to when he will enjoy walking and stop crawling?

First family backpacking trip

We went on our fist family backpacking trip up Grizzly Gulch near Alta.  Mace was really excited because we let him drive the car on the dirt road for a little bit.

As parents, your option was to carry two boys...

 or a backpack with 4 pads, 4 sleeping bags, a tent, and clothes for 4.

We got up there later than we had planned, but at least we were able to watch a beautiful sunset.

 

Here is a picture of our tent we took right before getting in for the night.

We told stories, sang songs, and made faces until we thought it was time to sleep...

and then we started a horrible night of listening to Cruz moan and cry pretty much all night long.  He is teething and we think he was in pain.  We probably didn't sleep more than 1 hour at a time.

Here are some pictures from my camera phone. Tears all the way up the canyon. Smiles all the way home. Cruz took two longs naps after we got home. Thank goodness! :)

Mountain Biking and Kayaking

Tyler got to do a few fun things in July. 

First, he went mountain biking with his friend, John. It was really fun to see John and Corianne when they were in town.

Then, Tyler went Kayaking down the Provo River with a few guys in our ward. 

I need to figure out how to get Tyler to get more pictures of himself when he is out doing fun things.