I felt like going to a local pond, so we did. And it was awesome. Thanks to bribing some older kids with fast food, I got everyone there, and we all enjoyed ourselves. For teenagers, that meant sitting in a camp chair and playing phone games, but some nature is better than no nature. We got the paddleboard out, swam in the pond (we did check the website for water quality first), played on the playground a bit, and went on a short walk around the lake. I think a fishing pole got cast a couple of times too.

I need time in nature to feel like myself. Small, local adventures like this are perfect to fulfil that need.

In other big news, I sent my last kid to her first day of school. She did awesome, walked in with a smile on her face and had a good time. She’s ready. I got a bit emotional: I just sent my last little one away to school. It’s a big deal, but a good milestone to reach. (Another huge milestone is having no kids in diapers anymore. There’s only happiness in that one. And taking down the crib, which I do not need to keep, but I did store it because I had the same crib for all five kids, and I can get sentimental sometimes.)

It’s been a weird transition time. The boys are off at school all day, and I’m home with Evie—except she’ll start preschool next week. Change is never easy for me, and I’ve felt a little directionless. Sometimes, I’m excited for more time to work on the goals I have, and at other times, I don’t do much of anything. Anyways, the kids are all adjusting really well to school. Evenings have been full of taking kids to rehearsal (Henry), football (Curtis, whose team is undefeated), basketball (Peter, always), and a bit of flag football (Peter again, and Zack).

I did go on a bike ride with my sister in Park City, hiking with Joe at Gloria Falls, and we took the kids to a petting zoo in Oakley

Earlier in the summer, I decided we needed to go camping at least once, so I reserved a campground in Bear Lake. We quite enjoyed the mini-vacation up there. We spent some time on the beach, visiting family, stopped by the Hobbit Caves in Logan Canyon, and pet the animals at Zootah.

The rest of the summer was a couple of normal adventures, like swimming and getting ready for school. Here’s our list of things we did this summer!

Most of the kids are now in school, and we are just waiting for preschool to start for Evie. They all seem to have great teachers and schedules, and I think it will be a great year. The first day of school was more exciting because Zack had a birthday!

Summer has been going on for a while, so I no longer take pictures of most things. The kids and I went to Solitude and rode the ski lift and hiked. It was incredibly scenic…and I took one picture of a moose, except you can’t really see the moose in the picture.

I also went backpacking with my sister. We hiked for about 10 miles up the Yellow Pine trail just at the start of the Mirror Lake Highway. It was a fun challenge, and we had a lake to ourselves while we camped overnight. We visited Provo Falls and attemped paddleboarding the next day.

We’ve had cousins over, visited parks, the Ogden Dino Park, and Toad Fun Zone, and gone hiking a bit. Summer is…well, many of us will be ready for school to start in just a few weeks. I love spending more time with my children, but I miss the structure of school and the need to always be figuring out what to do with the kids. Summer break is winding down. The kids have started football practice, and Curtis made the A team for the first time in tackle football! Class schedules are coming out, and school will be here quickly.

We met up with Joe’s family in Island Park. The vast majority of the family was there, which rarely happens. We crammed over 50 of us into a very large Airbnb. We had a lot of fun. The first day was just driving and getting used to things. The next day, we went to Yellowstone. We intercepted with the family sometimes, but mostly explored with our own little family. We’ve been there quite a bit and picked our favorite spots, plus a few new ones. We did Great Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, drove by the lake, saw bison at Mud Volcano, and hiked to the brink of lower and upper falls. It was a nice visit.

The next day we went tubing. Tubing can easily go not as planned: going much slower than anticipated, shallow water, thunderstorms, stuck cars, grumpy kids…and you are stuck in a river without much else you can do besides just go down the river. So my advice is to pick a very short route if you’ve never done the run before.

We stopped by Mesa Falls, Yellowstone Safari Park, and Lava Hot Springs hot pools on the way home, which was all rather relaxing. It was great to see family, but it also ended up being an exhausting vacation. Good to be home.

I wanted to complete a physical goal, so I came up with the idea of doing a “triathlon” on the fourth. We biked for a random distance, 7 miles, which ended up further than expected. Biking is fun. I went with my husband, and we both towed a kid along. We did a mile run because running is not fun. This was a race with a couple of kids and my husband, which I lost, and we also had to go rescue Zack, who made a wrong turn.

Later in the day, we canoed just under 4 miles down the Jordan River. That was the most eventful. We canoed with my sister’s family. We had done the route before, but wind and rain made it more difficult. It was quite beautiful, lots of birds and great scenery. Finished the day with tons of fireworks.

We also celebrated Evie’s birthday. She loves birthdays and enjoyed opening presents and playing with her friends. When I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she would say cake. But she likes the idea more than she actually eats cake.

We started out by driving a lot, all the way into the Black Hills of South Dakota. On the way, we stopped at Sixth Crossing and Jewel Cave, both quick stops because we happened to be driving by. We spent the evening mini-golfing by our cabin.

The next day, we set out for Mount Rushmore. It was “mid” according to the opinion of my kids. After that, we drove up to Sylvan Lake. I thought it was the prettiest lake I’d ever seen. Worth it to hike back behind the lake. Some kids swam, others fished. We continued on the needles highway, and eventually ended up at Wind Caves for a tour. This was a great thing to do on a hot day, and then we ended the day swimming at Evan’s Plunge in Hot Springs and getting some ice cream.

The third day was over to the Badlands. This was a cool place, but just too hot for anyone to really enjoy it. We did a brief stop in Rapid City to see the president statues, and then met up with my brother to experience Cosmos Mystery Area, one of many tourist traps in the area. I’d been there when I was a kid. We had dinner by our cabin after. The little kids went with their cousins for a sleepover.

Sunday was a much needed rest day. We attended church with my brother and hung out at his place. Activities included taking naps, and playing. We drove to Casper after and spent the night.

Monday, we stopped at Independence Rock and then hiked to Martin’s Cove. It was a five-mile hike, which was a stretch for the younger kids. But we did all make it. Along the way we shared pioneer stories from our ancestors and tried not to get too grumpy. Part of the trail we pulled a handcard loaded with lunch and two little kids. Another quick stop to visit my sister, and then we arrived late at home.

Great trip. I have a family with lots of different interests, so sometimes it’s hard to plan a good vacation, but I think it went pretty well. One of my favorite things was seeing the fortitude of my family when we hiked Martin’s Cove. It wasn’t easy, but we did it. Probably the most fun we had was at Evan’s Plunge. I challenged the kids to get the second gymnastic ring on the swing rings they had. Both my older kids did it!

We took a trip to Lagoon. It really is a pretty good amusement park. We ran out of energy and desire before we ran out of rides. (It didn’t help that we went the day after the older kids got back from camp, and they were a little tired.) Everyone had a pretty good time.

We have finished up the camp part of the summer. Henry was in the Newsies, Curtis attended football and basketball camp, Peter attended basketball camp, Zack participated in t-ball and the triathlon, and Evie also participated in the triathlon. The boys went to camp with the church and did some awesome rappelling. And in between all that, we have time for little adventures like wading in a swimming hole in a local creek.

I gave this advice to someone, and honestly, myself too. Seek inspiration and then follow that. Trust it. And believe in yourself. Too often, I get caught up in self-doubt, don’t trust my instincts, and I get off the right way. But there are other times when I feel strongly about something, I follow that, and I end up with great joy in my life. Things work out.

Things that happen a lot in the summer:

• Play outside in the pool and on the waterslide
• Going to parks and swimming pools
• Going on nature walks
• Finding fun things to do, like nature scavenger hunts
• T-ball

The little kids also did a “triathlon.” They biked/scootered, ran, and then went down a waterslide. It was very cute. Evie did it no problem, even though she’s two (just a little help on the slide), and Zack was the second kid to finish out of our group.

We also went to Utah Lake one evening. The day was busy, but I never regret getting out into nature and enjoying it. Utah Lake has not been known as a good place to swim. And often, later in the summer, it has an algae blooms and isn’t. But this early in the summer, it was very fun!