Utah Beauty

Red Pine Trail

Utah is beautiful. JD and I felt like we needed to soak in all of the Utah we could before we moved. So, we headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to hike Red Pine Trail. I kept oo-ing & aw-ing. It was absolutely gorgeous. We didn't make it to the lake, but running down the trail made up for it. 

JD was super bummed Charly couldn't go since the hike was in the water shed & at the end of the hike I did my cold water challenge in the river (with the no swimming sign in the background. oops). Such a beautiful night.

Thunder & Lightning & Bears, oh my

GIRLS FIGHTING RAIN & STUFF

As a Sorensen girl, you have no choice but to love camping and being outdoors. That's just the way it is. Luckily, Shalese fits right in with that (although she couldn't make it to our camp. I guess working and Lagoon with her husband is more important ;)), but momma, liss, and I packed up the car and headed up Mirror Lake Highway to our beloved Moosehorn. We had heard it might rain, but we made a decision that we were going to stick it out no matter what happened...well, let's just say, it not only rained, it poured.

Torrential downpour is a good way to describe the 45 minutes to an hour following the setting up of the tent and rushing our bedding into it. We took my and JD's new tent that had never been used and had absolutely no idea how it was going to hold up in this. I'm sure most people's reactions would be to run for cover rather than grabbing metal objects and standing in puddles, but that's exactly what my mom did. We had dug a trench around our tent that might have helped if it had drizzled, but this was no drizzle. Mom was determined to make not only a good trench but holes around the tent where the water could fill (which it did quickly) rather than getting under the tent (which it did). The thunder and lightning was great and honestly, this was our favorite part of the weekend.

 Taken right when the rain was starting to fall...we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

 Lissy's dam......."I don't know why my dam isn't working!"

Sending our boat into our lake surrounding our fire pit.

Our means of trying to drain the lake from around our tent - frisbees.

 Our best looks.

We survived the storm, slept on a water bed, and woke up ready for the next day. Mom has had on her bucket list to hike Bald Mountain to the top for awhile now and was finally able to cross it off. We ate breakfast and headed over there early and it was beautiful. Lissy's knees were being jerks and made it so she couldn't make it to the top, but she was nice enough to let us finish up, and was lucky enough to hear us scream her name all the way down the mountain. 

Mom made us collect wood so she could be the natural born pyro she is.

Our visitors on Saturday night.

What it boils down to is that we had such a fun weekend. Girls time being outdoors is one of the best. Become one with nature one & all, I beg of you. It will be refreshing and rejuvenating...trust me. 

God Bless America

THE FOURTH OF JULY

I feel blessed beyond words to have grown up in Oakley, Ut for countless reasons. But one of my most favorite reasons is that I was able to go, year after year, celebrating our country with respect, but also with style.

The FOURTH OF JULY is tied for my most favorite holiday (along with Christmas). Obviously the BBQs full of delicious summer foods, rodeos, parades, and games make this holiday amazing every year, but also because we like to take the time to remember and think about the blessings we have that come from living in this country. Yes, there are always things going on with government that we either agree with or disagree with, but while we are all complaining and arguing, when you really think about it, we live in a pretty incredible country. Anyone who has travelled to countries where safety or freedom of religion, speech, etc. aren't considered important can probably attest even more to this. 

We were able to go to the Oakley Patriotic Program after the parade to support my mom (who was the pianist for the choir) and the others who were participating in it. It was the first one I didn't participate in for the past three years, but it was by far my favorite. Not only was there such a sense of patriotism, but there was a sense of community that seemed unbreakable. We listened to songs about freedom, about what people have gone through before us to make our country what it is, having patriotism, growing up in small towns, and got to watch the most humbling and touching military video about those who are serving our country. How they give up their lives to better ours and others I will never understand, but I am grateful. Grateful for not only those who serve, but the families of those men and women as well, who sacrifice so much.

God truly has blessed America.

Thanks Oakley for making the Fourth amazing once again.

Since Bandit Cam in the man, he got to be part of the Special Needs Rodeo. He rode a mechanical bull, did barrel racing on dad's back (wish I had videoed that ;)), rode a horse, & got to ride in during the opening of the first night of the rodeo. He loved every second of it.

Now that's a good lookin' 4th of July mustache...work it baby, work it.

 photo.bomb.

Rodeo with the fam is the best kind of rodeo.

 'atta boy JD, 'atta boy. Also, photobombed by the little girl on the left. Nice.