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Showing posts with label family goal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family goal. Show all posts

Monday, October 13, 2014

Fall Bucket List


Fall is here! Yay fall! I am always so happy when things start to cool down. Too be totally honest I think that is why fall ranks up there with my top seasons. I am not a hot person. I am a cool/cold person! I love fall activities. I love fall food. I love the pumpkin spice and everything nice! So to celebrate fall a little bit better the family came up with a little fall bucket list. We went overboard with our summer one. We had waaay to many things to accomplish on that one so we kept fall to a minimum. We want to accomplish as many as possible over the next two months! Here it is:

*go to a pumpkin patch or two!
*check out the witches at Gardner Village
*go booing
*decorate! I know I am lame that October is half over and I haven't put up decorations yet.
*play in the leaves
*go to a drive-in
*make hand print turkeys
*Aunt Emily's pie night
*get some family photos done
*picnic up a canyon
*go to a corn maze

That is all we are putting on there. Who knows what will get done. We are keeping things loose. No restrictions! Basically no pressure for mommy to get it all done!


Monday, July 7, 2014

Hidden Falls Hike

I mentioned a while back that my family made a goal to hike weekly. It has been fun adventuring a bit. The kids LOVE it! Being in the mountains and in nature seems to put them in awesome moods. Like woah! That is something I can really get behind. 



Here is one of our latest adventures. Hidden Falls! Now to say this is a hike would be a little bit of a fib. But dang it is pretty and totally worth doing. That being said it is more like a nature walk. Which I am totally down with. Hidden Falls is found up in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is a little bit hard to find. Anyone who has driven Big Cottonwood canyon is aware of that super tight S curve about 4 miles in. Right at the beginning of that curve is a little parking lot. Park there or along the road. You have to really watch for it or you will miss it! You can hear the falls from the road.


If you parked in the parking lot you will see these stairs. Go up those stairs and through the wooded area and then across the road. Yeah across the road! Needless to say you need to be extremely careful crossing that bit of road because the cars are going very fast down that patch. So be so careful. We ran across even though we didn't see any cars just in case. From that point it is pretty self explanatory. Follow the sounds of running water! 


My little adventurers at the beginning of the walk.


Nick climbing up and not being able to get down some rocks. HA!


This was their first glimpse at the falls.


It was a great little waterfall. And freezing cold! This is melted snowpack so it is very cold. So be prepared for that.


Facing the falls is a little rock face that my kids couldn't help but climb. Especially Lola. We lovingly refer to her as our little mountain goat. She just bounds up rock faces and mountains like a baby mountain goat.


To get to the falls you may have to get a little wet because you are walking up the creek to reach the falls. I was able to get up through to the falls without getting my feet wet but Nick and the kids all stepped in the creek. Make sure you wear shoes that you are okay getting wet! Be prepared for stepping in freezing cold water too. 


Getting to the falls is a little tricky. You will see these stairs to your right. Don't take them! Follow the path down to the creek. But really we want to go back and take those stairs. That path takes you to two different vista points. Maybe next time.



Of course on the way down we had to stop and enjoy the views. So beautiful! Nicco was in love with this canyon. It will be one we visit often because his reaction was awesome! He talked about how amazing it was and how he liked it so much. How it was the most beautiful place he has ever seen. It may sound weird but when he was talking about it it made my heart swell. It seemed to skip a beat. He is a tender boy and he sees the world in a different way. I will never forget his reaction. 

All in all a fun little adventure spot. It would be a great walk to do to wind down your day or get it started up the canyon. It was a great respite from the heat down in the valley! Have you been on any hikes lately? Were they family friendly? We are always on the lookout for fun family hikes! 

Friday, June 27, 2014

Ensign Peak

We made a goal as a family to hike once a week all summer long. Our hope is to try and enjoy the lovely mountains and trails around our state. What a waste if we don't! I am going to be sharing some of our favorite hikes here.


 The first hike we took this year was Ensign Peak. This hike is basically our first one every year. And it is rad! The Ensign Peak trail is pretty short and pretty steep in some places. There are a lot of loose rocks and pebbles on the trail so you can slip on the way down. So be careful! The kids do really well on this hike. Lola stands up the trail and yells at me to keep going and that I don't get any more breaks. So fun... 

Just check out these views! You can see for miles in basically all directions. So awesome. The kids swore they could see to Africa. We tried to explain why you couldn't see Africa. Five frustrating minutes later they still didn't get it. Remind me next time that it isn't worth the effort! ;)

It is also really great at night. Last year we went up at dusk. We watched the sunset and then used head lamps to hike back down. That was crazy fun. The kids loved the headlamps and the view was one for the books.



I will be the first too admit that I am not in good shape. Like at all. Hence the one pull-up challenge. But I really enjoy hiking and this one is a pretty great hike. I do have to rest my calves a few times on the way up. If I head down too quickly then my knees are aching by the time we get down. But it was well worth it. 

If you are local you need to check out this trail for a quick fun hike. And if you are visiting then it is a must see!