HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE KOKEN

For Colton’s Birthday this year we decided it would be fun to have everybody over for a BBQ and games then watch a movie out underneath the stars. Colton’s Dad does a lot of seminars and hooked us up with a huge screen about 10 feet around each side and a projector and sound equipment. The evening went really well and everybody loved watching the movie out on the back lawn of the Mather’s who graciously let us invade their house. We definitely have to do that again!

The title if you’re wondering is kind of an inside joke within the family. Lately we’ve been calling each other “Aunt Mai” and “Uncle Koken” which came from our cute nephew Talmage. Colton’s sister, Ashleigh, and her family have been visiting Utah for the past couple weeks before they head back to CA and it has been so much fun to see them all. We’ll surely miss them but the nicknames will still continue. So Happy Happy Birthday Uncle Koken!

          

BUTLERVILLE DAYS

As a family tradition each year on Pioneer Day weekend, Mandy’s family attends the “Butlerville Days” festivities. Cottonwood Hieights became a city in 2004 and so it’s a lot of fun to go to the parade and celebrate. The proximity to all of the events also helps. The Mathers live just 2 blocks away from it all. We think that because of the recentness of the city the parade is also a lot more liberal and not your traditional “boring” parade. It was a lot of fun except for the part where we would get drenched by the Fire Department and others. The kids sure had a good time though.

         

After a BBQ we headed over to check out the park and get a good spot for fireworks. We met up with some friends and enjoyed the fireworks together. Afterwards we headed back to the Mather’s for Momma Mather’s famous Lemon Ice Cream. That’s one thing we love about this time of year. The fun traditions that each of our families have. Colton managed to grab some great shots of the fireworks as well. Enjoy!

MT OLYMPUS NIGHT HIKE

          

Once again another “must do” just got checked off of our “Summer Bucket List”. We have both wanted to hike Mt. Olympus and so we made plans to do so over Pioneer Day weekend. We got the idea from a friend to start the hike really early and try to catch the sunrise from the top. It’s about a 7 mile hike round trip and takes on average about 3.5 hrs to make it to the top. So there we were 2:15 a.m. a small group of us with flashlights ready to ascend! We tried to invite as many friends as possible but the crew ended up consisting of these few morning warriors: Courageous Colton, Mighty Mandy, Dangerous Dano Bear (Colton’s Sister), Bold Bryan, and Sweet Schmidty! The hike up wasn’t that bad and it was pretty fun heading up in the dark. Bryan thankfully took care of our rattlesnake problem.

        

Once at the top we took some fun pictures and then relaxed as we watched the sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful! We wouldn’t have it any other way. We made it down and to our cars by 8:30. We flew down that mountain. We were covered in shade almost the entire way which made for a nice descent. We conquered it! That was one fun hike.

    

Check that one off the list!

DRIVE-IN…Check

We LOVE the Drive-In Theatres! They’re so much fun! Going to the Drive-In was on our so called “Summer Bucket List” and we can now check that one off. We got a bunch of friends and went and saw Despicable Me and The A-Team. Colton was wired the entire night and was really into it. Good Times!

    

LET FREEDOM RING

Happy 4th of July everybody! We always love this time of the year. BBQ’s, Parades, Fireworks, and good times with friends and family. What more could you ask for? For the weekend we invited a bunch of friends to go out to the Real Salt Lake Game and watch the fireworks afterwards. It was such a blast. RSL killed the New England Revolution by a whopping 5 – 0 score. We all got “breakfast with the king”! Afterwards we went down onto the field to watch the fireworks with everybody. It wasn’t the best show but then again we paid to see the game. The fireworks were just icing on the cake.

           

We have loved going to the Real Salt Lake games. We have been to almost every home game this year. They’re sure playing great soccer and since we’re fanatics it’s a perfect fit.

Saturday morning we ran in the annual Murray Fun Run 5K. We had a great time. Colton finished in just 21 minutes! After some afternoon soccer  and a BBQ we headed out to South Jordan with friends to watch the fireworks and play at the park. It was a lot of fun. The only thing that was missing was some music to go along with the fireworks but thanks to our handy “Droid” that problem was quickly resolved.

Since everybody had Monday off because of the holiday we planned a boating trip with Colton’s Dad and the family. We found a great deal on KSL and rented a boat for the entire day with a tube, wakeboard, kneeboard, and skis included. We love the classifieds at KSL.com by the way. We have bought and sold so much stuff off of there. Our Washer/Dryer, camera equipment, a hutch, and even our Condo that we live in right now just to name a few. Anyway early Monday morning we set out for Willard Bay and spent the entire day out on the water. Dad and Jeanne cooked us up a killer breakfast and also some gourmet burgers for lunch. Tubing was by far our favorite! Check out the fun:

Happy 4th of July!

THE GRANDEST CANYON OF THEM ALL

A little while ago we received a voucher in the mail for 3 free nights at a Las Vegas resort that we had stayed at during a previous trip to Las Vegas. We figured that since we had the weekend free then we would take Tuesday off and head down to Las Vegas for Memorial Day weekend. It was nice to go somewhere just the 2 of us. We had a lot of fun stuff planned for the trip that wasn’t the typical “Vegas” stuff to do. Sunday morning we got some breakfast and headed out to Red Rock Canyon for a hike. We heard that was pretty cool from some of the locals and we were sure glad we went. They had all sorts of trails and we found a great one!

 

At the end of the hike there was a little pond where we could cool off then we hiked up around the cliff to get a great view of downtown Las Vegas. We both agreed that next time we head to Vegas we’re doing more hikes at Red Rock Canyon!

 

After some rest we set out that evening and bought half priced tickets to go see a Cirque du Soleil show that we both wanted to see. It was amazing! Some of the stunts they do are absolutely mind boggling. Early Monday morning we headed off to see the Grand Canyon! It was something we just couldn’t miss and we had always wanted to go there. Although it was a longer drive we decided on the much more spectacular South Rim to visit rather than the West Rim and it was well worth it. We stopped and saw an IMAX movie all about the Grand Canyon while we were eating lunch then we entered the park and walked a 3 mile trail along the rim to really take it all in. It was gorgeous. Words don’t do it justice so we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

  

 

   

The entire trip was so much fun! We had a blast, made some good friends, and planned some really cool things we’re going to do next time we head down South. Are you in?