Hard Enduro Rhythm Knockout and Soldier Hollow MTC Race

Mark and Merril competed in the Utah Summer Games Hard Enduro Rhythm Knockout. Mark said it was hard. Here he is with his medal!

While those crazies were off riding dirt bikes, Juliet was riding a mountain bike in Soldier Hollow in Midway. We were just there a few weeks ago for the girls trip! We stayed at Jo Anna's house in Springville after the pre-ride. The mountain bike team has new jersey colors this year. They're pretty but I worry about the white getting dirty. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Getting ready to go!

Juliet's in good shape. Unfortunately she hooked a tree and went down. She wasn't hurt and the bike was fine but she lost some time.

And she got dirty!

After cleaning up, we were ready to head home. We had to drive ourselves, no one else was there to get us home. It was a good and busy weekend!

 

The Struts Concert

I'm recent years, The Struts have become my favorite band. It's a band that I've discovered by myself instead of something that I listened to because of Merril or someone else. I saw that they were touring and Merril gave the courage to buy tickets, on a Wednesday in Salt Lake City. They weren't touring any closer so it was that or Phoenix. 

We got there and Barns Courtney was opening. I don't have any pictures of him and I didn't think I knew any of their songs, but apparently Spotify has been pitching them to me without my knowledge. I knew four or five of their songs. And then The Struts came out.

The Complex in Salt Lake is the event center where me and the kids saw Owl City. We walked right up to the same spot where I watched Owl City, way up on the left side. For some reason it gets left open but it's so close to the stage!

It was awesome! I was scream singing every song!!

Luke Spiller is kind of like a cross between the lead singer from Queen, Freddie Mercury, and The Rolling Stones. He was funny and all over the stage and high energy. I really enjoyed the show! I really wanted to go again. I feel bad that my favorite band doesn't have a huge following! Maxine said it's a good thing because tickets are cheap and you can be up close.

Making a Fort

For Come Follow Me, we were reading about how the Nephites were fortifying their cities. It suggested that we build a fort! I haven't built a fort with the kids for a decade.

It was a fun Come Follow Me lesson!

Maxine and Stephanie Hike

I love that these two planned an adventure together. They went hiking at Brighton Ski Resort. They have trails in the summer.

And bumped into this guy with no shirt? It was a little rainy and they hid together under a tree. Then they continued to hang out.

When she came back, she and Juliet went to the temple!

Is Jacky Alive?

Here he is! I troll Jack's picture folder to check in on him when it's not Pday. Maxine said every missionary has a picture of the big map. 

Elder Toone is in the foreground. He's from Canada but we think he looks like Stockton. 

Jack with his companion, Elder Nelson.

This is Elder Carter. He's 6'10" and makes Jack look small. Ha!

Jack's district. He says the guys in the district are good, they are all really starting to bond with one another. Everyone is super cool and he definitely feels blessed to be in such a good district.  

Yay! Look at his smiling face! Miss him already! 

Getting in a Rhythm

Maxine is training for the St. George Half Marathon and has been going on her training runs! She was supposed to run some during her FSY summer but she was so busy!

It's the first day of school for the younger bunch!

I don't have a pictures of Mikayla's face but I do have one of her neck! We trimmed her undercut for the first day of school. She has so much hair!

Snake in the House

Juliet, who is not a fan of snakes, came upstairs to inform me that there was a snake in Mikayla's room. I ran downstairs and we couldn't find it. I searched all around Mikayla's room and other rooms in the basement. There's a snake loose in the house. Bummer. 

Two days later, it was found by the piano and Mikayla caught it and took it outside. Yay! It was the smallest snake I've ever seen! I'm glad it's not in the house anymore!

 

Boys Lake Powell Trip

Shawn is so generous. It's so nice of him to invite Merril and the kids on Lake Powell adventures. This year, it's the boys turn. Sorry Jack, you're in the MTC and missed it this year. Mark is learning to surf with Shawn.

Mark got to drive the boat.

How he sleeps like that, I'm not really sure!

They went to toilet bowl arch and were jumping off the top into the water. While they were there, Merril said a volkswagon size rock fell off. They decided to leave.

They came back a few hours later and the arch had collapsed.

Merril was interviewed for KSL News about it. You can see it here. Pretty crazy! Thankfully, not one was hurt. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WdjjnOVoEo

Girls Trip to Midway

After we dropped off Jack at the MTC, Juliet and I were about to start a girl's trip with my Mom and sisters in Midway. Maxine was working at FSY. Julie and I didn't want to drive home, only to turn around and drive back so we stayed up the day and had fun wasting time together. We went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. I thought I was fine with Jack leaving until we showed up and the place was crawling with Elders and Sisters from the MTC. No, we didn't see Jack. But it just became very clear that he was a missionary and was going to be gone for a very long time. I cried. I cried as we walked in. I cried and we descended the steps to the font. It's okay. I just missed him a ton all at once. But the baptisms were nice. 

And since we were staying up north and goofing off, Merril took the two little kids to Lagoon.

Legit my favorite ride.

Check out the bussin' meal! The kids are saying bussin' lately. It means awesome!

Maxine was busy with FSY kiddos!

This is Juliet's first girl's trip.

We rode the Heber Creeper train.

There has to be golfing, I mean driving the golf cart.

We went to a disco 70s tribute band in Deer Valley. 

We rode a bobsled at the Utah Olympic Park.

We watched a ski jumping show at Olympic Park as well. It rained on us for a bit.

My Mom promised Randy Winmill that we'd visit the grave of his Mom and Dad, Roy and Relva.

We went swimming at the Midway crater! I've wanted to do this for a long time. The water was warm, perfect for lounging. They made us keep on our life jackets so we couldn't snorkel down.

General shenanigans.

Midway is influenced by Swiss settlers and a lot of the buildings have swiss architecture designs. These shutters at the LDS church building were a fun nod.

It was a good weekend. I'm not sure how many more extra kids were going to invite because the bigger the group, the harder to arrange hotels and transportation. It might resort to an OG Gordon girls adventure.