Summer 2025 as empty nesters!

So this summer marked an important milestone.  Sage was off on her mission, Ty and Ashley were in Seattle for his internship with Paccar, and Connor was back in Florida doing his internship with AG Reserves. The nest is feeling empty.  It was bittersweet.  Here are a few highlights...

A hike up Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon: We live in this beautiful place yet so much of it we have yet to explore.  So I've been determined to slowly change that. When researching local hikes I came across this one which said it was "easy to moderate" which sounded perfect since it had been a while since we'd even been on a hike and that was probably just hiking the "Y".  It was 4 1/2 miles long round trip so took several hours. I guess we hadn't been hiking enough because it definitely felt more like a moderate than easy hike but with all the kids and dogs making their way up the trail I was determined we would make it too.  While I enjoy hiking quite a bit I know it's something Jack tolerates so I was thankful he stuck with it to the end.

Nova leading the way...

We made it!

Next up was the Lehi Round Up Rodeo which is quickly becoming a tradition for Jack who went two years in a row without us while he was working and living in Utah before we had relocated.  Thanks to our friends from Snoqualmie the Atkinson's who book the tickets months in advance, it's become a summer favorite!

The day the nation celebrates Dad! Happy 4th of July!  And happy 82nd birthday to the man we all know and love!  What a blessing it is to be able to celebrate another birthday with dad.  It's been over a decade that he's been fighting his cancer and the fight continues.  Here's to another decade...

How happy Nova was to have a new friend care of Gary and Kelly.  Before long Cooper may be bigger than Nova but for now Nova likes to feel like the big guy on campus...

Florida fireworks across the lake are getting some tough competition from the amazing display we see off our balcony here in Heber City, Utah!  Pretty impressive and boy, there seems to be no shortage of people lighting up the sky from noon until midnight!

Another fun activity was joining some friends from our ward on a group Razor trip back behind our home.  It's so amazing all the beauty that exists literally in our backyard. It was pretty cool to come across all of these sheep and then to see the one black sheep amongst all the white ones.