Brighton Resort Hikes

As the reality of moving sinks in, I've realized there is still SO much we wanted to do here in Utah- places to go, things to see, people to visit, etc. I had made a list of top places to go visit, but between my spring classes and finding a place to live in Madison and looking for mini-vans and making moving arrangements...we have been amazed at how fast our time is disappearing ;(
There's just no way to do it all/see it all before we leave, so we just have more reasons to come back for visits :)
**The good news is we DO have a place to live in Madison now! We had to sign the lease just trusting the pictures online, so hopefully we're not disappointed when we get there- but we sure are relieved to have that taken care of! Now it's just a matter of GETTING to Madison...

We were able to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon one Saturday. (We were amazed that neither of us had been up there...but then again, not being skiers, that kind of explains it!) We were a little worried our little car wouldn't make it, but we took it nice and slow and enjoyed the amazing scenery as we drove past different ski resorts. Recently we heard of several people doing a hike to Silver Lake. Ben and some friends had just done it and said it was a little strenuous. However, when Tyler was looking up possible hikes to do, Silver Lake kept coming up, but with the description "easy" and "wheelchair accessible." Hmmm. Either someone was lying or there were 2 different Silver Lakes!
Turns out there ARE 2 quite different hikes to places called Silver Lake! We chose to do the easier one starting at Brighton Ski Resort and then to keep hiking to 2 nearby lakes.

We did feel a little silly starting the "hike" on a boardwalk- but Jordy didn't seem to mind! :)

This is Silver Lake (or at least one of them in Utah!)

Then from Silver Lake we started the "real" hike to Solitude Lake. It was a nice little hike through the woods and amazing views of the surrounding mountains with this nice little lake at the end!

Tyler was taking a picture of another couple that we passed and Jordy was helping make sure he took a good picture!

We decided to keep on going to the third lake. However, the little map we had looked at did not prepare us for the elevation climb that would come! But this picture was taken before we made that discovery - so we were still smiling! (We had walked around the lake and made just a little climb so that is Solitude Lake behind us) 

Happy Hikers surrounded by BEAUTIFUL mountains! *I kept feeling like we should be singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music!" 

WE MADE IT! I think we were literally hiking up a ski run- it was pretty steep, but we took it nice and slow! (My first and probably only time to be on a ski run! It's amazing to think at some times of year there is enough snow to cover all that!)

We didn't pass anyone on this stretch of the hike, so we had to trust going up would eventually lead us there! Luckily there were some good rocks along the side that made for a good "self-timer" picture! :)

Twin Peaks Lake

After that hard work, we found a nice little semi-shaded spot to have a little picnic lunch! Jordy was happy to be out of his pack! (And Tyler didn't mind that either!)

In front of Twin Peaks Lake

On our way back down to Silver Lake 

(Once again we found a great self-timer rock- that's what they're there for, right?!) I could have stared at this view forever! It was an AWESOME hike!

Walking around Silver Lake on our way back 

Somebody was ready for a nap after all that! (We all were, actually!) 

Trip to Idaho

Tyler's brother, Eric, came to visit the last weekend of May from Ireland (where he's been working for the past 2 years with Qualtrics). We went up to Idaho for a very quick visit (picked Eric up from the airport and got to Idaho about 11pm Friday and then left to get back to Utah by 12 noon on Sunday). **He had a certain-someone to visit in Utah during the week :)

Tyler's sisters Julie and Kristi and their families came over Saturday evening for a little BBQ. Jordy had lots of fun being the center-of-attention with his cousins! (They all wanted a turn holding him on the trampoline)

Jordy was super excited to see his friend, Koda, again! :) I just don't know if she felt the same way to see him...

We spent the whole day Saturday going from one cousins' game to another- there was basketball, football, baseball, and soccer. It was a BUSY day! But Jordy seemed to have a lot of fun running around!

He seemed to get the most excited watching baseball! 

But he still found time to be a goof! 

Memorial Day Weekend

It was a little different having Memorial Day the second-to-last weekend in May. We've gone up to Idaho in the past, but we were planning on going the next weekend, so we found some fun things to do in Utah! 

On Saturday we all got together for a little BBQ at our place. For the last week-and-a-half it had been raining (super weird for Utah) so it was hard to plan anything too far away or too far in advance. But luckily we met up during the dry part of the day! 

Jordy and Aunt Carly and Aunt Jess husked the corn!

Then we were just waiting to cook our brats and hotdogs on our baby charcoal grill...Carly didn't like waiting :)

...I guess Brad was still watching Carly to see if she'd make a more normal face! :)

I usually squat down to take pictures of Jordy, but recently, he thinks he too needs to squat down when a picture is being taken...hahaha! 

Which then introduced the topic of Filipino-squatting (Ben told us he discovered lots of Filipinos "sit" that way while on his mission). Naturally we all had to see if we could do it as well as Jordy can!

Tyler was a good sport and just kept on waiting on the baby grill...eventually it got hot enough! (Though we had all started eating the other stuff already!) **If you look closely, Jordy is sitting on the other side of Aunt Carly...he felt pretty cool eating at the big table! 

Then it was play time! With so many aunts and uncles around- it was inevitable that Jordy would get teased a little! :) Poor guy couldn't figure out where his ball went! **For the record, Aunt Jess started this... :)

Look who thinks he's big enough to start climbing things...oh boy! **This also shows the start to one of "Jordy's smiles"- another thing he has started doing- when he sees the camera he knows to "smile"- however, for some reason, he doesn't give a cute smile, he scrunches up his nose and mouth and THAT'S him "smiling" for a picture. Hmmm...I hope this phase doesn't last long- he just looks like he's in pain! :)

SEE...what is that face Jordy?!

Thank goodness for Aunts and Uncles that were willing to swing with him! 

We then went on a little walk to see our neighbor, the Emu! Jordy had quite the "security" accompanying him! :) **We only got a few odd looks from the neighbors we passed!

Tyler didn't have to work on Monday, so we had a fun, busy day together! 

We had to start the day off right eating Kneaders all-you-can-eat-cinnamon-bread-french toast...mhmm mhmmm! :) 

The forecast had off-and-on rain throughout the day, but we took our chances and went for a little drive on the Nebo Scenic Loop. It was looking a little ominous as we started our drive up the mountain though...

We had to drive about 17 miles to get to the little spot we were hoping to hike to. I was getting a little worried that I had under-dressed for the hike when this is what we were seeing out our window!!

Somewhere in those clouds is Mt. Nebo...

After driving through rain and passing snow on the road (making us think it was closer to Christmas than almost June!) we made it. It wasn't raining, and not as cold as we thought it would be (we had started going down in elevation again on our drive) so we took our chances to do our little hike. 

It was called Devil's Kitchen, but it was said to be "a mini Bryce Canyon" (we'll take it- a fraction of the drive to see a Bryce Canyon-look-alike!)

He was ready to hike! (We thought this was a good intro-hike as it was paved :)

Good thing this "hike" was less than a 1/4 mile long...Jordy was wanting to touch almost every leaf and stick...

We made it! And yes, I squatted down to take this picture, how could you tell?!

I've never been to Bryce Canyon, but this was a pretty cool sight! 

Jordy was saying he needed "help" :) 

Some caves we saw on our drive finishing the Nebo Loop

Nebo Loop ends in Nephi, so before heading back up to Orem we stopped by a little park and had a picnic- Jordy didn't eat much once he saw there were swings! Boy does he love his swings! :) 

We had a great weekend together! Too bad it seemed to go so quickly. Back to school and work the next day...

Including Jordy! (He volunteers for this "work" though!) And yes, he saw I had the camera, so naturally, this was his camera smile!