Weekend in the Uintas

We had a blast this weekend.

A month or so ago, we had the Bear River Lodge ask if we’d like to come and stay. They’d let us have a free night in exchange for getting word out about their property. We weren't sure how much it would help our business, but we know that we love the Mirror Lake Highway, and we were down for an opportunity to check out their cabin. As we worked the details out, we realized that they wanted to let us stay in their Family Reunion Suite, which sleeps over 20! That was okay by us. We could spend a night in king beds with two stoves and 8 bathrooms. There’d be a few other perks two. Of course, part of the deal was that we visit in the offseason. We decided to go up for a Saturday in November before it got too cold. They also offered us a Christmas tree permit and access to a side-by-side, so that we could go for a ride. 
 
When the big day came, the weather was beautiful, but cold. The weather report said that the Uintas were getting down to single digits at night. Luckily, it’d be in the upper 40’s during the day. We loaded up the warm clothes and left around 10 o’clock. 
 
Our first stop was Upper Falls in Provo Canyon. We love that hike, and the waterfall is beautiful, but we’d forgotten how steep the trail is! We were really huffing and puffing by the time we reached the waterfall. We’d run most of the way up, so we took it back nice and slowly.

Upper Falls is a great waterfall. 

 
We stopped again in Kamas at Hi Mountain for lunch. The hamburgers, fries, and shakes were really good, as always. It was a good thing, too, because the drive up to Bear River Lodge is still about an hour. We passed all of our favorite hikes, as the Bear River Lodge is almost in Wyoming. Our only other stop was at Provo River Falls, which was quite beautiful as it was mostly ice. We spent a little time looking at the series of waterfalls and still made it to check-in around 3 o’clock.

Seth found some new flavors of Zotz to try.

The frozen waterfall was lovely.

It was cool to see it all covered in ice.

This waterfall has lots of levels.

They were brave (or foolish) and walked on the ice.

After we got our stuff toted into the massive cabin, we hopped in the side-by-side and went for a short ride. The boys loved it, and a few of them got to drive, which was really exciting. We drove for about an hour, and the highlight was crossing the river. The water was only about a foot deep, but it was mostly ragged ice, and no water got up over the floorboards. 

It was our first time trying out a side by side.

We drove in the river, but didn't make the big river crossing.

It was beautiful in the mountains. 

By the time we got done with the ride, we were getting pretty cold. We’d bundled up really well, but the wind cut right through us. We parked the vehicle for the night and went back into the cavernous cabin. The boys played games and watched a movie while Mom got tacos ready for dinner.

There was a big swing at the lodge.

The kitchen is huge!

We took it easy after dinner, watching the BYU game and getting to bed late. That meant sleeping in the next morning. We didn't get up until after 9 o'clock. Then Mom made pancakes and we got all loaded up. We checked out, but we wanted one more drive on the side-by-side. This time, everyone took a little turn driving. Mom was really a natural, of course!

The sunset out the back window was beautiful.

We had fun watching the game.

After we turned in the vehicle, we had lunch at the outdoor grill. The food was amazing, and we enjoyed eating in the outdoor tent because we could see right through the walls. The boys even had a little snowball fight. Finally, we made the drive back through Evanston. It was a little shorter to go that way, but mostly, we wanted to see what was out the rest of the Mirror Lake Highway. As it turned out, nothing is!

Dax was surprised we let him drive.

Mark was a great driver. 

We had a ton of fun!

James's First Birthday

Such a cute birthday boy!

Mom has made it to every single niece and nephew's first birthday on her side of the family. Her perfect 14/14 record was on the line when the Ferlan's decided to move James to North Dakota. Luckily, their move was delayed, so we only had to drive to Ucon.

On the first weekend in November, Grandpa also got box seats to the Junior Hockey League game, which may sound small, but was surprisingly, a pretty big deal, with thousands of fans. It was fun to be in the box seats, and we saw some pretty amazing hockey. The home town Idaho Falls Spud Kings scored two goals in the last five minutes to pull off a 5-4 victory. Both of those goals were crazy athletic, as one guy turned the puck in mid air into the goal and the other made a dive over an opponent to flick the puck back-handed past the goalie. Mostly, we just enjoyed being with the food and family in the box.

Hockey Game time!

It was Star Wars Night, so we got this awesome pic!

We love hanging with the cousins (and the Spud King).

The hockey game was super exciting.

James loves Mark!

Sunday morning we got up early and went to church with Grandma and Grandpa. The boys weren't too excited about attending Sunday School with strangers, but after it was over, they were glad that they went. 

After church, we drove back up to Stephanie's house. The fed us lunch of barbecue chicken, with birthday cupcakes for dessert. Then James opened presents with his usual sunny demeanor. Our boys like to be around him so much because he is always smiling and giggling. Best of all, Mom kept her perfect record intact! 15 out of 15!

We can't believe he is already one. 

He has been so much for all of the cousins!

Grandma got him laughing really good!

The cat was entertaining hiding in the gift bags.

It was a "Beary" Great Birthday party!

Seth loved watching James demolish his cupcake.

Ferlans, Ockeys, and Britt!!

October Outings

WOW! It seems that October has become busier than December. There are so many fall adventures that we get invited to try that it is hard to make it to all of them. We actually didn't make it to all of them this year, and we could barely drag our oldest two to anything this October. Seth was a good sport, and Mark was mostly going to football games, so Dax was in between. Sometimes he came, and sometimes he didn't. Mom is already trying to limit Christmas based on this insane October month.

Mom loves Fall, so first thing she did after the September Cruise was drive up the mountains. Kyvh Peak was stunning. It's still so colorful and beautiful. She took the boys on a picnic a few days later while Dad had parent teacher conferences. We missed him!

The colors!!

This drive was so gorgeous.

Mom hopped out to walk around for just a second.

The reds were beautiful.

This is really Mom's happy place.

Fall picnics are traditions.

We were invited to Airborne in Lindon since they added a new playground for kids 10 and under. No one in our family could play in it, but Mom took a few pics. The boys were really into the obstacle course and Mom could not believe that Mark could do so many obstacles. He is really strong. Dax and Seth did great on the challenges, too. We had a lot of fun jumping and playing.

Seth got really good at the challenges.

Mark is seriously so strong.

Always willing to pose for me.

Dax was really good at this game.

One night Mark and Dax were busy, so Mom and Dad and Seth went on two adventures. First we went to Cross E Ranch Fall Festival. We had come for the sunflower festival a few weeks earlier, so most of the activities were the same, but we did the corn maze and enjoyed the pumpkin patch. Then we headed to Thriller Park. This place was amazing with live shows and cool towns and castles built to walk through with interactive actors. Seth was very nervous that things would be scary, but nothing was, so he ended up enjoying himself. 

Mom is a nice witch.

The pig races were super fun.

Walking together to stay safe.

There were some fun photo places.

Lots of great pictures in the pumpkins.

Our new buddy, skelly!

Seth was most excited for the bounce houses.

Mom liked the lighted pumpkin displays.

We stopped at all the photo ops.

Seth also made a friend.

Another day, Seth has a tennis tournament so Mark, Dax, and Dad went up to walk through the Day Haunt at Nightmare on 13th. This activity is so fun because you can walk through the haunted house without the scarers. Dax missed going last year, so he was excited to check it out. I think he is still unsure whether he liked it or not.

Ready to be brave!

This guy stole Dax's hat!

They survived.

We were invited to check out Lights Fest. We have seen this activity happen lots of times and wondered about how they clean up the mess. After Mom made sure that there was no impact to the environment, she agreed for the family to go. It turned out to be way cooler than any of us expected. Seeing all the lights go up was awesome. We even made an Utah's Adventure Family one!

Mom decorated her lantern.

Can you see Seth?

The sky filled with lanterns was so neat.

Here goes our Utah's Adventure Family lantern.

We didn't light anyone on fire, so that was a win!

Mom tried something new. She met up with a person that has been a follower of hers on Instagram for a long time. She also loves fall, so she took Mom on a hike up in the mountains that blew Mom away. It was beautiful and amazing! She loved it and she made a new friend.

The mountains were still beautiful.

Yellows everywhere.

It is weird to have so many pictures of Mom.

Mom won in the jumping competition.

This trail really was very pretty.

Mom and Dad went to see Sharon Says So speak. It was amazing and a super fun date night. We also celebrated our 21st anniversary. We went out to eat at Tokyo on Lehi Main (just like Tepanyaki).

Mom is glad that Dad was a good sport to come to see Sharon.

Proof that we were there!

Dad gave Mom the most beautiful flowers.

So lucky to have each other!

We visited our favorite little spook alley: Festival Transylvania. They are so nice to us and everyone wanted to take our picture so we ended up with a few family pictures. The story had some puppets with year, which was cute.

Festival Transylvania here we come. 

We liked the punny signs on the way in.

We have a pic here every year!

Seth didn't make it!

Another family pic. Well, without Mark.

Before we headed out of town for Fall Break, we stopped at Thanksgiving Point for the scarecrow festival. This was one of the best years! There were a ton of scarecrows and a lot of really creative ones. It was a fun start to Fall Break, and Dad's first time visiting this event.

A Phineas and Ferb scarecrow. 

Marilyn Monroe

Family time is the best.

After Fall Break, Seth, Dad, and Mom went to a new event called Pumpkin Party. We had fun playing all the games and just hanging out together. Dad beat everyone in tether ball, which he was very proud of.

Dad beat Seth and Mom pretty good.

Seth was doing all sorts of tricks for the camera.

He also buried himself after I took this picture.

They had selfie stands, which was super fun.

These are the final few pictures of some fun October moments.

Books and Buddies for 5th grade.

Bike ride on the local trail one morning for Mom.
Can you tell she loves her Alaska sweatshirt since it's in every picture?

These two still play together. I love it!

Mom won some free donuts at Rowley's Red Barn, so she had to go pick them up. Good thing, too. She bought pumpkins for $5.