Natural Water Slide

On my Dad's birthday we all went on a hike in Alpine to a natural water slide. The hike was a hot one without shade, but it was fun to cool off at the top. The natural water slide is a waterfall made from granite rock. The water is all glacier or snow melt from the mountain which made the water really cold! Two of my nephews were brave enough to go down the huge slide and a couple of kids, including Reuben, went down a smaller one. Most of us just had fun wading in the pools of water, while all the Mom's there had their blood pressure going through the roof that their little one's wouldn't get hurt or fall down the drop-offs all around us. I am really glad we all went, it was really neat to see.

Salt Lake City

We were able to take a trip out to Utah this summer. It was a family reunion of sorts for us. It had been eight years since my siblings, our spouses and children had all been together! And five years for Ryan's side. It was SO good to see everyone, watch the kids play with their cousins, and meet some nieces and nephews for the first time.

Our first Monday there we visited Temple Square.

The first stop was at the Conference Center

Next was lunch and we got to see the cubicles my parents work in for their part time mission.

At lunch we ran into one of our favorite Sister Missionaries. She is serving on temple square but was able to come out our way for a while and serve at the sites next to us.

Then we went to see the temple up close

These girls cracked me up! They wanted pictures of "just" them, everywhere! I didn't post all of them though

Can you find the hiding, pouting boy?

The last stop was the Church History Museum

There was a wonderful exhibit geared towards the kids. They had fun trying to lift the gold plates.

Dancing! They could have done this all day!

There were a bunch of other centers which is didn't get pictures of. If we lived closer I think we would definitely spend more time there.

The exhibit next to the children's one had quilts! Of course I had to stop and look at these.

A Visit From Utah

We were so lucky to have my brother and his family come for about ten days! They made the super long three day drive from Utah to see us! The cousins hadn't seen each other in 2 1/2 years, so to say they had a blast together would be an understatement! They enjoyed having sleepovers every night and playing together 24/7!

We were able to go to the John Johnson farm, see the Kirtland Temple and go to historic Kirtland.

One night Valerie (John and Becky's oldest) babysat for us while we went on a date to Chagrin Falls. Here is a picture of John and Becky.

The kids had fun getting ready for the fourth of July and made necklaces and bracelets

Dante is our knight in shinning armor and Evie is our princess, of course

We were able to go to Penitentiary Glen. It is a cool park that takes wild animals that are hurt and nurses them back to health. There are cages with the animals which they have helped but can't send out back to the wild. There is also an awesome bird watching room in the visitors center which is set up so you can see all different kinds of birds. We also saw butterflies in the butterfly garden.

I didn't get pictures of going to the beach, playing in the sprinkler and all of our other adventures. We had so much fun having the Massaglia's visit!