Recently, I mean six months ago,  me, my bro- and sis-in-law Mason and Bri took Georgia visitors Kaylyn and Ryan on a real live southern Utah desert adventure. They were in town for a week to get a feel for the Great American West, and what better to show off the place than to go canyoneering? We got up at the crack of dawn, stopped at the grocery store bakery where Bri worked to get some of their famous doughnuts (which were every bit as good as she claimed), and headed for the San Rafael Swell, more than four hours away. It was a long drive made interesting by the Generation Z crowd fiercely judging Mason's music choices. We intended to do a short slot in Goblin Valley called Goblin's Lair, but just about the time we were leaving cell phone range, I decided we should instead do a longer and cooler slot deeper in the Swell called Baptist Draw. So we backtracked far enough to get service, I downloaded maps and route description and GPS, and after a pit stop at ...

This summer was wild and crazy. We packed it so full. And we loved it! It went too fast. We've got a few more big posts coming before we're caught up, but as has become tradition, here's our whirlwind summer wrap-up. Explorations at Hobbs Leah rocked swimming lessons. As part of a conference, Nate took the girls and got to sit in the choir seats at the tabernacle for a presentation. Tea party. Game night. Lots of pictures of this one, because it was a fave. While Nate was in Detroit, I got brave and loaded up the kids and their bikes and we went to the bike park, which we'd never done before. This got an 11 out of 10! Emmie discovered ducks. Such a happy day. We spent lots of time at the pool. Grandma! Bryn is an artist. And also awesome. The eyes and the door match. Nate and his crew built us some new deck stairs. Emmie entered toddlerhood. I learned what a sego lily looks...