Albion Basin / Alta Campout

 Best campsite ever. We had to book this campout back in February and we just got to go in August. We didn't even get a friday night, only a Saturday and a Sunday night. So Ally has been asking for years to go and camp up at Alta where we ski in the winter. We finally got our acts together and made it happen. The area is beyond gorgeous. Wildflowers galore, mountain lakes and streams, beautiful mountains. The funnest part is that we already know the whole mountain. It was lots of fun to hike the trails that we usually ski on.

 I decided i could climb up this ski lift pole. Apparently it was a group effort. Somehow my kids were able to scale right up the thing, no trouble. I need more upper body strength. Sheesh!

 Thanks kids, I made it!

 Jason came with us so we had a built in photographer. Yea for family photos!

 The wildflowers are out of this world. So many different varieties and mass amounts of them. Not sure why my yard doesn't bloom like this is left to go wild. 

 Our whole group looking down at Lake Katherine. 1.9 miles to the north is Brighton Ski Resort.

 This sign was wearing a hat when we came upon it. We finished dressing it up a bit. 

 We found it. The northern edge of Alta. Hiking up these mountains is sure harder than skiing down them. I was having a hard time with my oxygen levels up there. Byron had no trouble at all. 

 Ski lift drama/hysteria began here. 

 For some reason it took the entire family to get me up onto anything. Yes, everyone please help mom. Feeling old.

 It makes me feel better than Byron also got a boost from Carter. It is higher than it looks. 

 So Jason had a plan to just swing on up there. Easy, right?

 Here he goes...

 Whiff...he was left hanging. Everyone had a good laugh.

 Down he goes for his second mount.

 And he's up...

 Looks like he made it....but

 Wait, what is this; a heart attack? No a "titty twister". He snagged his nipple on the way up and is dying in agony here. (It's okay to laugh-we have all laughed until we have cried at this photo.) Poor Jason!!!

 Here he is trying to recover.

 And, he's back. 

(Ally and the boys all got up without any help or assistance or injury.)

 Everyone was laughing hysterically when he told us what he injured on the way up. We are so loving and kind....we could hardly ask him if he was alright through all of our gut busting. Thankfully he was laughing with us. 

 Alls well that ends well. He was bruised up though. Anything for a good photo op.

 Indian Paintbrush in the foreground. Alta off in the distance.

 This is the Supreme lift that went right over our campsite. We can look down at pole 6 when we ski this winter and say hi to our campsite.

Ty collected flowers as we went hoping to turn them into some dyes like the Indians would have.

Quick trip to the Temple

 I met a girlfriend downtown and we had planned to walk around temple square with our kids. She ran out of time and had to head out before we got to the temple but I dragged my kids in for a quick photo op. They are growing up so quickly it is hard to believe. Carter is 14 and heading off to 9th grade. Tyler is 11 and will be in 6th grade this year and Ally is 8 and starting 3rd grade in a few weeks. I consider myself immeasurably blessed to be along for their journeys through this life.

 Families are Forever

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE

Silver Lake - Hummingbird Hunting

Another white-crowned sparrow. We headed up to Silver Lake again to see if Byron couldn't get his eyeballs on that hummingbird I saw last time we were there. It's only been about two weeks since our last trip. We brought the binoculars, the good camera and our bird books. It was a fun trip watching the wildlife. No fishing this time. This turned out to be a great wildlife trip.

This Brewer's blackbird joined us for lunch. We brought up a picnic to eat while waiting for said hummer to show up.

We attracted a few hummingbirds but not the red headed one we were looking for. This one is a black-chinned male.

Carter got this cute shot of this little robin on the run. Great action photo here. 

Carter also spotted this guy up on a dead tree near the boardwalk. It's a Cooper's Hawk. We were hoping he would make a dive for a mouse or something but no such luck. 

For the first time ever we saw the beaver swimming around. We have known for years that there was a beaver as there is a beaver lodge and lots of downed trees. It was fun to get to watch him paddle around the lake.

Beautiful Silver Lake on  Sunday evening. 

My cute kids climbing up the rock wall. It's not as tough as it used to be, when they were three.

Ally and Ty hanging out with the ducklings.