Beautiful Utah

I love Utah!!! I have to say, haven't been everywhere, and haven't seen everything, but I think us Utahns have got it pretty good. I love that we can just hop in the car on a whim and head up to Payson Lakes for the day, or plan a weekend trip out to Strawberry with friends! There really aer so many uniquely beautiful places in this state and I LOVE IT! Here's some snapshots of the last few months, enjoying time in the Great Outdoors!

At Payson Lakes, Sequoia and I sharing a moment!

Olive picking flowers along the trail at Payson Lakes.


Jace and Olive at the beach in Eden, up Ogden Canyon. One of Utah's most beautiful hidden treasures:)


Curtis and I at the top of a HUGE cliff in Snow Canyon, St. George Utah. We pretty much hiked straight up the face of this thing. Scary, but so awesome once we reached the top!


The pictures does it no justice.

Mike and I:) Love him.

Cyd, Booter, Jace and Casey in Goblin Valley.

Mike, Olive and I were down below, I looked up and saw em all walking 4 in a row and had to get a pic. Love it. Such a fun trip.

Lee, Olive and I on Payson Lake. We were scaredy-cats, didn't last too long.

Probably one of my fav. pictures ever. Olive Sr. and Olive Jr.

What do I even need to say? Jace being Jace:) Having fun on the shores of Strawberry.

Dad and Oli checkin out a Crawdad. See was quite enthralled. Yuck.

That's that. I love it here, I never want to leave, I never want to take it for granted, I want to be thankful everyday for this place.

Summer time.... When the living is easy.

What a great summer so far!!! Camping trip to Goblin, getaway to St. George, Spiritual rejuvination at Girl's Camp, fun memories made at Family Reunion, warm evenings spent weeding in the gardens (which, yes, I do happen to find enjoyable), motorcycle rides up Hobble Creek Canyon, boating with friends on the lake, and today.... off to Park City, my FAV, for a night with some awesome girls:) And it's only JULY!!!

Okay, so onto the inbetween.

I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself lately.... because, even with all these amazing experiences, life is hard. Olive's continuing to prove that everyday presents new challenges,

Mike may have to go work out of town again, I don't have enough money to buy new carpet, which is a serious issue for me.... and for the most difficult new challenge, we found out last week that Jace has Type 1 Diabetes. It was a tough few days, spent up at Primary Childrens, getting everything under control. But Jace is amazing. He's such a good boy, and is such a trooper. I love that kid so much. It's going to be a hard road ahead, and I have been feeling sorry for myself... which is embarassing to say. He's the one who really has to deal with this, and will continue to deal with this for the rest of his life.

So, I needed to write this post, more for myself, to recognize how lucky I am; how full of good and how beautiful my life is, and honestly, how good life is for most of us.... When I see people around me go through crap, It hurts. But then I remember, we all go through crap, and we all come out of it, eventually. So I need to remember, we'll all get through it, and if we can focus on how blessed we are and the good times, it might make the crap a bit more pleasant:)