SUMMER MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE

We've been wanting to take the Gummows up to Snowbird to enjoy all of the summer activities for years and we finally made it up this year. We went up on July 29th. It was such a beautiful and fun day.

My favorite thing to do is ride the Mountain Coaster. I tell ya, I could ride that over and over all day long and be happy. I took Vivi for her first time and she was very nervous at first but then she decided she LOVED it. I mean LOVED. By the end of the day she would giggle and laugh the whole way down it was precious. One thing we tried, which I have never done because of my fear of chair lifts is take a lift up to the top of the mountain. It actually took quite a long time to go up and I did ok. There was actually still some snow up there and it got cold fast. Once we got up there we walked through a mountain tunnel and checked out the view from the other side and then we headed down.

The kids did the trampolines and the obstacle course. There was this little hidden spot where you could climb trees and Vivi was really wanting to try it. She BLEW MY MIND as she just started climbing up this tree like she had done it tons of times before, like she was born for it. It was nuts. Stella did good too, but seeing tiny Vivi climb was something else. The kids also did the bungee jump thing a few times too. I took Vivi over to the little kids obstacle course and she was awesome at it. She really loved climbing and has great balance. She is always impressing me, but I was REALLY impressed.

We went to ride the Mountain Coaster again and I rode with Stella again (she said: "like old times.") And one time Heidi and I rode together and oh man we laughed and laughed because Heidi got a bug in her mouth and I could not stop laughing and close my mouth to keep it from happening to me.

The last item on our agenda was taking the large iconic Snowbird tram up to the top of the mountain again. I could tell that we were all pretty worn out but we pushed a little longer. It had been an action packed Gummow visit this year and we were all pooped. It was such a fun day. I was sad that Snowbird had taken out the sky coaster, because that was another favorite thing to do, but no one else seemed to miss it. I definitely don't enjoy our mountains as much as I should especially in the summer. So I'm so glad we went up there and had fun and also appreciated, you know, like, nature.

LOVING THE LAKE

I have a long history of hating lakes, and then telling people how much I hate lakes until they are so sick of hearing me talk about it they vow to never make me go to a lake again. So no one was more surprised by me that we had the best time at a lake with The Gummows on July 27.

Heidi's brother-in-law Rob's family manages a church property up past Park City. They had a family trip together earlier in the summer, but Catcher couldn't be there that week so there was talk of them going up one day when they were in Utah again to see us. Thankfully the Sallay girls got an invite to join them and all of the Gummow cousins. It was all the fun of a lake without the work of a lake. It was small and quiet (we mostly had the lake to ourselves), and the wild flowers surrounding the lake were so insanely lovely. We weren't sure how long we were going to stay because they weather was looking scary, but it totally held out and we stayed all day. We had life jackets, canoes, and paddle boards just there and easily accessible to use so we did. The lake is so small that it has no real movement in the water and so it is a great lake to learn paddle boarding and how to feel comfortable in a canoe. Vivi was scared at first but she loved being in the canoe. It was adorable. The lake also had a zip line and I never tried it, but it was a big hit with everyone.


At one point we started playing a game where we were stealing each other's noodles. Me, Heidi and Vivi pretended to be allies with Cy Catcher and Stella's canoes. We went right up to them and then we snatched all of their noodles. I was thought I was going to pee my pants from laughing so hard. I could not breathe it was so funny how mad they got and how we snuck off with all of their noodles. Pretty soon an official game was organized where noodles and tubes were hidden and everyone would go off in teams to try and gather the most to earn points. It was all pretty fun.

The grounds were so so pretty and I enjoyed a few little walks around and could not get over how pretty it was. At the end of our day we even spotted a moose across the lake and then on our drive out we found a baby and mama moose. It was a real treat. Also I want to remember that as we were driving out and talking about our day Cy said: "Michelle is a real peacemaker." And I was really happy to here that someone finally noticed my amazing peacemaking talents. It was a great day. One of my favorites with the Gummows for sure.