Breath of Fresh Air

It seems like last winter was really cold. And snowy. And miserable. Am I right?

I haven't forgotten my hate for winter. Which makes me appreciate the warmth of summer. And that appreciation takes me on hikes with my brother Benj.

And on hikes it's normal to pose like this with ginormous dandelions.

And then dreamily (attempt to) blow said dandelion in a picturesque manner.

I've been on a hiking kick ever since we did a hike for a mutual activity at the beginning of summer. It's such a great workout, and I love forests, and it's a good way to get a little bit of an escape from the rush of everyday life.

So I forced my brother to accompany me on a hiking adventure to Elephant Rock in Bountiful. Or should I say Beautiful?

It was so pretty! I tried to get us to turn around a couple times before finally arriving to this beautiful view, but Ben had us push on and I'm glad he did. It was so pretty and rewarding to make it to the lookout point. Nevermind that the actual rock landmark thing wasn't much to look at, the rest of it was pretty spectacular.

And then Ben 'bout gave me a heart attack when he decided to venture down to the landmark for a photo opportunity.

Who knew I was a hiker? Other than being terrified of the lurking cougars, bears, skunks and snakes that I'm always convinced are rustling in the bushes, I think this could be a good new hobby for me.

A few days after my strenuous hike with Ben, Jeff and I took the boys on a flat-landed hike (fine it was a walk) to the pond to feed the ducks.

This thing happened where we bought a ton of hot dog buns a long time ago for some unknown reason and upon realizing we never use hot dog buns, we have now repurposed them into duck food. And Eli food?

I'm pretty sure Carson's favorite animal is a duck. If you ask him, every animal says, "Quack, quack." And let's just say that The Bachelorette showed a picture of a pond during a really dramatic part of the finale and I was watching with my kids and I couldn't hear anything because Carson was quacking at the pond in giddy excitement. The kid adores ducks.

More outside enjoyment. I love to ride around with Carson on the old PlasmaCar. He probably prefers it to himself, but he'll share with me sometimes.

My favorite thing to do on Sunday evenings is just to be in our backyard together playing. This was such an occasion.

Frisbee Golf and picnic dinner at the park.

Eli has become good friends with a boy in our ward. One night I told him he was going to go over to this boy's house to play the next day and he was so excited. The next morning I was woken up to Eli jumping up and down in my room saying, "Mom! Get up! We have to hurry! I'm going to be late to play with my best friend!"

After that playdate, when I was trying to pry him away from his best friend's house to walk home with me, this meltdown happened. There was no getting him to budge. We go through the grieving process after every playdate.

We go to the park a lot. Carson's favorite thing to do at the park is to push the gigantic double stroller around. It always cracks me up to see such a little person pushing such a big stroller.

And this is one of my absolute favorite things. Whenever I walk past a fence on our walks, both boys stick their hands out like this. It's so cute and makes me smile every time.

Happy summer!