Oh, my!! We will have fun trick-or-treating tonight!
What?! You can tell I wasn’t present for taking this picture. Why isn’t her hat on and where are her boots?! I’ll have to take another one tonight.
This picture cracks me up. She looks so annoyed! She actually really liked her costume, I promise!
Pumpkin carving/painting. Rob ended up being really glad that the girls wanted to paint theirs.
Way back on the 4th of July I (Rob) was really needy to go on a hike and get out of the city. I love hiking and have always loved to hike. As my kids are getting a little older I want to do as much of this as possible. Here is Madi in her hiking gear and all ready for the hike. :) 
We hit little cottonwood canyon and parked at the lodge at Alta. We were shuttled up to the trailhead and got underway immediately. The smoke in the air from all the recent fires was a huge problem for air quality (not to mention the light was bad at that time of day) so scenic photos were pretty much out of the question. You have to love Nate’s goofy expression in this one. 
Little Cara started the hike on her own running like a little spitfire but ended up spending most of the hike on my back. I was surprised she made it as far as she did. The hike was wonderful and spent in great company. The flowers were blooming. The geology of that area is just stunning to take in.
We made our way up to the lake and didn't have too much whining for quite some time. Here are a few from the hike. 
Here is one of Cara and me. Don’t we both have such stylish bangs?
Hey Nate, Try to stay on the trail. Sure thing dad…
After our ascent we reached the lake and it was time for tons of fun.
Here is a cute video of us playing at the lake.
The lake was kind of crowded (being the 4th and all) and the kids made some friends. Here they are completing their ultimate task (video).
Madi also had a great time playing in the water and on the rocks. Check out this video.
And now some pictures of Cara.
We finished off the hike by picking a couple wild flowers while waiting at the shuttle stop. A perfect day in the mountains with the family.
If you missed Part One, here’s the link.
After a good breakfast we were off to get our handcarts. Our start time was 10:30am, later than I think we all would have liked since it was getting really hot. What really saved the day, though, was the rainbow beach umbrella Rob’s dad lent us to strap onto the handcart so that the kids could ride much more comfortably. More on that later. Here are a few photos of me and Rob relaxing before our arduous day of walking and hauling around the kids. I think are hats are adorable and isn’t Rob so sexy looking in his Indiana Jones hat? Check out that crazy air! (….Uh….Rob added that bit.)
Here we are on the trail, for some reason our group was at the end of the pack. I think it is our lot in life.
After a couple of miles we stopped for lunch before heading up, sans handcarts, to the actual cove area. Madeleine was so hot and said her stomach wasn’t feeling very well. I opted to stay back with her and Caroline so she could rest and cool down. It took about 20 minutes, but then she was back to normal. It took the rest of the group another hour and a half to return so we just hung out.
Here are few images of the hike in and around the cove.
So what do you do if you start getting hot and all you have is a water bottle filled with some kind of berry flavor concoction? Nate didn’t hesitate to pour it all over his head. He loves being silly and getting people to laugh.
Here’s a shot of the rainbow umbrella. Luckily I was short enough to walk underneath while pushing! You can see Rob carrying Caroline in the baby backpack here. She slept a good portion of the walk.
Some time after starting again from the trail head to Martin’s Cove we made our way to the river crossing. Time to cross the river!
Quite some time after the river crossing and the women’s pull we finally made it back to the area to drop off our hand carts, clean up, and drive (much better than handcarts) back to camp. After a long and hard day of hiking and walking we settled back into camp for dinner and a wonderful testimony meeting that we all enjoyed. We discussed how we can accomplish difficult tasks much like our pioneer forbearers. Rob was feeling a significant sense of awe at the physical toils the pioneers endured while walking across the plains. We did it for a few hours and they did it for weeks upon weeks!
We spent the rest of the evening talking and watching the kids play games together. There is a priceless photo of our adventurous Cara covered in filth. She looks like a homeless child.
Here’s a slideshow Rob put together with pictures taken by us and Robin King set to music recorded by the Plewe family. They sang this song in Martin’s Cove and again at the testimony meeting. I love their arrangement of one of my favorite songs. They did a beautiful job! Here is a link to the video if you can’t see it here.
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Caroline turned the big 2! We held a party in her honor with her grandparents and littlest cousins. She doesn’t like crowds so we kept the gathering small. Unfortunately, two of her cousins had strep throat and couldn’t join us at the last minute. We missed them!
Caroline has been to many birthday parties and Happy Birthday is still her favorite song so she knows the routine, but she was so pleased to have it be all for her this time! Luckily the weather held out and it was a beautiful day. We decorated the deck with lots of balloons and held the party outside. We had sidewalk chalk and a bubble machine to keep the kids entertained as everyone was arriving. The Crayola Colored Bubbles Blower was a big flop. It, disappointedly, barely worked. Maybe it was the breeze, but I still would have expected more. Too bad, the kids were excited for that.
Then we played simple lawn games that Cara really enjoys. We played Ring Around the Rosy, Red Rover, London Bridge, and Duck Duck Goose. She was really into it and had so much fun!!
Then we had treats. I bypassed the cake that no one ever eats and made pink rice krispie treats cut into shapes, chocolate chip cookies, M&Ms, and chocolate milk. We tried to light the candles, but the wind wasn’t cooperating so we had to pretend.
Present time! Caroline was inwardly thrilled with all her gifts. She loved opening them herself and seeing what it was. We all headed inside to open them and play.
Thanks, everyone, for contributing to Caroline’s happy day. She felt special, deservedly so. I definitely consider it a success! Family can see more pictures here.
I also had an expiring coupon with My Publisher (which we’ve used a few times before and have been very happy with) so I used it to quickly make Cara’s baby book. It’s mostly pictures with a little bit of text. Since we have the blog, I don’t really need too much detail in the book. I just like having something that the kids can look through easily. Here’s the link to view it online. Hopefully it works. If not, let me know and I can email it to you. Enjoy!