July 4th Weekend

On July 1st, my oldest daughter, Susan, and her three children came home to visit for a week. Her husbands schedule changed, so unfortunately he couldn't come this time.

Susan drove from Peoria, Arizona to Las Vegas where she met up with her dad (he flew down to meet her) and then he kept her company and helped drive to Utah.

July 2nd was my birthday. It was amazing to have all my grown up kids here with me on that day. They threw a little party for me.

Here I am with my treat. Aaron put a sparkler on it:

Aaron stirring up some homemade root beer. The kids liked the dry ice:

On July 3rd we went to my parents house for another party. It was also Dads birthday, plus Deb will have one later this month. I didn't take my camera, but Susan took pictures which will show up on her blog.

July 4th we spent the day at home.

Today, Monday July 5th, some of us got up early and went fishing at Silver Lake. It's at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Emma with her pink fishing pole. She can cast pretty well for a 6 year old (I was surprised).

On the East dock (My favorite spot):

My daughter, Susan, and her girl:

The first catch of the day was mine (It was so fun):

I think we stayed from about 9:00-11:00. I caught two big rainbow trout. The men near us let me keep three little trout that they didn't want to take (giving us a total of 5). Emma helped reel two of those in. She was thrilled.

When we got home I cleaned and grilled them. They were tasty.

We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for an overnight camp out. After packing a huge amount of stuff we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon (just above the house) and set up in our reserved spot in Tanners Flat.

A brave chipmunk begging for food:

Emma:

Aaron with his nephew Jacob:

Sarah and Aaron measuring out soda pop to go in their dutch oven peach cobbler:

Sarah stirring up her peach cobbler (It was very good!)

Setting up tents (these pictures are out of order):

Jacob, Emma, Becca:

Walking through the campgrounds:

Becca:

Aaron took some professional level photos. I just point and shoot:

Roasting hot dogs. We also roasted marshmallows and made smores':

Aaron was so handy. He set up tents and built our fire. He even chopped some wood with an ax:

Me:

Sarah, Susan and Aaron:

The gang is actually still up at the camp grounds. I volunteered to bring baby Jacob home for the night. I'll go back up in the morning and help them break camp and get all that stuff home again.

Sarah and Aaron both have to go to work tomorrow (bummer).

On Friday they will get back together to go play at the local amusement park (Lagoon) while I babysit.

Look for a blog that will cover the rest of this weeks activities.