CAN'T SLEEP

Hello Family. Sooooo it is almost 1:00 a.m. and the boys are sound asleep. I on the other hand felt it would be a good idea to take a 'short' nap with Caleb today...key word being short. Well, I forgot that Caleb is getting two molars and hasn't been feeling the best and so he ended up sleeping for THREE hours! So, needless to say, the 'short' nap idea was quickly thrown out the window as I too slept for three hours figuring he'd wake up in an hour or so. Oops. Anyhow, as a result of that I am now wide awake, and so I figured I would post a couple quick pics of the boy. Caleb is growing up so fast and learning so much. He does something new every day that makes me laugh. He is quite the flirt. He goes to our neighbor Jen's house for four hours a day so I can get some work done at home and she says he LOVES to give kisses to all the kids. He has also learned to use it on me when he is being told no. It makes it very hard to keep a straight face. His most recent milestone is he started walking last month. I guess he feels he has conquered that because he has now decided to start climbing. Well, we got a gift certificate to get professional pictures done for his birthday, which we keep making appointments to have done, but it seems the day before each appointment he manages to either fall off of or into something and smacks his head or scratches his face and we end up putting it off until the next week until the bruise or lump has healed. Well, we've been doing that for the past two months now and have come to the conclusion that that will never happen because as soon as the bruise is finally gone it is promptly replaced with a new one. So I guess boys will be boys and bruises are pretty much inevitable. So be expecting some 'one year old' pictures of him soon, bruise or no bruise.





He looks more and more like Seth every day!

Caleb with his new birthday ride

He already loves books! He loves to play in his book chest.

Caleb being a ham soaking up all the attention.

Birthday cupcakes! Yum!

Look at those baby blues!

And, yes, that is yet another dog. I know. I know.

THE MT TIMPANOGOS HIKE

Poulin and I decided to take a day and hike to the summit of Mount Timpanogos, the 11,749 foot mountain peak that overlooks Utah County to the west and Summit and Wasatch counties to the east. It was an incredible day and an incredible hike that kicked both our butts and left us feeling a lot closer to thirty than to twenty thats for sure. It was probably just the elevation though. Yeah, yeah thats it. The elevation. The trailhead starts on the heavily wooded east side of the mountain and twists and climbs for 4.5 miles up to Emerald Lake and then continues for another mile and a half up to the Timp summit. All the photos before Emerald Lake are either looking east over Summit and Wasatch Counties or just looking up the mountain. Apparently August is also the best time of year to see the millions of wildflowers that bloom all along the trail, so we were very fortunate in that regard and got some great shots of all the local flora and fuana. So aside from wanting to quit at least a half a dozen times times and being lapped by children and old ladies who seemed impervious to the elevation and the terrain, we had a blast. What a great day.

This had caved in by the time we came back down.

This is Emerald Lake, an ice cold glacial oasis that feeds all those waterfalls and serves as a R&R spot before the final mile and a half push up to the summit. This photo doesn't do it justice, it's a gorgeous spot.

Yup. Had to cross that.

Made It!

The View

Good shot of the trail coming along the ridge to the summit, as well as an excellent view of my rapidly expanding bald spot!

We were very close to some of these mountain goats. We're only about eight feet away here.

King of the Mountain