Heritage Grove Campground

Some neighbors invited several families with kids similar ages to camp together at the Heritage Grove Campground. It worked out with our schedule this year (previous years hadn't because of family trips etc, but this year with everything being cancelled it worked out great). We decided to take Penny with us. Scott and four of the kids (minus Elisabeth) drove up Sunday and set up camp. Monday, after early morning cheer practice, Elisabeth, Penny and I headed up. Don't let Elisabeth's smile fool you; this car ride next to Penny was not pleasant. Penny quickly tore up the pee pad that was under the towel she sat on and it got everywhere! Elisabeth didn't stop her because she was feeling a little car sick. Then Penny wanted to rest near Elisabeth so she was touching her, and Elisabeth didn't want her to, so it made for a long trip. Finally, during the last 20 minutes or so (it's 1.5 hours) Elisabeth let her rest her head on her lap and Penny quickly relaxed and fell asleep.  We had Annabelle ride with Penny on the way home and that worked much better and Penny slept almost the entire 1.5 hours home! 

 

The campground was pretty cool. They have a large grassy central area which we used for games and activities right next to a large pavillion where we ate. There's a large restroom facility with a fridge and freezer in the basement. There's a basketball court, playground and a large pond with a 'high dive' area. 

Jane invited her bff Skye to go with us since she'd be the only one without a friend her age there. 

The kids caught little fish and played with them while we were there. 

It poured for a few minutes one afternoon so we all huddled under the pavilion. 

Penny did pretty well considering the many people and distractions, but she as a puppy she was still a lot of work. 

Scott and Elisabeth doing headstands on their paddle boards. 

We put Penny on the paddle board. She fell in once but swam back to Elisabeth who was on the board and then she pulled her back on. She seemed to like it alright. 

Penny slept in the tent with Charles. This went pretty well. She slept for most of the night, waking up once for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. 

A good time was had by all and we way do it again next year....though we might leave Penny with a sitter :). 

Garnica Family Reunion 2020- Hiking Mt Timpanogos, Luis Bday, and Gloria Falls

This picture was taken at the saddle, so it's not in order with the rest of the pictures, but it's my favorite picture so I'm putting it up top. 

 

Monday morning, August 3rd, we woke up at 3am, were on the road by 330am, parked by 430, and were on the trailhead by 445am to begin our hike to Mt Timpanogos. It was also my brother Luis' 49th birthday; a great way to celebrate!

I am so glad we started early because it got hot on our way back down the moutain. We used headlamps for about the first hour, and then we could see well enough without them. 

The wildflowers were beautiful. We also saw some wildlife: deer, moutain goats, chipmunks and while we were in the dark, we heard noise in the bushes, what sounded like a big animal near, and then we heard a loud snort, kinda like a horse, though I think it was a moose, so we picked up our pace :). 

I was so impressed with our 14 year old boys. They did great! Even when we got to the steep parts at near the top of the mountain, they just kept truckin'. 

Such beautiful views throughout the entire hike! Though it doesn't have much shade, so beginning in the early morning is important. We were able to get to the saddle before the sun was fully out, and by that point it's cooler up there so it was fine until we were on our way back down. 

The one big downside to this hike are there are no restrooms/portapotties and it takes about 8 hours to hike. This may not be a big deal to a guy, but it is to this girl. 

It's a little scary at the top, lots of rock, some of which is loose, and very steep and high up. But we were careful. 

From top to bottom it was over 14 miles. 

That night we celebrated Luis' birthday (again as we'd also had a raspberry bundt cake the night before) with ice cream sundaes. 

Tuesday morning we went on a family hike to Gloria Falls. It's about 2.3 miles round trip and the falls are amazing. There are currently no signs to get to this hike, but you follow the trail signs to Red Pine Lake and after about a mile, immediately after crossing a narrow bridge, you take a sharp left into a wooded area that doesn't look a whole lot like a trail and fall the water to the falls. 

Pepa and Danny took off that evening, and then Luis and Fred's family took off the following morning. Becca's family took off Monday morning. It was a great family reunion. We missed having mom and dad there; it was the first time without them both. We talked about them and looked through pictures and other items that had been stored in large tupperware's for the past several months. 

17th Wedding Anniversary, at Bear Lake

 Scott and I were married 17 years ago which was the best choice ever...either that or continuing to choose each other each day. Life has been a joyful adventure with Scott by my side and it keeps getting better. A great marriage takes continual work and care but it pays off. I'm looking forward to an eternity together.  I like this quote on love and marriage: "Love is a verb. The feeling of love is the fruit of love...Listen. Empathize. Appreciate. It's your choice." - Stephen Covey. 

Scott and I took a much needed, highly anticipated anniversary overnighter to Bear Lake. We went 'glamping' for the first time at Conestoga Ranch. I'm not much of a camper, but we both like to experience new things so we gave it a try. If you like camping but not all the work that goes behind camping, this might be a nice thing for you. But for me, it just felt like over-priced camping so we probably won't do that again, but we still had a great time and enjoyed ourselves, our conversations and activities. 

We stayed in a tipi. It was all set up for us. It had a mattress inside which was nice, and a cord for us to plug in our phones. I liked how spacious the tent was inside. But we did still have bugs get inside, and you still have to go outside (in my case, always in the middle of the night) and walk over to the building to use the restroom and I still hear the outdoor noises. This ranch has a restraunt in a large tent, and the food was delicious. We got pizza and salad. 

The ranch also had courtesy bikes and games on the lot, both of which we took advantage of. It was our first time on a tandem bike...it's trickier than it looks. 
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Bear Lake is known for their shakes (and in particular their raspberry shakes), so we made two shake stops, at Le Beau's and Zipz. Famous Raspberry shake. And of course, I ate mine with fries.  

We try to get away once a year, with just the two of us, even if it's just for a night. Pretty soon our kids will be grown and gone and it'll just be me and Scott. We always want to have a strong marriage, so having fun together, making memories, weekly date nights, and regularly connecting emotionally, physically and spiritually are important to us both. 

When we were ready for a fire, the ranch employees come out and start the fire. They also supply you with items to make smores which is nice. 

We ran into an old neighbor from our previous home, Scott Neeley, while at Bear Lake. He had his family with him and his boat, and offered to bring Scott and I out for a ride and to go tubing. 

The last time I went tubing was when I was 14. I went with my youth group and I took a tumble and got the rope around my neck, underwater, for a few scary seconds and was left with a HUGE rope burn all over my neck. All these years later and I still got a littler nervous as I sat on the tube, but I had made sure to share the experience I'd had with our friend, who was the driver. All was safe and we had a great time. 

On our way out, we stopped at Ruca's for lunch. We shared a raspberry Aebleskiver for dessert.