

Farm Days:
About a month ago, we bought a share at the Red Acre Farm. It has turned out to be one of the best things we've done and one of my favorite summer memories this year. We love picking up a basket of fresh, organic, local veggies and fruit every week along with a dozen organic eggs. It's helped us to eat healthier, feel better, and it's really pushed me to improve on my cooking skills. I love experimenting with the fresh herbs we get or creating dinners with the veggies that come in the basket every Wednesday. I've learned how to prepare fruits and vegetables that I honestly didn't even know existed. We get so excited to see what we'll get each week that we jokingly say it's like Christmas every Wednesday. As an added bonus, I love taking Emma along with me to the farm each week. It's an activity that the two of us have had a chance to share and bond over every Wednesday because Sam is usually at work when we pick up the basket. We go see all of the animals and she can tell me what each of them say. She loves to give a little snack to the goats and gobble with the turkeys. On the way out she stops to smell all of the sunflowers that line the pathway to the car. She even likes to snag a piece of fruit or a carrot while moms back is turned-she can be pretty sneaky. We even took grandma and grandpa S with us one week to give them a tour! It's been a really fun memory.





Emma is pretty lucky because her grandpa works at the coolest place EVER. The other day we went to visit and grandpa gave us a private tour of the jungle. We took a "jungle cruise" on a paddle board and rode through Tiki Beach, Kong's Jungle, and even Pelican Pond. Emma LOVED it! She's been learning all of the animals and their noises so she went nuts over them (especially the monkeys and the elephant.) Add all of those awesome animals to water?! She was in heaven. She had fun squirting mom with the wall squirters, rode the frog slide, and even rode the big slide on grandpa's lap. If you have kids and you haven't taken them to the newly remodeled Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, you really should. They will love it. It's been transformed into a jungle playground and I'm pretty proud to say that my dad is responsible for the entire vision and execution of the new fun theme.









Rattlesnake Creek & Brian Head Peak:
My favorite days are the days that Sam has off of work and we've got nothing to do so we just pack some snacks and head up the canyon for the day to escape into the mountains. A couple of weeks ago we had a chance to do just that and Sam took us to a trail that Emma and I hadn't been on yet called Rattlesnake Creek Trail. It was beautiful. Emma started out in the pack but, after a few minutes she decided she needed to be out and walking on her own. I took her out to let her walk for a minute and she just took off! She walked the rest of the hike by herself-didn't even want to hold my hand! She must have fallen 15 or 20 times but, she just kept getting back up and trekking forward like a champ. She kept up the pace too! Sam and I could hardly keep up with her. Only stopping to sniff an occasional flower or pick up a stick, Emma walked a good 1/2 mile or more by herself! She is an adventure girl for sure. After our hike, we took a drive up to the highest point on Cedar Mountain-Brian Head Peak. Breathtaking views. It was hard to enjoy them with Emma screaming the whole time though-she wasn't happy that I wouldn't let her wander around near the cliff on her own. (There's a reason why we call her "little miss independent".) With all of that walking and playing and crying, Emma was tuckered by the time we got back to the car. She slept the whole way home.













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She wants to do everything daddy does. |



Emma's really been a handful this summer-she can throw tantrums like you wouldn't believe and her energy is NON STOP. Not to mention that she gets into everything and can destroy the house in ten seconds flat. I've discovered the challenges of being a toddler mom. What I really want to remember though is hearing her make the sound of a rooster for the first time at the farm, pausing from whatever I was trying to get done to read book after book as she would go into her room and bring a new one out for me over and over again, watching her independent spirit on our many family outings, snuggling with her on the couch on the nights she decided she'd rather stay up and watch Minnie's Bowtique than sleep, and hanging out with aunt Livvy on her visit from Portland. I want to remember her and grandpa's tradition of going to get the mail in her special "mail hat" every time we'd come to visit, the silly squinty-eyed face she makes when you tell her to blink, the image of that adorable gap-toothed grin on her face running down the dirt trail at the cabin, the proud look on Sam's face the first time we heard her exclaim "ish!" (fish), and her cute little piggy tails. Those are the things that have made this summer unforgettable to me.
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