Nate and Rebecca
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Our outdoorsy side
Our outdoorsy side
Hiking Ding and Dang Canyons. These technical slot canyons were a challenging first for us.
A grotto is a great place to cool off! That is, unless you are there during the fall and already cool...then it is just pretty to look at.
Here we are with a group of close friends and their kids to go "matrress sledding."
Playing in the water at one of the local lakes or heading down a river in a raft is fun in the summer!
French toast makes a great breakfast while we are out camping!
The shallow waters of Bear Lake's north shore are so refreshing during the middle of the summer!
Crawfish anyone? Someone was pulling crawfish out of a lake before we started our hike and showed Austin how to pick them up.
On this short hike, Emma decided to carry her bear in her backpack pretending to carry it like it was a baby in a carrier.
Man is that wind strong! We drove up to Loveland Pass and tried to hike to the ridge, but it was so windy and cold that most of us didn't make it....except for Rebecca, who doesn't mind braving the cold for awhile if she is rewarded with an
Here we're at Mohawk Lake after a challenging 3.5 mile hike there...of course then we had to hike back down.
Whee! Sledding is always a fun family activity!
We all love a good bike ride - especially one with other family members around a beautiful lake!
Lily Pad Pond was pretty fun to see at the end of this hike, even if it did rain on us on the way there.
Hiking with Grandma and Grandpa and cousins is fun too, especially when there is a waterfall at the end.
Take a hike! Here we are on the top of Grandeur Peak after hiking 3.3 miles and climbing 2,600 ft. to get there.
Southern Utah Hoodoos, here we come! On this occasion, we went hiking with some good friends in Red Canyon. This picture is of most of the group's kids together there.
After an adventurous hike, we made it to Diamond Fork Hot Springs and back.
We had fun playing in the water at Diamond Fork Hot Springs while we were there.
Here we are by our tent. We often camp during family reunions and sometimes just on our own too.
We hiked up the steps to stand over "The Crater" in Midvale at The Homestead. We love spending time at this resort with extended family.
Brrrh! This short November hike to a waterfall was cold but still beautiful!
Hurray for horses! Rebecca loves horseback riding, though she doesn't get to go often any more.
Rebecca is not the only one who enjoys horseback riding...so does Emma...
...And Austin...
Our wild adventures
Our wild adventures
What is this stuff!?! Elephant toothpaste of course...at least that is the name given to this foamy substance that we created together in this fun activity/experiment.
FIRST Tech Challenge is an event for student teams to create their own robots and compete with them. Nate volunteered to referee the Utah Championship, and the rest of us went to watch the competition for awhile.
Emma has a particular love for animals. Holding a soft bunny definitely gives her a reason to smile!
Time to relax! Here we are chillin' in mineral water from "The Crater"
Sometimes we go the the Shakespeare Festival. They have a free "green show" beforehand, which the kids enjoyed seeing with us.
We got an adventure pass at a ski resort during our fall vacation. flying down the tubing runs was a blast.
Rock climbing is something we all enjoy on an occasion. Nate is especially good at scaling rock walls.
We thought Farmer Brown would like some company...he looked like he could use some when we ran into him at the Scarecow Festival.
We have some friends from college we like to get together with on a regular basis. Here we are spending a weekend at a cabin with them.
Experiments are fun! Here we are with what works as an insulator or conductor of electricity.
Choo-choo! Exploring the model train fesitval is a fun family activity. In addition to the model trains, we also explored the full sized versions and the museum.
Feeding the sting rays at the aquarium was an interesting experience. The rays kindly posed for us for the photo too.
Ready to strike it rich! Here we are touring a gold mine and trying to get into the mining action ourselves.
This is the easy way up a mountain - riding the gondola all while surrounded by flaming fall colors!
This outdoor roller coaster on a mountain top sure beat the scenery found at theme parks.
Starting off Indpendence Day with a run gets our hearts beating true! Our kids wanted to run the city 5K, so we ran along with them.
Time to serve! Here is Rebecca with a group that went ot help sort food at a local food pantry.
We were as happy as a lark to visit the Tracy Avairy and explore the many birds kept there.
Bocce/Boules is a fun game played in France and Italy, two places family members have served missions. Now we enjoy playing this game as a family.
Oooooh....amazing! We drove north a few hours to watch the full solar eclipse, which turned out to be well worth our efforts!
Here we are again spending time with college friends...this time while staying at a historic courthouse.
Here is our group of college friends and their families around the stand inside the courthouse.
Our two amazing kids!
Our two amazing kids!
New chicks! Austin and Emma help care for our chickens and love the fresh eggs!
Austin getting his Wolf award for Cub Scouts
Austin stuffed himself with the extra wrpping paper at Christmas so he could look "strong."
Austin and Emma both worked hard toe memorize everything they needed for the "patriot challenge" at day camp.
Austin and Nate at a Father's and Sons camp out.
We often spend time annually at the Homestead Resort playing games, swimming, and hiking with family.
So many planes, so little time! Here we are in one of the big planes at the Hill Air Force Base Air Show
Here we are outside the plane at the Hill Air Force Base Air Show
Austin and Emma decided they wanted to do a lemonade stand. It was a big success! But then, who could resist such charm?
Our kids are very energetic, so a tumble in the hay at the scarecrow festival is perfect for them.
Emma has a particularly nurturing nature. She loves playing with toy baby dolls & loves real babies and little kids. Here she is with her baby cousin.
It's official! Here we are after court proceedings for Emma's adoption finalization.
Earning a new belt in martial arts takes a great deal of effort...We were so proud of Austin when he earned his high white belt!
Bright tulips are fun to see, so we are grateful the Grandma & Grandpa frequently invite us to go to the tulip festival with them.
Art projects are fun for both our kids. Here is some "Delftware" they made from paper plates.
Nothing says "I Love You!" like a nice bar of chocolate for Father's Day. The kids also helped create a cool wooden puzzle for their dad for this occasion.
Austin and Emma on a hike to Willow Lake with their grandparents. Our kids are awesome hikers!
Here are Austin and Emma with their teacher after a fun recital where they were supposed to dress up somehow to fit their piano piece.
Austin really enjoyed seeing the artwork by M.C. Escher after he learned about perspective in art.
Here is a dot-to-dot Austin created for his great-grandma to do.
Emma loves to hang, swing, spin, flip, and bounce, and her gymnastics class gives her a great outlet to get better at all these things.
Emma goes to activites during the week with a church group. Here the "visited China" during a trip to a family history center.
Let's Race! Here is Austin at the Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts. He had a great time designing and painting hes own car then racing it against others'!
Back from the dead? Austin and Emma loved meeting George Washington and Henry Knox at Patriot day camp.
Austin and Nate being goofy at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Emma decided she wanted to work on making a wooden monster truck with Rebecca. The results were great!
Austin saved up for a long time in order to buy a pet leopard gecko of his very own.
Our Holiday celebrations
Our Holiday celebrations
Everyone in the family dresses up for the halloween party!
Ho Ho Ho! A white Christmas gave us the chance to build a festive snowman together as a family.
Making Halloween costumes is fun, so Austin and Emma loved to help paint their Lego people costumes!
Celebrating Valentine's Day: Every year we switch off who is in charge of planning and making dinner and who is in charge of a special date activity.
Nate's sister-in-law is Mexican, & she invited us to her La Posada right before Christmas. Here's Austin with his cousins dressed & ready to act ou the procession & nativity.
The kids love watching parades for Independence Day and collecting candy
Independence Day would hardly be complete without fireworks...our kids loe sparklers!
Each year we have a familiy Halloween party complete with pumpkin carving, treats, wearing costumes, and a movie.
Here we are in our awesome costumes at the family Halloween party.
Hurray for sugary goodness! We love to make cut-out cookies and decorate them together for many of the major holidays.
When Nate realized our kids would be getting Nerf guns for Christmas, he went and bought some for us too so we could defend ourselves against the small warriors in the house.
Every year we spend lots of time making Valentine cookies to share wiht friends & neighbors. Of course, Austin and Emma love decorating some of their own to eat too.
Here we are on Easter. We love the colorful flowers that bloom every year in our yard!
Austin with Christmas gifts his mom made: a blanket for his bed & a wooden front-end loader.
We love it when Santa and Mrs. Clause visit our neighborhood!
We get a live Christmas tree each year and decorate it together. Then of course we have to get a picture of ourselves with our tree...
A few years later for Christmas he got a dump truck also made by his mom that works well with the front-end loader.
Lets make something! Our kids love to build and create...so K'nex and Legos make ideal gifts for them to work with!
Our Love Story
Our Love Story
Got Oxygen? Here we're at the top of Quandary Peak, our first "14er" - a peak that's 14,000+ feet high. The view from here is incredible!
Helicopter view...without the helicopter. There were lots of helicopters overhead after we reached the top of this precarious peak in Oahu, Hawaii, but we figured our view was nearly as good as any from a helicopter.
We went on quite a few hikes while in Hawaii. It was so different to hike humid jungles since we are accustomed to the dry local mountains.
Wave crash! We loved wandering about together and watching water spray everywhere as it hit the rough rocks at Lāʻie Point State Wayside.
A trip to Oahu would hardly have been complete without visiting Pearl Harbor!
Our week long trip to Hawaii was a wonderful romantic reprieve.
Time to climb! Many trails in Hawaii were quite steep, often requiring some enjoyable scrambles up.
Ka'au crater - We made it to the rim! The center is a marsh with water draining down a series of waterfalls we hiked up to get here.
Direct Hit! While at the Polynesian Cultural Center, Nate managed to spear a coconut!
Cliff dive! After hiking to this waterfall together, we got the jump into the deep cold water below!
Here is Rebecca bicycleing in Heber Valley on a fun gettaway we took for just the two of us.
On a trip for our 8th anniversary.
Here we are celebrating our 8th anniversary with a trip to some slot canyons and other things in northern AZ and southern UT
Here we are at the top of Mount Nebo again - a 9 mile hike wiht about a 4,180 ft climb. Life would be so dull without mountains!
Walking in a winter wonderland together...while snowshoeing in the mountains.
A traditional huge heart sugar cookie is one way Rebecca professes her love to Nate for Valentine's Day.
After wanting to see this for years, we finally splurged so we could attend the production when it came near our area.
Here we are hanging out wiht some good friends. Many of them are Rebecca's old roommates and their spouses.
Rebecca designed & made this board as a Valentine's Day gift. Now we leave fun notes to each other on it.
Here we are on a Memorial Day hike up this beautiful canyon while our kids went on the easier Provo River Trial with grandparents.
For our 10th anniversary, we went horseback riding - one of Rebecca's favorite activities!
On a group date to an escape room. We were in a room with clues we had to find & solve in an hour. We were told we were one of the best groups to escape from that room.
For our 10th anniversary, we also visited the temple we were married in.
We were married in the Timpanogos Temple (of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in 2007
Here we are at a Valentine's Dance.
Nate took Rebecca on a surprise horseback ride to propose to her.
Coral? Tropical Fish? Turtle? Shark? We got the see them all while scuba diving together in Hawaii.
We like to periodically meet up with Nate's old roommates and their spouses. We especially love to play racquetball with them.
Our big family
Our big family
Here is a family portrain from 2013
This is at a fmily reunion with the portion of Nate's extended family that was there.
Here is a family picture from 2011
Sometimes we go bowling together for family birthday parties.
This is part of the familiy that came to our niece's baby blessing and then came over to our house afterward.
We often go on family vacations with Rebecca's family. Here we are at a view point of the San Rafael Swell.
Here we are with some of Nate's family after visiting the dinosaur museum with them
This is at a fmily reunion at a camp. We played games, went down a zip line, hiked, and cannoed.
Our backyard is great for things like birthday parties with family.
Rebecca's familiy has a Halloween party each year & everyone wears fun costumes
Nate's family is particularly large. Here we are with part of it during a family reunion.
Nate's sister's familiy invited us up to spend some time with them at a cabin near Bear Lake. It was so fun!
Here we are with Rebecca's family for a baby blessing
Emma decided to get baptized, and lots of friends and family came to support her!
Camping and outdoor activities are normal parts of our family reunions. Here we are with family at Mammoth Cave.
Here are our nieces and nephews on Nate's side of the family, along with our own kids, at his brother's wedding.
Here is Nate with all his siblings. He comes from a large family.
We love to spend time relaxing at The Homestead Resort with Rebecca's side of the family. We often rent the larger condo units and stay there a day or two.
Our outdoorsy side
