A Very Special Private Tour of the Utah State Capitol

Paul's cousin, Mark Madsen, is a Utah state senator.  He offered to take us on a private, behind-the-scenes tour of the capitol.  It was so much fun for us.  He brought his wife, Erin and their kids.  Afterwards, we all went out to dinner together.  We love Mark and Erin! 

This is the Utah Supreme Courtroom

Future justices of the Supreme Court trying out their seats and seeing how much they have to grow!

Spencer sitting in Mark's senate seat.  Is he a future lawmaker?

Caitlin

Courtney!

Rachel

Don't I have the most beautiful kids?

Spencer, Courtney, Rachel and Caitlin at the Utah State Capitol

Rachel

Spencer

Caitlin

Courtney

We love our visits to Grandma Madsen!

Several times during our trip, we visited Grandma Madsen.  The kids love to spend time with their Grandma.

Every time we visit Grandma, Spencer heads right to the desk to look at a picture of his Great Grandpa Young all decked out in his World War I uniform.  Spencer really loves this picture. 

 I took a picture of the photo this time so Spencer can have it to look at whenever he wishes. 



Paul loves to visit with his Mom.  They can talk for hours and hours and hours.  So does Rachel!



We are all happy to talk to Grandma!  Caitlin had the camera and was documenting our visit!

 



More Camp Black Fun

The last night of our trip to Brighton was spent in a kindermusic like class that my sister, Em, did with the kids.  The kids loved singing the silly songs!  After we put the kids to bed, we played the Newlywed Game as couples.  It was totally fun and guess what?  Paul and I won.  I guess after 20 years of marriage, we know each other pretty well; although every time we have ever played the game, we have won. 

I took all these pictures from my sister's blog (thus the small size.) Isn't the cabin where we stayed gorgeous?  We are so excited because we're staying there next year as well!

These are pics of the music class taught by Emily

The kids are in their jammies and ready for bed!

Our kids stayed in a bunk room with their cousins in 12 bunk beds.  They had a great time together!

Newlywed game!

The next morning, we packed up and headed back to Orem.  That night we had a fiesta, talent show and the annual dress-up parade.  All the grandkids dress up in Grandma's dress-ups and put on a parade.  It was a fun night for all!

Caitlin gives her Daddy a big smooch!

Waiting to leave after spending all morning packing up.  I was getting really sick and felt utterly miserable that day.  It's strange to get a cold during the summer.

Courtney dancing

All the kids.  Check out my brother, Dave!  Love it! 

Courtney clowning around.  Who knew she had such a long tongue?

Caitlin, the stylish rock star

Pirate Captain Spencer!  Arrr!

Go team! 



Camp Black. . . another day in paradise!

The next morning, I hiked to Lake Solitude with my parents.  Because I was kidless, I had a lot more opportunity to take pictures of the scenery which as you can see was absolutely stunning.

Wildflowers decorated every view along the trail.  They were so gorgeous!

I love Utah and the magestic mountains

Here we are at the top of the trail where we arrived at Lake Solitude.  It wasn't as steep a hike as the hike to Twin Lakes except at the very end where it was extremely steep.  We had to stop to catch our breath for a minute right before we got to the lake. 

Feeling triumphant that we made it.  It's amazing to me that they are able to hike just as fast as I am and they're in their sixties! 

Look at the clear lake--you can see right to the bottom.

More wildflowers--Indian Paintbrush

The flowers made the whole setting even more beautiful!

Ahhhhhhhh.......

I hiked up above the lake to get this view.  Going up was no problem but it was really scary coming down because it was almost vertical.  I didn't fall although I stumbled a few times.

Don't you feel the solitude and peace here?

And we're back to Silver Lake in all its glory.  I LOVE the mountains.

Spencer decided he wanted to climb the chimney.  My brother, the mountain climber, was happy to oblige.

It was a lot harder than Spencer imagined.

That evening, we gathered around the fire roasting marshmallows, listened to a story about our Menlove heritage and sang silly songs.

S'mores are yummy!

Mmmmmmmmmmmarshmallows!