The Staycation. . .

When our car broke down earlier this summer we decided that our dreams of visiting some tropical paradise over the 24th of July would have to wait. But, since Josh's Mom and Dave had volunteered to watch Ainslie while we were gone, we decided that we still needed a vacation. We just stayed a little closer to home . . .

We took one afternoon and went hiking around Sundance. We're pretty out of shape these days, so we thought it would be best if we took the easy way up to the top of the mountain.
After cutting out the difficult part of the hike, we had lots of fun walking around and taking in the beautiful scenery.
We did feel a little guilty riding to the top, so we decided we needed to do some hiking. We followed one trail out to some great views of Stewart Falls.
For some reason, while Ainslie was playing with Grandma, Grandpa, Michael and Heather, we ended up spending a lot of time eating at all the restaurants we could (Ainslie has made the last few restaurant trips a little too crazy). The first night we went to the Cheesecake Factory, and really enjoyed the food. Unfortunately, we didn't take camera. The food was beautiful.

The next morning we headed out to our favorite place for breakfast, the Blue Boar Inn.

The breakfast there is always amazing, and we had a great time remembering Switzerland while we chatted with the Innkeeper.

Could the food really be that good? We'll let these satisfied smiles speak for themselves.That afternoon we played around in Park City for a while and then headed in to Salt Lake. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts has a fantastic exhibit right now called Monet to Picasso. We highly recommend it if you can go. Looking at these amazing paintings reminded us of how much we enjoyed our time admiring the works of the Impressionists while we were in Paris last summer.

Although we had originally planned to have Ainslie spend two nights with the Reids, we gave in and went to pick her up that evening. We just missed her too much to be gone for two nights. But, we decided to squeeze one more meal in before we went to pick her up. We grabbed some sandwiches at Caputo's. Delicious.

If you're looking for colorful imported foods, try Caputo's. We had lots of fun vacationing close to home, and Ainslie had lots of fun playing with everyone in Payson. It was quite the weekend.

If you give a baby chocolate. . .

Ainslie loves chocolate. We have a little bit of food storage under our kitchen table, and just about any time Ainslie gets quiet in the kitchen you can be sure she's digging for something sweet. Every once in a while Janae will give in and unwrap a chocolate for her (usually Ainslie just rips it open, she's getting a little too good with her teeth). This is what happens . . .

This little girl may have her mamma's eyes, but she definitely has her daddy's sweet tooth.

4th of July

For the last few years, we've enjoyed volunteering with the Freedom Festival as part of our 4th of July celebrations, and this year we volunteered to help with the Freedom Festival Run. We reported for duty at 6:30 am, which was too early to be awake on a holiday, but it was just the right time to catch the hot air balloons taking off.

Our job at the race was to direct traffic and inform disappointed drivers that there is NO WAY they can drive across or down the race course. Josh made friends with a friendly BYU police officer who offered an authoritative voice to back Josh up when people insisted on driving past the barricades. Some people get pretty impatient, but we managed to keep the peace. As far as the race itself goes, we couldn't believe how many runners there were . . .

What do you get for volunteering? A warm feeling of patriotism, a very green t-shirt, and a picture with some friends from the ward. It's worth it.

In years past, we volunteered for Parade Patrol with the Freedom Festival, and we were also judges at the baby contest. In case you were wondering, you do get to wear a uniform when you're on Parade Patrol. Look how intimidating Janae looked in hers. Better not be throwing anything at the bagpipers when she's looking . . .

That afternoon we headed down to the Webb's for a little pool time. Ainslie and Bronx absolutely loved it.

Ainslie was very excited to get in the pool, so we didn't have time to change her into a swimming diaper. Turns out the regular ones really soak up the water.

Makes it a little tough to get around when your diaper is holding a gallon and a half of water. . .

Overall, it was a great 4th of July. We feel very fortunate to live in such a great country.

BYU Law Review

Looks like the trip to North Carolina worked. On Monday Josh received an invitation to become an editor on the BYU Law Review. That means this next year is going to be very, very busy.

Webb Family Reunion

This weekend was the Webb family reunion. We had a fun time staying at a nice cabin up above Heber, exploring Park City, and playing at Deer Creek with almost the entire Webb family.

There were lots of fun activities for the few days of the reunion, but Ainslie's favorite was playing in the water. She just charged right in.

Josh had to work Thursday and Friday, so he wasn't able to join the party until Friday evening, but that still left some time to enjoy the scenery around Deer Creek and snap a few pictures.

We spent all day Saturday swimming, digging in the sand, and playing on the waverunners. Unfortunately, Josh didn't follow Johnathan's example of proper sunblock application and forgot to put any sunblock on his feet. He's been limping around on swollen, red feet for the last few days now.

On Saturday, Ainslie's favorite activiy by far was playing in the tube. It was like her own little swimming pool. She loved it.

Everybody at the reunion had a lot of fun. For more pictures of everyone enjoying a little time on the beach, you can go here.