Fall?

We're in the midst of fall activities here...going to football games, coaching at XC meets, but there is definitely no fall weather yet. I hoping today is the last day in the 90's. I'm ready for changing colors in the mountains & crisp fall weather. I always miss home the most in the fall, because SLC falls just can't beat Michigan falls. The colors aren't as vibrant & fall only seems to last a week or two.

Our cross country team is doing quite well! The girls' team has the potential to finish in the top 5 at State Finals. The boys' team has made another step forward from last year. It's been great to see how well they are running in packs and starting to understand that cross country is more than just individual, it's a team sport. We also enjoyed a day trip to the Jordanelle Reservoir. We started with a trail run around the reservoir, and then played some games and swam.

Ultimate frisbee at the reservoir

Jordanelle Reservoir

The Girls' Team with the 1st trophy we've ever won!

Coach Todd doing his thing

Utah's fall sports teams are off to a great start! We've enjoyed watching the football team go 3-0. The WSU game this weekend will start the conference play. Soccer is undefeated so far, and volleyball only has one loss. I'm excited to be working more & more closely with the Utah XC team this year. I know nutrition makes such a huge difference in running, so I'm glad to be making an impact.

At the Utah vs. Fresno State game

We've been pretty boring outside of going to sporting events. We get so worn out from coaching on Saturday mornings, that we tend to crash for the rest of the day. In fact, our plans for a date night a couple weeks ago (out to dinner & a movie) ended up being take-out pizza and Netflix, haha!

We spent the past weekend in New Jersey with Holly, Matt, & Lily! We had been looking forward to meeting Lily for so long, and we had a great time. She is so precious! We visited a really neat aquarium on Saturday, and watched the Utah vs. Michigan game. On Sunday afternoon, we walked along the Cooper river. Todd flew home Monday morning, and I stuck around for one more day. I got to babysit Lily on Monday while Holly & Matt worked. We went on a couple walks, played, and Lily did lots of sleeping. It was fun to see her smiles! It was hard to leave and know she'll be completely different when I see her next at Christmastime.

Smiles!

Sleepy time

So good to see them (and Matt too!)

We've felt God watching over our families in the last couple weeks. Grandma Klein-Wassink suffered a minor heart attack last week, but is home and doing ok. She had a stent put in and besides the one blocked artery, her heart looks healthy and strong. Praise God! This weekend, Todd's mom got rear-ended by a Mack Truck, and is doing fine. She's sore and the car is wrecked, but it could have been much worse.

Last Days of Summer

Summer is coming to a close for us. Not because fall weather is coming...that won't happen for another two months. But because Todd starts teacher meetings in a week and I'm in the midst of fall camps for football, volleyball, and cross country at the University of Utah.

In the middle of July, we took 18 high school runners up to Park City for a 3 day cross country camp. We stayed in a cabin near the Park City Mountain Resort that is owned by the family of one of our athletes. We filled our time with team bonding, games in the park, goal setting, and (of course) running. We did a challenging trail run up in the mountains one morning. All of the girls ran a 8 mile loop and all of the boys ran a 11 mile loop. It was hard work, but they were proud of what they had accomplished! We also took them to the alpine slide at Park City Mountain Resort. This was the first cross country camp for Olympus High School. We'd do it again!

Games in the Park

A few of the girls at the highest point of the trail run

Playing spoons

The ride up the the alpine slide (L) and the group at the top (R)

Beat up after a wipe-out on the slide (check out the burns in the shirt)

 The whole group

A day after camp ended, Uncle Bruce came to Salt Lake City for a long weekend. We drove up into the Uinta Mountains one day and hiked around at the Provo Falls & Mirror Lake. Both were very beautiful! Todd was pretty beat up from his wipe-out on the alpine slide, so he wasn't up for a hike; but Uncle Bruce & I did a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon past several alpine lakes. We even saw a moose! We also took a trip to Antelope Island to dip our feet in the Great Salty and see some bison.

Provo Falls

Mirror Lake in the Uintas

Lake Mary in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Moose sighting!

View of Lake Martha and Lake Mary from above

For Pioneer Day (the biggest Utah holiday!), we cheered on 4 of our cross country athletes in the Deseret News 10k. They took 4th place in the high school team division. We went out to brunch with friends, and then spent the evening grilling out with friends from church.

Last weekend I camped for two nights in the Uintas with 10 other ladies from church. We had a great, relaxing weekend with great hiking, conversation, food, and wine. I'm so blessed to have met all these wonderful ladies in Utah.

Our tent by Butterfly Lake

Hiking the Lofty Lakes Loop

The lovely ladies

Burgers & Shakes on the way back home

Todd's mom & friend Becky made a quick stop in Salt Lake City on their way to California this past week. I was able to join them for dinner one night, and Todd took them on a downtown tour and hike up in one of the canyons. A quick, but great visit!

Our cross country season is now officially underway. We held our team time trial on Thursday and had 30 kids participate. Counting the ones who were out of town as well, it seems like we'll have a large group this fall! Times were faster at this year's time trial than last year's, so we're very exciting for what this season may hold!

At the starting line

And they're off!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Summer is flying by! Hard to believe Todd's been out of school for 5 weeks already! He's enjoying some downtime, and has picked up some tutoring to keep him semi-busy. We're also holding cross country practice 5 mornings a week. The turnout at these practices has been better than expected! We've had as many as 27 kids!

Chocolate Milk and Donuts awaited the team after their run on Thomas' Birthday! Thanks Odells!

We've enjoyed having more time to relax, hike, trail run, & see friends now that school and the track season are over. We spent a Sunday afternoon in Park City with friends of ours, Dave & Sherry Spence--ate brunch, checked out the Park Silly Farmer's Market, and hiked around the Park City Mountain Resort. We also hiked up to Desolation Lake with Jessie and Brian Strike.

View from hike in Park City

Beautiful Day for a hike!

Local food & music at Millcreek Venture Outside

Desolation Lake with Jessie Strike

The highlight of our summer so far was our 2 week trip back to the Midwest! We celebrated Grant and Allison's wedding on June 27th. The day was absolutely beautiful! We're so glad the weather cooperated. Welcome to the Mitchell family, Allison!

The beautiful couple

Todd gives his speech as Best Man

We were able to spend time with the extended family on Saturday after the wedding. It was nice to catch up with family we don't see very often! On Sunday, my parents met us for church & brunch. Then, we left with my parents for a road trip through northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Our first stop was Duluth. We spent the first night walking Park Point & watching ships go under the Aerial Lift Bridge. We skipped stones in the VERY cold Lake Superior and ate delicious Mexican food outside. On Monday, we hiked around Gooseberry falls and checked out Split Rock Lighthouse. On Tuesday, we made a quick stop at the Glensheen Estate before heading to Wisconsin.

Skipping Stones

Aerial Lift Bridge

Gooseberry Falls

Split Rock Lighthouse

Glensheen Estate gardens

The mansion we toured

On Tuesday, we spent some time walking around Bayfield, WI. We got ice cream and looked around in some bookstores & gift shops. We also explored the maritime museum. We took a sunset cruise around the Apostle Islands. The islands were really neat, but we were also very cold. The air temperature was in the 50s and it was quite windy! We really enjoyed Devil's Island with it's sea caves & lighthouse.

Bayfield, WI

We saw several Bald Eagles on our cruise

Devil's Island Lighthouse

Devil's Island Sea Caves

On Wednesday, we drove into Michigan. Our first destination in Michigan was the Porcupine Mountains. We hiked along the Escarpment Trail which overlooks the Lake of the Clouds. We spent the night in Houghton, MI and ate a great pizza place downtown.

Lake of the Clouds

Hiking along the Escarpment Trail

Pictured Rocks was our next destination. The water along the shoreline was so beautifully colored! We did a short hike to a lookout for Miner's Castle and then walked to Miner's Beach. The hike to Chapel Rock & Beach was much longer, but worth it! However, the bugs were bad for the 3 miles back to the car, and we hiked very quickly!

Miner's Castle

Bridal Veil Falls

Chapel Rock

Chapel Rock Beach

On Friday, we drove to Tahquamenon Falls. I was there once before when I was young, but didn't really remember it. The upper falls has the 2nd greatest volume of water (1st is Niagara Falls) east of the Mississippi River! We ate lunch and walked around on the beach at White Fish Point before driving over the bridge to the lower peninsula to stay the night in Mackinaw City. We sat on the shore of Lake Huron and watched the fireworks--we could be Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, & St. Ignace fireworks all at once!

Upper Falls

White Fish Point

We lit Chinese Lanterns before the fireworks

Fireworks over Lake Huron

Saturday, our final day of our road trip, we took the ferry to Mackinac Island. We enjoyed walking around the Grand Hotel and past some beautiful cottages. We rented bikes and rode around the island. Todd and I were on a tandem! We also rode up the big hill by the Grand Hotel and came speeding back down :). We drove back to Grand Rapids that evening.

The Grand Hotel

Mom made a friend

Riding bikes around the island

We were able to spend 2 days in Grand Rapids before flying back to SLC. It was nice to my parents new house in the summer and see the work they've done so far. Dad has planted a lot of trees and Mom has a very large garden. We were able to see Uncle Bruce, Grandma, and Ben as well!

We're looking forward to a full week next week! We will be taking 20 athletes from the Olympus High School XC team to Park City for 3 days and 2 nights for a team camp. This is the first time doing something like this, so we're pretty excited! Then, Uncle Bruce is coming out to SLC for a long weekend! We're excited to do some hiking with him. And, on top of all that, Todd and I will likely become Aunt Anna & Uncle Todd next week!! Holly and Matt's baby will most likely be coming soon! We can't wait to meet our niece/nephew!