Saturday Hike In Salt Lake City

Saturday we did 'family stuff' as Isabelle calls it. We started the day off with homemade sourdough pancakes which are Michael's favorite and then decided we needed to go enjoy the beautiful weather. Isabelle wanted to go camping but we compromised and went hiking instead. After a great lunch at Trio's Pizza, a local favorite, we went hiking behind the Zoo up towards Emigration Canyon. On the way to the hike, we walked through the dog park so Zoe could give a shout-out to her friends and Isabelle could see all of the other dogs and play with them.
We threw rocks and sticks for Zoe to fetch in the river and we laughed and laughed as she jumped in the water and then bounced like a deer. We then got the backpack out and started up the trail. Isabelle loved the adventure of collecting rocks to throw in the river and Liv was perfectly content to be in the backpack because it is indirectly---Maholdin of course. Michael and I loved the day with the kids and each other and we all couldn't get enough of the sunshine!

After our hike, we went to Woodland to hang out with David and Jill. Isabelle saw us turn the corner to get to their house and couldn't contain her excitement. "JEFFREY'S HOUSE?! HE'S MY BESTEST BOY IN THE WHOLE WORLD!" We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on their fire pit and 'fired marshmallows' as Isabelle so descriptively calls her version of making (burning) smores. Jill and I talked about sewing projects and played with Livy inside as it got cold outside. Zoe had the usual time of her life with their farm dogs and ran the neighborhood with freedom not allowed in ours. We stayed until we were all beat tired and then made the trip back home to sleep in our own beds, Isabelle's favorite place to crash after a day like today.

Overall it was a great introduction to this summer. Michael says he is very excited to have me back on the team (with the pregnancy summer we survived last year). But, as we say in the Johnson house, "THAT WAS SO LAST YEAR!"