anniversary dates

We went to the Draper Temple. Who knows what the future holds and how much longer we will be in Utah for, so its fun to visit the different temples while we are still here.

Note to self: When its really bright and sunny, don't trust the pics you see on the view finder. Even though they seem way exposed on the view finder, they don't turn out that bad


Sundance's Moon light ski lift: I love how we are both laughing and squinting cuz we know the flash is going to be super bright. (right) least blurry pic taken while coming down the mountain.

Quilt show

The Springville Museum had their annual Quilt Show. I thought it was far better this year, but that is probably because my knowledge of sewing and figuring out how they did that is always growing.

Here is my favorite! Its quite stunning in real life, and crazy difficult to figure out how they did it. Yet I love the symmetry, the colors, everything about it is amazing.

I love the artistic touch of the mural in the middle.

I love how each block, besides the repeater block, is so unique and vibrant. Great use of fabrics & colors

Here are some other great ones:

Kayaking at Payson Lake

Salem Pond was closed this year, so we had to find a new lake to go kayaking in. Through much work of grandpa van der Horst, we finally decided on Payson Lake. It was so beautiful- again reminding me of living in the northwest, had several private little alcoves for families to claim as their base, our base was nice and shady with two rock walls (built in chairs for lunch), and had rocks to keep the kids entertained when they weren't in the kayaks. Overall it was great! Thanks mom and dad vdh!
(left)Amy and Nathan(right) mom and dad

(left) Tim, Laura, Nathan, Jonathan, and Matthew (right) Claire waiving at grandparents

(right) Clarie's first ride on the kayak (left) chasing after ducks with mom

(left) Many of us tried using the kayaks as gondolas. It was fun to have races this way.

I was in love with the surroundings, there is something so peaceful and serene to be surrounded by majestic pines! Its crazy how much I love pine trees. Thank goodness we have Christmas, so that even if we live somewhere where there is no pines nearby, I can still be reminded of their beauty at Christmas time.