hiking, swimming, baseball and sunburns... it must be SUMMER!

Another month, another blog of fun adventures from the Hills! As the weather has finally started to act like June, we've done lots of fun summer things. Over Memorial Day weekend, we went backpacking at Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove. We worried that our much anticipated trip would get postponed due to the chance of thunderstorms, but eventually Joe convinced me to take our chances with the weather. Whats 30% chance of rain anyway, right? Lucky for us, we did not come home sopping wet, and the trip was a success. It was my very first backpacking experience, and Joe was more than excited to show me how to "rough it." The hike was only about 2 miles each way, but boy were we happy to see the top. After making it there (sore and out of breath), we decided that we might need a few more shorter backpacking trips to get us (or mostly just me...) into shape before we attempt to hike anything hard like Timp. Luckily we have the whole summer to work up to that goal.

Pre-trip.
The backpack does not make me tip over.
Check.

Joe was SUPER excited for the first camping trip of the season!

We saw gorgeous waterfalls like this one all along the trail to the top of the mountain.

We also got to go to Seven Peaks waterpark with our friends Joe and Chelsea.  It was sooo much fun and we didn't have to wait in any long lines, which was a major bonus.  We played in the wave pool and rode the slides and lazed in the lazy river.  The guys loved the half pipe waterslide they had there, but after one or two bloodcurdling screams we girls decided to sit that one out. 

 


The only bad part of the trip was my first summer sunburn.  With the good of summer comes the bad I guess ( : Ouch.





This weekend we went to a Salt Lake Bees baseball game with some friends in our ward, the Johnsons.  They have a 2 month old baby, Owen, that they brought with them and when he wasn't hungry or sleeping, he was completely enthralled with all the commotion going on around him.  The game was pretty lame...the Bees had a grand total of 4 hits the entire game.  But after the game they had a sweet fireworks show that made it all worth it.  This is the second Bees post-game fireworks show we've been to and both times we've been amazed at what a great show it is.  We even got to go down in the outfield and watch them straight above us.  And in an effort to prove what a heavy sleeper he is and how exhausted the whole outing was, Owen slept through the entire fireworks show!   All in all it was a super fun date night and we'll miss the Johnsons when they move across the country for grad school later this month. 

Finally, in the last of Hill Family news, we have finally finished our thank you notes from our wedding.  We're quite sheepish that it has taken us 5 months to complete them, but we figure its better late than never.

Well thats all the news from us.  Joe is still working at the physical therapy clinic and loving it.  He's looking for another part-time job to fill up some more of his time.  I'm still studying hard and excited to end my classes and start a few new classes in 2 weeks.  Hope all is well with all of you.  We're so grateful for such amazing friends and family