Oh, what do you do in the summer time when all the world is green?

This year, my family decided to do a stay-cation instead of a vacation. I really wanted to do something fun with my family, but my husband and I are both really low on fuel. Our little guy still gets up 2-3 times a night and hardly takes naps, plus my husband has to get up at 4:45 for work. So we are TIRED ha ha. My family was awesome and gave up their vacation to spend some time with us. We sat down and made a list of all the fun things you can do around Salt Lake. The list was long! We are always getting out of town to do all sorts of fun things, but there are so many fun things that we never do that are basically in our backyard! So.. if you live in the Salt Lake valley... here are some fun summer ideas for you!

Fishing
There are so many fun places to go fishing. You can get a day fishing license if you don't necessarily want to go all the time. Steven usually fishes up in Midway.

Aquarium
The big aquarium opened this summer and we went last weekend. For a land-locked, desert state it was pretty amazing! Their big river monsters were so cool, and the shark tank was awesome. You definitely won't be disappointed.

Timpanogas Caves/hiking
My family had never been to the Timp Caves before. They were amazing! I had no idea we had something like that right in our backyard. Our guide gave us all sorts of interesting historical facts about the caves and the people that discovered it. We have also hiked Mount Timp before which was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. So if you go do that, be prepared with lots of water!

Crater swimming
We did this last Saturday and it was so much fun! It's also at the Homestead Resort. It is natural mineral waters that are literally in a giant crater. The water is about 95 degree and it was so nice to swim in. The warm water put the baby right to sleep. You can also get dive certified there.

Horseback riding
This was one of the things that we didn't have time to do. You can do it in Midway, but at the Homestead Resort. It's definitely something we want to do this summer!

Hogle Zoo
Have you been to the zoo lately? They have redone almost everything. It is so nice and so much fun! The bird show is incredible. Our favorite part is being able to watch the seals swim. They are so cute!

Fast Karts
We haven't done this one yet, but it's on our summer list.

Park Silly
Every Sunday, Park City Main Street has a farmers market. It is so fun! We went last Sunday with my family and we loved it. They have all sorts of foods and arts. People are so creative! You can find a lot of fun things there.

Color Me Mine
We have been here a couple of times and I want to go back with my sisters. I decided that I want to paint myself a tea set. It is so much fun! Tuesday night is their two-for-one deal, so if you have a bigger family, I would definitely try to do it that night. If you get on their Facebook, it will show you a whole bunch of different deals.

Family game night
No money needed for this one! Grab some dinner and hang out with some good ol' board games. Have you ever tried Balderdash? I love that game. Phase 10 is another classic.

Swimming
You can do this at a lot of different places obviously. A friend's pool, a rec center, Seven Peaks. Summer is the time to swim!

City Creek
I LOVE City Creek! It's such a fun place to shop and eat. Even if you don't want to shop, it's fun to walk around and watch the fountains.

Snow cones
We love to get snow cones! Our favorite place is called Hokulia. They have a bunch of locations, but we go to the one on Fort Union. They have snow cones as big as your face!

Get outside and PLAY this summer! Do you have fun ideas? Comment below to share! 

Organize Those Photos!

Everyone knows that I'm a big scrapbooker. I love, love, love to scrapbook. I love that we can look at these books and see the cute pictures and read exactly what we were feeling in those moments. Steven is even nice enough to write in all of the many scrapbooks I make. But with an 8 month old in tow, there just isn't time to keep up on my books. Props to all you moms who do it, because it seems impossible to me! I have done a page or two every now and again. But my little guy likes to take two naps a day... Each consisting of half an hour, if I'm lucky. This means no time to scrapbook.

I thought about this problem a lot. I didn't want to lose the chance to write down how I was really feeling, but I also knew that I just don't have the time. So I came up with this... 

I found an empty bin around the house and added some hanging folders to it. Then in each folder, I would put one envelope that I labeled with the month and the year. That way, small notes and pictures don't fall out of the folder and get lost, but if there's something bigger than the envelope it can be in the folder. 

At the beginning of each month, I print the previous month's pictures. I use Snapfish. If you get their phone app, you can get 100 free 4x6 prints every month! I upload them from my computer and print them from my phone in order to get the free prints. I also have some 3x5 cards in my room that I will write little messages on and stick in the envelopes. I write things down like when his first tooth came in, what foods he is liking, monthly updates on Weston, etc. If there was a big event, I will write about the event on the card. This way, I can either stick the card straight onto a scrapbook page when I start scrapbooking again, or I can copy down word for word what I said. 

I have to say that this has worked out so great for me. I have been using this method since January, and I have loved it! It makes me feel better because I don't feel like I'm forgetting important dates, but I don't have to worry about keeping up my books. And this way, one day I will be able to just sit down and get right into the scrapbooking rather than having to figure out all my pictures. Hopefully this gave you some good ideas!