The Boys go Fishing

Since the the quarantine Aiden and Jack have got into fishing more. It used to be once or twice a year when we go backpacking. But since there has been time and not a lot to do they are wanting to fish more. Our neighbor Kyle Clegg took Russell and the boys, Layne and his boys and Dustin and Cole Johnson and another neighbor Christian fishing on the Green River.

 They got there Friday night and started fishing right away. Here is Aiden with the sunset behind him

Jack with his polarized sun glasses he bought for fishing.

Cole and Aiden with squishy fish

 Aiden with his first catch

Russell with his big fish. They were good size fish!

They woke up at 4:30am the next morning and drove another hour, hiked a mile and made it to the next fishing spot.

They thought the hike was super fun.

Christian, Aiden and Cole

Fish Slayers

 Jack, Dad and Aiden. These boys don't know how lucky they are to have Russell as their dad!

Jack was feeling really bad because he had not caught one until the very end of the day. It was worth the wait for this huge fish!

The hike back out. What a muddy stream!

Good job, Dad! They were very happy boys.

Troy and Jack, wiped out on the car ride home.

The Graduate!

Aiden graduated from Orem High School! Class of 2020. 

He had a very untraditional graduation and it turned out really fun.

Orem High did a great job making the kids feel special even if they were social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Each student signed up for a 3 minute time slot. The parents dropped them off at one side of the school and then we drove around, parked and he walked through the other doors through the Tiger Tunnel.

 They played the graduation march song and called his name.

In front of the O 

Family Picture

 The three Liston kids. Aiden is a great example to his little sister and brother.

So Handsome! I can't believe he is so grown up!

Before we went to the school we took a couple of pictures out front. Orem High gave all of their graduating seniors a sign to put in their lawns. They wanted to do something nice for the seniors this year.

Way to go!

 Dad, Aiden and Mom

The Diploma is in his hand :)

We had to get a shot on the track, even though he did not get to run his senior year. He was ready and so excited for this track season.

Hooray!

 Mom and Aiden. I wore my school colors for the big day.

Jean and Jane stopped by after we got back from dinner and gave him balloons and a present.

Grandma and Grandpa Jaussi also gave him a nice present and a balloon when they were here visiting.

Russell and I gave him a laptop for his new adventure at UVU. He has been spoiled by Grandparents, aunts and uncles and neighbors with money and presents. :)

Aiden's friends from Lakeridge Jr High all went to different High Schools. Gus, Tanner and Aiden. It was cute that they all got together in their different colored gowns.

Congratulations Aiden!!

More of the Adventure

After lunch we kept on hiking up the river.

Around every bend was another amazing spot.

Aiden is so handsome

This was so cool

 We made it to Calf Creek Falls. We are the best parents!

All of the kids took a swim in the COLD water.

So Pretty!!

Then we hiked to the top of the falls and found another sweet spot perfect for cliff jumping.

These guys all jumped. Mom did not. The water was iceberg cold. Aiden even slid down the waterfall.

 Hiking back to camp was just as fun. 

Aiden and Jack

The kids set up a hammock city to chill in during the day

We had a great place for a fire

I told Russell to take my pictures because I never do the dishes when we are backpacking, but I was feeing kinda bad because Russell worked really hard so I gave him a break.

 The moon from our alcove

The next morning we had to leave but none of us wanted to. The weather was perfect, the company was fun and the food was delicious. We had church before we packed up and that made it pretty special too.

Oh ya we had to hike out and it was steep and hot.

  

A bit out of order. This was dinner our first night. The dads are the best!

 And these were the fish we ate the second night. Good catch Kyler and Jack

We are almost out girls!

Mid Calf

We went on an awesome backpacking trip with Layne and Joleen's family to what I can only call Mid Calf. I will say no more on this post about where it was because it was so awesome and we had the place to ourselves and it would be fun if it always is. :)

 He we go!

 This is before we started hiking down, down, down

The boys.

There was a pretty steep bit that we had to work our way down. We put Aiden down on a ledge as a brace.

Waiting for our turn.

 Eliza makes it look easy.

 I make it look like I am getting old. 

After we got off the rock we got into the river bed.

 We got to the river and had to make a couple of crossings before we got to camp.

 Troy and Jack found a sandy alcove, but it was not the one we are going to camp in.

This is the place! It was huge and so much fun to stay in for two nights.

This place was awesome!

The boys caught about fifty fish. We only kept five. They loved reeling them in.

Paige and Eliza walking in the river.

Jack fishing

 The next morning we went only a couple mile river walk to Calf Creek Falls

It was so much fun.

 The scenery was gorgeous.

 Eliza and me

We found the coolest place for lunch.

It was one of the funnest hikes we have been on.