Nathan, at last

I didn't take many pictures camping and exploring Bryce Canyon, but here they are.



There was an ATV trail near by and if you went out at sunset you got to see lots of stuff like this.


And this.


We hiked a short part of one trail in the canyon. Walking from the parking lots this sign made me think, hmmmmm.


And the trail was STEEP! This is us at the top.


The view. Pretty.


And on a side note, we drove through this on the way there. What kid wouldn't get a kick out of that!?!


Then we went home. The end.

Actually, thanks, Kim and Susie, for a great trip. We had a blast!

The end, for real.

Our Trip, Day 3

On this day we visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City. My poor kids were so worn out from the day before and I still dragged them out to see it. I hadn't been there since I was a kid and really wanted to check it out.

Here is Jared all ready to go.


And this pic pretty much sums up the whole day. Jared in a pretty good mood, Madie on the verge of tears.




We didn't get to go in the tabernacle because they were doing rehearsals, but we did go into another beautiful building with a giant pipe organ and awesome details. Here's the ceiling.


Madie and I went and sat by ourselves for a bit to try and cheer her up.




Jared was such a good sport.


And Abby is happy 98% of the time.


We sat down on a flower bed retaining wall to feed the baby and this is what I saw when I looked up. Pretty.


Of course we checked out the visitors center. The kids weren't too interested, but I liked it.


And then we went to check out the temple. There was construction and we had to walk around to the far side of it to get close. The kids were tired and Madie had to ride on my back most of the way, but I'm glad they hung in there so I could see it.


These steps were crazy steep and the doors were GIANT!


It was really nice seeing the temple, then Grandma Susie took us out for a yummy lunch!


The next day we spent getting ready for our camping trip family reunion and picking up Nathan from the airport. Pictures of that to come.

Our Trip, Day 2, Stop 2

I forget the name of this place. Something about Heritage or something. So I call it Pioneer Village. I think it's so awesome they were able to take all these amazing pioneer era buildings and move them all to one fantastic place. The kids loved it too.

We first stopped in on a small one room cabin that housed a family of 10! That's right people. One room. Ten people. Someone told us the size of the homes didn't necessarily depend on ones income, but the amount of lumber available in the area.

The kids learned about laundry, pre washing machines.

I somehow only took pictures of them washing and blinking.

The kids in this family of ten slept in the loft. They had to go outside and up the ladder to get there.


And of course they didn't have indoor bathrooms, which Jared really loved. He wanted to use the outhouse so bad! Silly kid wants to use any public bathroom he passes.


And here we are on the steps of the church/schoolhouse.


Upstairs had a benches and a stage.


Downstairs was the school room.






There is a "train" you can ride around the town, see some cool buildings, and learn a little history along the way. They kids loved the ride. I did too.




The kids and their poor chapped lips. Utah always does that to them.


Abby had chapped cheeks, but Photoshop worked its magic on them.

And this adorable little nugget is six months old today. Not the day of this photo, but the day I'm typing this. Six months! Can't believe it.

And our last stop of the day. We learned how wool goes from sheep to clothes. Jared was looking forward to this all day. He barley made the age cutoff for carding (combing) the wool, so he was a happy boy.


I loved this place. It's always entertaining learning a little bit about history.

Our Trip, Day 2, Stop 1

To do list:

1. Go to the dinosaur museum.

This is a dark, dark tunnel you can walk through and all you see is stars. Disorienting, but cool!


Happy dino.

Have I mentioned I hate florescent lighting? I can never make it look right.

Jared LOVED this cool water/sand table. You could build dams and rivers and then wash the dinos away. I bet Nathan would have loved this part. Hopefully next time we will be there with him (he was home working) and show him all our cool discoveries.



Madie was having a grumpy moment. But she loved hanging out with Grandma.


Madie carried that ball around the whole time.





I don't know why, but I love this picture. Maybe it's the blue.

Or the giant fish about to bite my sons hand off.

Or not.






Then they played in a sand pit and excavated dino bones. We actually have a park near us you can do this at, but they thought it was a way cooler thing to do on vacation.




Here's Kayla. I somehow managed not to take any pictures of Amanda. How did that happen?


And my beautiful baby.


We loved this place!

Our Trip, Day 1

Guess what these two munchkins are waiting around for.




Our trip to Utah!

They were seriously so good! They helped me pack and got their own carry-on bags ready with quiet toys and snacks, then they just played and were all excited to head out to the airport where Grandma Susie was meeting us. That's right people, my mother in law got up early in the morning, hopped on a plane, flew here, waited around in the airport for us to arrive, then helped us check in, get through security and onto the plane and flew back with us. How nice was that!?! There is just no way I could handle flying by myself with a small baby, an often times cranky three year old and keep an eye out for Jared all at the same time. So thank you, thank you, thank you Susie! You're my hero. And we had a great time!

Our trip pics to come...