Arches National Park

John had to go to Moab for some work, so we made it a weekend! He worked on Friday when we got there and the boys and I swam and watched a lot of cartoons, and swam more when Dad got back.

 
Then Saturday we spent the day in Arches. I figured we could do the 3 mile round trip hike with the boys to delicate arch but it wasn't easy!

We did it first so it would be cooler and then we were too tired to do anymore so we just drove around and looked.

One the way home we passed through Richfield and John had made a contact there that had apricot trees so we stopped to pick apricots. We stopped again in Cedar City for dinner and had a leisurely ride home. It was an awesome little trip with no DVD player! The boys actually did great. Sometimes I wonder if the DVD player on a trip makes things worse because they don't even try to play. This trip they had a ton of fun playing together in the back.

Since we have been back I have turned all the apricots into jam!

I don't like apricots but I loooove apricot jam!

North Rim Grand Canyon

We had a great trip this weekend to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I like the North Rim more than the South rim because its cooler, there are trees, and best of all its way closer! The drive down was fun, especially because we found shakes and ice cream!

When we got there I could not believe how close our site was to the canyon! We had a perfect view through the trees of the canyon. It was breathtaking.

Our camper is officially easy enough for an 8 year old to set up by himself!

It's been such a great blessing to have this camper! We love the canopy and its amazingly sturdy!

Our site was also the start of the trails so it was really easy for us to go hiking!

There was a complete burn ban on so I learned that you can cook foil dinners on cast iron. They
actually turned out perfect - this may become our preferred way of cooking in the future!

The next morning we ate a nice breakfast and then headed over to the visitors center.

Poor John. This was not easy on him. They really dont have a lot of protection between you and the cliffs and it totally freaked him out, especially since it was windy.

After hiking we went back to the tent and hung out, played games, read, and went on walks. IDEAL!

That night they had a star party where a whole bunch of astronomers brought telescopes to show us cool things in the sky. We were able to see the sun, the craters on the moon, and Saturn and her moons! It was awesome!

The next morning we had to head out by 10 so we packed up and on the way out came across a herd of buffalo!

Love our National Parks!

Camping in Zions Sept 2008

We went camping on Saturday night and it was awesome! We learned a lot the last time we camped with kiddos and so this time we were much more prepared. We arrived at about 4:00 and it had just gotten overcast which was nice since it had been such a hot day. Our campsite was right by the river and so we let the boys play in the water for a while which was freezing but they loved it! Minus the big wipe out by Davis, not that it stopped him from jumping right back in. You could hear a some thunder in the distance and Caleb was quoting the Sound of Music saying, "it just the thunder talking to lightening!" because Davis was getting a little scared.

Its nice to have someone who is old enough to take pictures so that Mom gets to be in some. Although he kept backing up and wanted to take the picture while standing in the slippery water. We were trying hard NOT to freak out!

After swimming we started our fire and cooked our heavenly foil dinners. Caleb had a great time playing "Ironman" in the trees. Davis was more interested in some baseball. They both eventually settled down to play trucks though so Daddy and Mommy had a little time to just relax and talk.They both slept really well and John and I might have slept through the night had it not been so HOT! We finally got a good breeze going through the tent around midnight and everyone slept in until 7:30. Well everyone but Beckham who decide that it was time to try some gymnastics on Mommys bladder at around 5:30 when Mommy was already dying but didn't want to get up and walk in the dark to the bathrooms and risk waking up the boys!We ate some breakfast and then went on a walk. There is something about waking up on the Sabbath out in the middle of our Heavenly Fathers creations. It was such a great way to start the day!This is how camping is suppose to be! Relaxing, fun, and not one bit of stress!