Cedar Breaks National Monument

Why had I never heard of this amazing place before?  Even after we moved here I had no idea this was 30 minutes from our house.  How cool is this!

 

It was really windy when we were there--hence Lucy's hood.  We didn't have a chance to go on hikes or anything but we can't wait to go back and see more soon! 

Riverwalk at Zion National Park

 

 We got a lucky break one summer day a couple of weeks ago when Mark didn't have to go into work on a weekday.  Yay for unexpected holidays! We chose to spend the day at Zion National Park.  After a beautiful drive up the canyon, we decided to do the Riverwalk.

Lucy loved the hike.  It is hard to know her favorite part but I am guessing it was between running down the little hills exclaiming, "Whee!" 

or this sand pit where she took her shoes off, ran around in circles, and giggled nonstop....

or when she got to explore the river with Mark.

 

This was when she had to stop playing in the river and get back on the trail. No surprise there.

 

I don't blame Lucy for having so many favorites.  I had a couple of favorites too.  I loved how beautiful and peaceful the river was (I know--just try and look at the peaceful river not the red blob in the way), 

 

the tall canyon walls with water trickling down them,

and seeing four deer so close!

When I saw this one eating I thought about how lucky this deer was to live in such a pretty and peaceful place. I told Mark, if was a deer I would live here too.  They have it pretty good. :)

 

And this is why Mark usually takes the pictures.  This one was standing right by Mark and Lucy and was looking right at me.  What do I do?  Take a picture when the camera is off and give it a chance to jump away. It was neat in real life,  I promise.  You can see Mark trying to tell me to hurry with his eyes. :)  

Here we are all done with the hike and waiting for the tram...

 

and here we are having fun on the tram on the way back. 

I am hoping for more unexpected vacation days in the future.  What a great surprise on a weekday!

Kolob Canyon Part 2

We had a Saturday night free several weekends ago so we decided to finish the Taylor Creek hike in Kolob Canyon that we had started a couple of months back.  Although it was beautiful and totally worth seeing, I think we were a little too zealous when we started the hike.  We didn't begin until 6 p.m. and it was four and a half miles.  With a lot of hurrying to get back at midpoint, we barely made it to our car before it was dark. The whole way back Lucy was on the brink of tears and my body was exhausted with no time to sit and rest.  I am glad we did it but it was a good learning experience of what our family is capable of doing.  No more adventures that long and that late in the day again.   Like I said though, we saw some really beautiful scenery. We crossed a stream probably 15 times and were right up against the canyon walls the whole time. 

We also saw two historic cabins from the 1930's along the trail.  They were from two men who had built these cabins then had to leave for a while to serve missions and such.  When they came back, they found that their land had been confiscated for the Kolob Canyon Monument.  Stinks for them...

Cabin #1

 

Cabin #2

And for the finale.....the Double Arch Alcove!  Amazing!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day was one of my favorites because we planned a lot of fun with family around Cedar City.  We had a great time having everyone come stay with us.  

We live within an hour and half of Bryce National Park so we were so excited to go see some things around there that Saturday.  Right before Bryce, we stopped at Red Canyon for lunch and a hike.  I loved seeing all the hoodoos in bright red color.  



Lucy was so funny with this sucker.  Everytime I looked at her with her sunglasses, the stick coming out of her mouth, and her layed back attitude it seemed like she was trying to tell everyone how cool she was. :)



 

One of the hoodoos was in the shape of a camel.  Pretty fun!

 

After that first hike we drove up the canyon to Bryce to do the hike Mossy Cave Trail.  

It was a great hike because we got to see a cave and a couple of little waterfalls.

On the way to the waterfall we passed a real beehive about 10 feet from the trail!



To say that Lucy loved the waterfall would be a huge understatement.  It is a good thing that Mark was willing to take Lucy to play in the water because she used all her power to get away from me to play in the river by herself.  It took some muscle to get a hold on her.

Lucy was heartbroken for a while after we left the water.  She could have spent all day there.  

It is too bad Caleb wasn't around at the moment because these guys were just standing there in this position ready for a family portrait. So cute.:)

After a little while we walked down some hills, got to this bridge, and Lucy was as good as new. What a great hike for families! So glad we did it!

The next day we went to church and headed to St. George after.  We toured Brigham Young's Winter Home and stopped by the St. George Temple. 

Lucy was so loopy from lack of sleep by this time.  I was so grateful for extra helping hands there. Thank you Em and Ang!

On Memorial Day we went swimming at the aquatic center near our house.  It was such an awesome pool for kids.  It was like a playground and a pool combined.  We went and got snowcones afterwards and then got to check out the Frontier Homestead State Park with Katie and Judd's family.  Judd let Lucy ring a school bell while there. Lucy asks all the time now if she can go there with these guys to ring the bell. :) 

I was a little sad when the fun came to an end.  What a great weekend!