Snow Canyon Hike

Lana and Eli warming up in the hot tub.

I had to work in St. George this week so I took the family down with me.  We stayed at the Clarion Suites, just off Bluff, where I always stay when I go down for work.  The rooms are nice, the food is good and its free and they have a nice pool and work out room.  We drove down Wednesday night.  I worked all day Thursday while the kids and Lana went swimming and goofed off at the hotel.  When I got home from work I went swimming for a few hours with the older kids and then we went to dinner at Golden Corral.  The weather was not super warm.

Noah and the girls playing in the pool.  Noah was cute with Kate, but he got in a little over his head while trying to help Kate learn how to swim.

We were able to Hike Johnson Canyon, it is usually closed through October, but they opened it a week early.

The boys on the way to Johnson Canyon

The girls on the way to Johnson Canyon

Lord Voldemort's Face in a rock!

The hike into Johnson Canyon was fun.  We saw some neat lava rock fields, Lord Voldemort's face in a rock, and some really neat rock features.  I had the family pose on a few big rocks so we could get some photos.

At the back of Johnson Canyon is a 200 foot arch.  It doesn't look that big, especially after going to Arches, but it was cool none the less.

Just a couple hundred yards up the canyon from the arch is a waterfall and pool.  The fall wasn't going because of the dry weather, but there was still a little pool with frogs and some fun rock formations for the kids to climb on.

There is a fall here in the spring and early summer that puts off a ton of water.  That's why it is closed all spring and summer.  They had a flash flood that moved a bunch of huge rocks and tore out some trees in August.

Kate posing in one of the little formations we saw.

Jenny's Canyon was a short fun little hike through a wash and back into a little slot canyon.  It is named for a 17 year-old girl that fell and died there in that canyon.  Eli was in heaven.  He loved playing in the dirt and climbing on the rocks.

We climbed up a fairly steep wall to get onto this ledge and take a family picture.  Lana took this one so I could be in a picture.  Honestly, I think she just didn't want to climb up.

Posers and Hosers!

Kanyon and Noah posing in a little arch back in Jenny Canyon.  This little slot canyon had a ton of little arches and caves to climb into.  We had a blast.

Noah and Kanyon looking through some holes in the wall.

Eli and Noah posing back in a little cave in Jenny's Canyon.

Emma and Katelyn looking through the wall.

This is looking down onto the mouth of Jenny's Canyon from a lookout point not to far away.  It only took us 10 minutes to hike back into the canyon from the road.

Petrified Sand Dunes, Snow Canyon, UT

The highlight of the day was hiking on the petrified sand dunes.  They are piles of stratisfied rock that are like steps so you can climb up and down without any problem.  Eli was a maniac.  We had to hold his hands or else he turfed it because of the uneveness of the rocks.  When we got there there was a group of people doing Yoga.  We had to quietly walk past them and then we let the kids run wild once we got on the other side of the hill from them.

Kate and Emma climbing on the dunes

Kanyon climbing down one of the dunes

Lana, Emma, Katelyn and Eli climbing the dunes.

Lana, Eli, Emma and Kanyon

Another look at Jenny's Canyon

We hiked from one side of the dunes to the other and then we saw this rock feature and the kids wanted to run over and climb to the top of it as well.  That was our last hike of the day and then the sun was down and it was time to leave the canyon.  We had a great time and it only cost us $6 to get into the park.  Worth every dime.

PINK EYE!!!!!

Our poor baby woke up crying because he could no longer open his eyes!  Eli's eyeballs were glued shut by all the boogers and he was not very happy about it.  He is doing much better now though.  His poor eyes and cheeks were sore and red from all the wiping and cleaning of buggers.

First Snowfall of the Year

This is for mom and dad, who are cooking in their own juices.  We woke up this morning, after it was 72 degrees yesterday, to this beautiful vista.  I love this time of year.

Emma's Baptism

Spencer, Emma, Hannah and Tanner

On Saturday, October 20th, Emma was  baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She was lucky enough to have 3 of her cousins all get baptized and confirmed at the same time.

Emma and Hannah

 The girls were so beautiful in their white dresses.

CHEEEEESE!

 Newly confirmed members of the Church with the Gift of the Holy Ghost...YAY!

Emma and her loving father.

Our beautiful daughter, Emma.

Emma was so calm and happy.  She was so excited to get baptized.  The font water was hot, like hot tub hot.  She went down and came back up, out of the water, and had the biggest cheeser you've ever seen.  She was the second of the four to get baptized and confirmed.  Seeing her in that white dress made Lana and me think of 11-12 years from now when she will be in a different white dress, kneeling at an altar, in the temple of the Lord, to make even more eternal covenants, only this time it will be with her husband and her Father.  CRAP!!! That makes me want to cry just thinking about it.  She is growing up too darn fast.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I just wanted to put a small note on here to say how proud I am of our children.  We went to parent teacher conferences yesterday and our children's teachers had nothing but great things to say.  Each of them is getting straight 4's, that's as high as you can get, and their citizenship marks are all fours as well.  Kanyon has qualified for the honor roll and is actively participating in class discussions.  His teacher, Mr. Broadbent, told us the only thing Kanyon needs to work on is working good in a group.  He told us that Kanyon is so smart that when it comes to working in a group he just does all the work himself.  We spoke to him about the importance of helping the others in his group to learn as well so everyone can succeed.  He is really wanting to run for class officer next year so he is working hard in everything.  He and Noah are both reading at College levels.  Noah's teacher, Mrs. Gross, just loves him.  she says he is a delight and is one of the happiest people in the class.  He too is getting great grades.  Emma's teacher, Mrs. Coombs, loves her.  Emma is reading and writing at a 9th grade level and her teacher said when it comes to doing work in class Emma always goes above and beyond.  The other kids will write threee or four sentences in class and Emma will write 6-8 pages.  She is pretty darn smart too.  I feel blessed that our children are wanting to succeed and do their best.  GOOO KIDS!!!

Beautiful Fall Leaves

These pictures are for the poor folks trapped on a tropical island!!  I love this time of year.  The best part is that we haven't had to use AC or heat for over a month now.  I hope we have this nice fall weather for about another month.  I hope the snow flies just in time for Thanksgiving and keeps on falling until the middle of February.  For now though, we are enjoying the beautiful fall leaves.

Emma's 8th Birthday

Emma had a great birthday.  Lana spent a lot of time on making it a great Monster High birthday.  She made her a monster high doll house and even monster high cupcakes and a monster high cake.  Lana is sure talented.  She is a very thoughtful mom. Emma loved the doll house and the cake.

Lana hand made this cake topper.

Emma was super excited that we did a monster high theme for her.  We gave her another doll and her friends gave her several more.  I think she has all of them now, or at least most of them.  We took 10 of her friends to Get Air for her party.  There were 8 girls, with Emma, and 3 boys.  Lana helped me take them out there and then I stayed and played with them.  It was fun.

Emma in the Dodgeball Section of Get Air

The girls were funny on the tramps.  There are four tramps that are attached to foam pits so you can try crazy tricks and have a fun safe time. Emma bounced off her backside and into the pit.

Emma sitting on top of the wall

We gave Emma her very own set of scriptures for her birthday.  It is the one gift all the kids know they are going to get on their eighth birthday. We gave her a cute polka dot case to go with it.

Emma buried in the foam pit and her friends trying to get her out

We had all the family over that evening for ice cream and cake.  It's nice to have family support and have everyone come.

Christy and Ryan gave Emma the brand new and one and only Monster High movie.  Thanks a lot guys!!! Now we have to suffer through the endless repetitions of life at Monster High.

Fly Emma!  Fly!