Zion

Zion National Park last Monday was so gorgeous. It's always beautiful there, but the fall colors were everywhere and the weather was perfect. So glad we went! We stopped at the Bumbleberry for lunch in Springdale first and had a pizza (which was surprisingly really good) and then went to the park.

 When we got on the shuttle, Madelyn decided that we should go on the Weeping Rock hike.

  

There's Weeping Rock and its hanging gardens. Above the crest of the mountain is Echo Canyon, a slot canyon, whose Kayenta sandstone floor won't let rainwater through. So the water finds a way down to the Navajo sandstone layer underneath, soaks through the entire mountain, and then drips through along that blind arch.

 By the time the water comes out of the cliff, it has been inside for about 1,000 years!

It is so peaceful and refreshing. The whole hike is only .5 miles round trip.

 

 

 

 We decided to get back on the tram and go further up the canyon to the Temple of Sinawava river walk.

 "The Organ"

 "The Great White Throne"

 "Cheese"

 This is where we were waiting at the tram stop. I mean, good grief.

When you're there, it is so dang picturesque it is almost like you're surrounded by painted matte screen backdrops like they use in movies.

 We have come to the river walk the past few years every time we come to Zion because the kids' favorite part of the whole day is chucking rocks into the water.

 And playing in the sand...

 

 

  

 It was a good day for wildlife spotting. We saw squirrels, birds, a lizard, several deer, Mark saw a gray fox and I saw a wild turkey.

 This also happens every time we go to the park. Believe me when I say that 2/3 (at least) of the people there are foreign. The whole two weeks when the park was shut down must have ruined a LOT of people's travel plans.

 We managed to wear Luke out! He had a nice long nap on the way home.

 "The Watchman"

Can't wait to go back to my favorite park on earth!

Fall break

 This past Thursday, Friday and Monday was fall break for Madelyn. Since Mark was on call all weekend, we couldn't go on vacation, but the kids still had a wildly good time.

For some reason, this is the only picture I have, but on Thursday we met my friend Liz and her four kids (Jace and Kelty pictured here) at Park Discovery here in Cedar. Liz used to live up in northern Utah but has moved back south! We are excited to have their family close by again. We used to live right next to each other back in 2003-4 and went to college together.

 The next day was my niece Ava's birthday and she had a party at Jumpin' Jacks down in St. George. I took the kids down and they bounced around like crazy for 3 hours after the cake, ice cream and presents.

 Luke (only eating the frosting, as usual), Madelyn and Ava's brother Nathan

 My sister Maria came with her girls Emery and Nora, but neither of them wanted to jump. It was pretty loud and overwhelming...

 Both my kids are fearless on the big slides, and Madelyn would usually start hers off with a somersault at the top....(no supervision at this place)

 Birthday girl :)

 Luke has been bugging me NONSTOP to go "bouncing" again. We used to have a similar place here in Cedar, but I don't think it's around anymore. I was worn out just sitting there watching them for so long!

Saturday we spent mostly in our pajamas watching cooking shows on TV. The best kind of day! Mark had to leave the house about five different times to see babies at the hospital and do other work related stuff. His phone was ringing off the hook that day and Sunday, too.

 Monday, Mark had off (he took off Monday-Wednesday) and so we finally made a family trip to Zion. I have a lot of pictures from that so I'll do a separate post. It was beautiful! We went on two hikes.

 On our way back from Zion, we stopped by my folk's new house they're building. The last time I saw it, it was an empty lot. 

 My mom showed us around...the house is absolutely ginorm. I don't know the exact square footage, but I do know that the upstairs alone (which will mostly be for my sister Meg) is about the same footage as our house. Come to think of it, so is the garage. You could probably fit four of our houses into theirs overall.

 The basement...

 The back...

 The little hobbit hole...

 My aunt Nanette (dad's sister) was visiting from Colorado. She and my dad went to California later on to visit their mom, my Gma Murset, who just turned 96 and lives in LA.

Luke was in heaven with the sticks and dirt everywhere. He was quite filthy by the time we got home.

Mark took two of his days off to go back down to LaVerkin to work on the house for my dad. It was tiring work and he stepped on a construction nail in the middle of the first day. He had to get antibiotics and a tetanus shot (and then a flu shot the following day). I think going back to work today was a breeze compared to all that! He is currently taking a long nap.

Ballet pictures, part 3

Last post of our ballet photos! (Click to see part 1 and part 2)We made our way down the mountain as it was getting dark, and as we sat in the warm car, our fatigue kind of hit us all at once. We got back to Cedar at 10:30 pm but still had one more location to go. We drove over to SUU on the lower part of campus (there was a Shakespeare play going on at the upper end and no one was allowed near) and I finally got to wear the black tutu skirt I'd bought for the occasion.

We took turns wearing it and trying to pose, but my feet were killlliiiinnng meeeeee. Anyway, we got  a few shots and called it a night at 11:30 pm. A six hour photo session! Never done that before. Then Megan had to drive home an hour south. We were so tired the next day.

All pictures by Greg Mauger and copyright of P&G Photography.