Final day of Spring Break

After our fun hiking adventure it was time to head up north.  More cousins to see and things to do.  Our trip wasn't over quite yet.  The Roper's decided to baptize Emily the weekend we were in Utah.  We totally lucked out.  Not every day you get to see your niece who lives in Indiana get baptized.  

Conor, Emily and Josie, just before the baptism

Jerilyn and Me

Lincoln's first Easter egg hunt

Conor

Josie

Checking out the goods in the eggs.  For an added twist this year, a few special eggs were full of change.  Almost better then candy.

The beautiful view from Grandma and Grandpa's backyard

It wouldn't be a trip to Utah without a visit to Brick Oven.  Here is Conor drinking Grandpa's water clear on the other side of the table.  I don't think our waiter was very happy with us. 

Melissa and David joined us just in time..we almost ate with out them.  We love spending time with Missila, so glad they called at just the right moment. 

Grandma and Lincoln getting one last snuggle in before we had to leave.  We hit the road early and drove straight on home to Spokane.  We had a wonderful time and hopefully we can come back next year.  

 

Red Cliffs

We found ourselves all alone in St. George on this beautiful Friday morning. The Ropers left and then Grandma and Grandpa left. What to do in this land of fun and sun? Hiking of course. We were going to head up to snow canyon and hike, but I was researching hikes in Snow Canyon and stumbled across this hike up in Leeds called Red Cliffs. We weren't sure what to expect but figured we would give it a shot. Wow! Talk about great luck, this was one of the funnest hikes I have been on in a while and the kids absolutely were in heaven. We were fortunate to get a head start on the other spring breakers so we had the place to ourselves, but then everyone woke up. We will be going back to this one for sure.

My kind of birthday and more riding

I cannot think of a better way to spend a birthday and the days surrounding it! Taking in a super fun ride, hanging out with my family, doing some shopping with my sister and Mom, hitting the pool, and soaking in some rays. What more can I ask for?  The following pictures are of the kids at a fun discovery park, and some more mountain bike shots.

All of us that gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's play home.

Playing in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house

Somewhere on the Bear Claw Poppy trail

More spring break and Conor's birthday

The 3 fingers of death and the Stucci Springs trail were calling our name this morning.  We left the kids happily eating breakfast with the plan of going exploring around the neighborhood and hills.  We escaped in a moment of calm and hit the trails.  This was my 1st time back on the bike since my knee accident.  I was surprised at how nervous I was, it took me a while to shake off the jitters and I was ticked at how I was having to battle my mind more then the physical injury.  Well worth it!    

We came home to this!!!!

I came around the corner of the garage and Jerilyn looked at me and said...You missed all the fun. Great. Not words I like to hear, especially in that tone. Apparently the exploring expedition included some abandoned junk piles, which included a can of inviting and enticing black spray paint. It took a few days to get the whole story out of the kids, but the story involves Conor playing with the can, then some sort of hissing sound and then Conor seemed to have punctured the can with another piece of junk and the impact caused it to literally explode.  Next there was a cloud of black enveloping Conor. Still trying to piece it all together, but he was scared silly and came running over the hill like a bat out of hell and was covered in thick gooey black paint. I am sad I missed it, I am sure it was rather entertaining.  Hmmm.  How do you get black spray paint off of the 9 yr old birthday boy?  I heard they tried everything.  The gas worked best....ew I know.  By the time I arrived he was in the shower and still pretty gray looking.  I then spent a good 20 minutes rubbing him down with a wash cloth.  We never thought he would come clean.  From the pictures below you will see that he did.  Happy Birthday to Conor.  I joked with him that he could write on his college applications that he was black for the morning of his 9th birthday. 

Hanging out at the tennis court, shooting some hoops and enjoying the sun.  before we hit the swimming pool.

Happy Birthday sparkling clean Conor! 

Zion

The weather was windy and cold on Monday, the pool wasn't calling our name, so we packed up a lunch and headed off to Zion National Park. Our timing was a week off, meaning that the shuttles were up and running so we couldn't drive our car in the park anymore. We hadn't planned for this, but it worked out fine. Management at Zion hadn't planned on the spring breakers mobbing the park, so their weren't enough shuttles and the ones that were running were jam packed. We opted to eat our lunch 1st thing, we are all standing because it was too cold to sit down and enjoy it. We ended up leaving our car here and walking a bit to the next shuttle stop since there wasn't parking in the normal locations. Good thing we were all flexible today.

The beautiful view as we walked up to the shuttle stop. Lincoln insisted on walking this all by himself.

Quick photo op of the cousins

Once we got on a shuttle we rode it all the way to the top. Here is all of us at the Temple of Sinawava. This is right where the awesome Narrows hike empties out. I have some great memories of doing this hike a few times. I promised Conor we would take him in a few years.

Kevin and Lincoln, standing under the ledge of the weeping rock, overlooking the valleyConor and Josie in front of the great white throne (I think.)Slowly headed back to the car, taking the beauty of this amazing national park in. I was a bit reluctant to leave. I just love the contrast of colors, rock formations, layers and vistas. Utah is truly a beautiful state and has so much variety, it is amazing.