Utah Trip Day 2

I think this was probably the best day of our trip. We got into Zion's at about 10:00 and it was only about 78 degrees so far. During the summer they don't allow private vehicles on the main road, so we boarded the bus and headed to our first hike - Weeping Rock.

We were lucky enough to be able to see this beautiful deer on our way up.

This was a very friendly hike for kids. Only about .5 miles. It's a little steep, but it's so short that it doesn't matter. We had fun walking up and looking at all the pretty scenery.

And here we are at Weeping rock where the water trickles down non-stop all year round.

The view from Weeping Rock - gorgeous!

On our way back down.

We ran across dozens of these cute little things, but we never fed them just like we were told. They sure at gutsy little guys!

Our second hike was along the Riverfront on the way to The Narrows. We had originally planned to actually hike The Narrows (a hike through the Virgin River) until we read up a little more on it and didn't feel comfortable doing it with Devin. And it was a good decision because as we found out once there, just around the bend the water was about up to my chin. And it's moving water. I would have been too nervous having 3 kids that can't touch. Yes, 2 can swim, but still....too much for me. But we enjoyed the hike there and stopping to play in the water here and there. Didn't get to stay too long, though, because Devin had to go to the bathroom so bad we practically had to run back down to the restrooms.

The entry to The Narrows. Justin and Avery really wanted to try to get to the other side, but decided against it when they saw adults going through and it was up to their knees. The rocks were slippery and since we had decided not to do the hike we left our walking sticks back at the car.

A group starting their hike up The Narrows.

Our final hike - The Lower Emerald Pool. This was a very steep hike and seemed long. It could have been that it was just because it was our last hike and hotter (probably around 94 degrees), but we were kind of over it by then.

It was pretty cool, though. Literally. The water runs over the top and switches with the wind. We got a little wet, but it sure felt good!

Justin in front of the Lower Pool. I'm assuming this pool is fuller and prettier in the Spring when runoff is higher because this was just...not pretty. :-)

Another "friend" on our way down. Just one of many. I found it interesting that the squirrels up higher seemed to have bushier tails than their cousins at the bottom. Wonder why that is...or if it's even true.

When we got back to our hotel we all hit the very small pool. Refreshing! It was a great day!

Utah Trip Day 1

We left at 8:00 am sharp from my parents. We had driven there the night before. The plan had been for us to take both our cars so that when Kirk flew back into Long Beach the following week my parents could pick him up and he would have his truck there to drive home. We drove to State Line and stopped at Carl's Jr. for lunch. I'm not sure why, but that was the best decision ever. They had a play area and they thought it was awesome! We then drove on to St. George where we stopped to see the temple and actually walk through the visitor's center. So beautiful and peaceful. Our hotel was in Hurricane, which is only about 15 minutes from there.

When we arrived at our lovely hotel (yuck! Seriously couldn't stand the carpets and upholstery. I couldn't think about it too much or I would have seriously had to leave). We took our bags inside, relaxed for a short time and then decided to head over to Zion's since when you buy a pass to enter it's good for 7 days. We were about 1/2 hour from the entrance. We drove the part that we were allowed to and saw just how beautiful Zion's is. We even got to go through the over 1 mile tunnel. That was VERY exciting!

Once on the other side of the tunnel we found this really neat area to climb up, so we pulled over and hiked up a little. It made for pretty pictures.

After all that we went over to the Visitor's Center for a potty break and to look around.

After we left the park we went to a little place called Pioneer Restaurant (only in Utah, right?) and had dinner. It was surprisingly good! I'd go back again for sure.

By the time we got back to our hotel it was about 9:00 or later. We had showers and went to bed. Ahhhhhh. Nice day! I was certain this was going to be one of our best trips ever. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

The trip that should have been...

We have had our summer vacation planned since February. We planned to go to Utah for 1 week as a family and then Kirk would fly home and the second week the kids and I were going to hang out with my friend, Sara and her kids who were going to be there visiting her mom. This was our plan:

Thursday - Saturday: Zion's National Park

Saturday - Wednesday: Stay with my friend, Tamara and do the touristy things of Salt Lake

Wednesday: Take Kirk to the airport to fly home and we go check into our hotel.

Wednesday - Sunday morning: Hang with Sara and kids, play around Provo and Salt Lake

Sunday - Tuesday morning: Stay with my cousin, Linda

Tuesday - drive home, stopping in Vegas to do a few fun things

This was what was supposed to happen. Unfortunately it's not what actually happened. I will post our trip soon.

FHE

A couple weeks back our friends, The Benedicts, invited us over for a movie night in their backyard. At first the kids played in the jacuzzi while the adults visited, but once it got dark enough the kids got out, changed and started to watch Toy Story 3 and we adults made good use of the jacuzzi.

Thanks, Benedicts, for a fun filled night!

Early birthday

We are going to be gone for Justin's birthday, so we celebrated a little early over the weekend. Justin is turning 11! Yep...11! Wow, still can't believe it. All he wanted (once again) was cash so he could buy a new DSi XL. Once everyone was gone that is exactly what he got. Lucky boy. It was nice to have our family here and we appreciate their love and support. Happy (early) birthday to our sweet Justin. We love you!

What a 4th!

We had a fantastic 4th of July this year celebrating with a lot of our neighbors. We had a block party with our house being the center of it all. So fun! One of our neighbors opened up their pool for the kids to use, we had a pie eating contest, water balloon fight, a bouncy house, baseball, BBQ and fireworks! We started at 1:00 and ended at 9:30. We love our neighborhood!

After the water balloon fight

Pie eating contest. Yuck!

The winner - Hunter!

All kinds of yummy food was shared.

Hitting balls

The line to bat

Then the moms took a turn

Doing poppers before the fireworks started



Great times!

One that didn't get away!

On Saturday, 4th of July weekend, I was able to take Justin to a private lake owned by the Irvine Co. called Rattlesnake Reservoir. An old-friend Ken Murata who is a member at the lake HOOKED US UP. We've fished for bass at other S. Cal lakes but this was Justin's first real crack at catching some really nice fish. Did not disappoint. Here are a few pictures.

Justin's first fish of the afternoon caught on a drop-shot worm. Way to go.

Even the old-man got into the action catching this nice one with a spinnerbait.

Another quality bass taken late in the day on a spinnerbait. The action really started heating up late in the afternoon, about 1 1/2 hours before sunset. We pretty much fished one spot during this time and landed 15 to 20 bass on it. Ken who always entertains while fishing, was no different this time, donating about 5 spinnerbaits to the bottom of the lake all to Justin's amusement.

We were heading in at the end of the day, 8:20, or so when Justin hooked into this 6.10 lbs. monster. He was trolling his spinnerbait when all the sudden his rod doubled-over and the fish started pulling line. We all thought it was the normal ho-hum 3 pounder, but much to our surprise when the fish came up to the side of the boat we realized it was not. Ended up being almost 7lbs. and was the absolute best way to end the day. In all we caught and released 25 to 30 fish. To see his excitement and smiles is priceless. Way to go Justin. Big thanks to Ken for getting us out and making it all possible.