Zions

I have been wanting to go to Zions for the last few years, but the campsites book up so fast. A few weeks ago I was looking at campsites to see what was available and already things were booking up. They only had some weekends available, over the 4th of July, in August (right after another big vacation), and Mother's Day. 

I am so glad we have a DVD player to take with us on long drives. It is so nice to have the peace and quiet and be able to talk to Jon.

Here is our campsite

The boys needed constant reminding to stay away from the fire.

I much prefer this guy, to the real thing.

With the exception of spiders (black widows in this case), I don't really think I get that grossed out with bugs during camping. But after several run-ins, I can say caterpillars thoroughly gross me out!
Eww! Just looking at these pictures makes me cringe. They kept crawling up my pants and legs! It was hard to feel them. And some how one was crawling up my lower leg INSIDE my pants, to which I proceeded to freak out and run to the car, undress, and throw my pants out.  And other time, I think I stepped on one and it was stuck in the bottom of my jeans and when I tried to wipe it away...gross!

(There are 10 on the wheel in this pic)

Taking the tent down was a race against the caterpillars! A bunch had already made cocoons. After getting the cocoons and active ones off the tent and tarp, they would come right back. We didn't want to take any home or smash any on the tent so it was tricky. At least two left the site with us.  One was seen 30 mins after leaving, on the ceiling of the car. And the other fell out of the dryer after the 2nd load of laundry was being done. GROSS!

Now back to the trip. On Saturday, we drove through the Zions/Mt Carmel Tunnel. It was built in 1930 and is 1.1 miles long. It was the longest tunnel in the US in 1930. It was pretty fun to see it.  There is another tunnel a few miles later. Its short but it was so cool to see the marks in the sandstone that the drill made in the walls.

Neither Jon nor I had been to this part of Zions for a long time. We didn't realize that you could no longer drive through Zions. They now have a mandatory shuttle system. At first, it seemed inconvenient. But it was great! The shuttles come every 6-8 mins and it sure feels less crowded and more peaceful without all the cars. It was sad though because on the way home we were hoping to drive through Zions and see the scenery more.

Our first stop was Weeping Rock. It is about half a mile to the rock.

Zac in the "tears"

Then we decided to go see the Emerald Pools. I remember going to this when I was a kid, but I didn't remember any of the hiking. Just the last pool. And I think we came later in the year. It is amazing to think about how just a couple months, May vs. August, can make such a different in what the park looks like. It was so green and pretty, but the pools weren't as green as I remember. Probably since the green algae didn't have enough to time grown and turn green.

The Emerald Pools stop is at Zions Lodge (I totally want to stay there some time!) On the way to the trail we walked by this tree. As a kid I used to always draw trees with a hole in them, and an owl in the hole. I have never seen one in real life.

Zions is so beautiful!

Meet Superman! Jon was amazing. He did so much. He basically did this hike on his own with the boys. My knees were tight, and I had water in the joints, so it was harder to hike, and I endured an IBS attack during the hike. Max is in the child backpack carrier. We rented it from a local outdoors shop. It was amazing, and we'll rent it again in the future.

This is the lower pool. This waterfall is coming from the middle pool.

The waterfall coming from the Middle pool.

It was cool to see the wind blow the waterfall to the side.

Zac and Me at the Middle Pools

This is the waterfall going into the Upper Pool

Max thought the sand was too cold for his bare feet, so he wanted to be held the whole time at the Upper Pool. Nice pic, huh? :P

Zac in front of the Upper Pool

Zac writing in the sand

Zac did great on the hike. He pretty much complains the whole time we are on the paved/easy dirt trails, but when it comes to hiking with rocks and small boulders, he loves every minute.

A deer came into camp and was so calm and not afraid. Look how close we got. It was there for about half and hour.

S'more lessons

S'more, s'more lessons

He was so surprised the first time the mallow came out on fire!

I love his cheeks in this pic

Getting ready to go.

Max chillaxing with his snacks!

The weather was perfect and it was so nice to spend so much time outside in gorgeous Zions.

Us

Mother's Day in Part

It was fantastic to see my little Zac sing this song to me!

Thanks Buddy!



This last weekend we headed to Zions and decided to celebrate Mother's Day next weekend. I didn't realize how much I loved Mother's Day until reading about all the wonderful and enjoyable Mothers' Days my friends had! I'm so excited for this weekend!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all my Mothers and Grands out there. Its been a busy week getting over strep and getting ready for our Zions trip. I will try to get something in the mail this week.

Family

On Saturday, our nephew, Eli, on Jon's side of the family got baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So we headed North to share the day with family. Jon's parents flew in from Wisconsin that morning, and other family came from Idaho. It was great to see everyone.

After the baptism we went to a near by park for lunch and mingling. I think I was able to get everyone in pics.

Zac LOVES watermelon! It was so funny to see a watermelon seed on his cheek. I have no idea how long it was there before this or after this :)

Max, my picky, chip eating boy. When we get together with friends or groups, trying to get him to eat a balanced meal goes completely out the window! He is so picky. He can't stand the texture of fruit unless its pureed or freeze dried. He also likes banana chips. A week ago, we got him to try a piece of cantaloupe before he could have his treat. Wow! He literally had to gag that tiny piece down. So today, all he had was chips and water. He was happy and we were happy and it was worth it :)

Ammon, Jason, Cory

Adam

Eli, Zac

Emily, Papa

Kari, Jason

Jon, Grandma

Sarah, Sadie

The Greats

Max, Me

The Whole Fam (minus Dave, the missionary who's in Brazil)

My First Jazz Game

Jon and I went the Jazz vs Nuggets game 6 last week. It was my second time attending a live pro sports game. My first one was back when I was in YW, living in Colorado. The YW went to a Rockies game on a rainy night sitting in "the rock pile". Even though they over played the song, I Can See Clearly Now, I was such a fun night! Hot chocolate, personal baseball cards, plastic ponchos and friends, that is a ball game to me!

We barely made to the Jazz game for tip off. It was a great game and we WON! Now, on to the Lakers. Although, I very much enjoyed going with Jon, I'm sure he would have had so much more fun with a guy friend to get into the game more and yell and cheer more and talk about all the great plays after.  But, I enjoyed relaxing, no kids, and eating my food in "peace".

Anyway, we bought our tickets that morning. Jon has been feeling the drought of no cable when it comes to missing ball games. He wanted to go to the SkyBox in SLC and watch it. But that would not be enjoyable (for me at least) so I suggested just getting tickets to the game. 

We were on the LAST row!

In the upper right, you can see the opening of the Box seats right behind us, with the yummy smelling food wafting my way! :)


A view from our seats:

It was a fun enjoyable time! I was pretty tired from the day and I was starting to get sick, so Jon isn't convinced I enjoyed myself.  But it was great! Thanks for going with me, Hon!