Zions

What a fun holiday weekend. Well the beginning wasn't great. The entire drive down to Zions my baby cried and screamed in between short naps. Then my husband had to take a detour to In-n-Out before we went through Zions National Park. My mom rented a house just outside of the East entrance to Zions. The house was great, we were able to make our own meals, have Internet access (requirement for a certain WOW addict), but no phone service. =] The next day my mom was the BEST. She played the role of grandma and watched all 4 kids while the rest of us (Amy, Randy, Lisa, me and my husband) hiked the Narrows. I have a lot of pictures to share.

This was probably the best hike I have ever been on. The first thing we did before going on the trail was get our gear. We rented these really neat water shoes/socks (totally worth the cost when you hike in a river)and walking sticks. Then the guy at the outfitters told us of the dangers of a flash flood! Yeah...we went on a day where it was 50-70% chance of flash flood, but it was more likely to happen in the afternoon. We were there when the store opened and one of the first people on the trail so we could get up and down in hopes of avoiding any flash flood. But the entire time we were looking for the signs...clear green water turns muddy then black, water is rising and gets faster, debris of all sizes, and the best sign you are in a flash flood is when a hiker is being rushed past you by a wall of deadly water. hahaha. the guy was hilarious. The main warning was that in the narrows, their wasn't a lot of high ground if one were to occur.

Back to the trail. I should have taken a picture of our awesome shoes. A lot of people were looking and laughing at our shoes, but they weren't laughing when they realized they would be getting wet...really wet and our shoes helped A LOT. The first part of the trail was paved for about 1.5 miles before it dropped you in the river. From there it was all water, going back and forth from sandbar to sandbar. The river trail itself was 4.5 miles, but with all the zig zag..who knows how long you actually walk. The deepest spots I found were waist deep in water. I admit that I'm clumsy and their were a few very close calls of me swimming in the water, but i stayed mostly dry. Amy probably got more wet than anyone else. =] hehehe. love you aim! Going first thing in the morning was the best idea. When we were heading up the trail it wasn't very crowded, but coming back we saw hundreds of people. Most where wearing sneakers, or were going bare feet! yeah...they didn't last very long before turning around. lol. The main point is I would go again in a heartbeat. We all had a great time.

After our journey through the Narrows, we decided to treat ourselves (and have another hour or 2 of being kid free). We had to go to town anyway for some groceries so we made a detour to...In n Out. =] I know a lot of people are not huge fans of this place, but I enjoy it...well everything except the fries. I just can not eat the fries...yuck. By the time we made it back through Zions after our detour we had been kid free for almost 12 hours. We had pushed Amy's patience long enough and had to get back fast. Oh I forgot to mention that as we were pulling away en route to our detour, a HUGE storm cloud had appeared over the canyon. I wonder if that flash flood happened...

The next day wasn't very eventful, it rained most of the time. Once the clouds left a few of us went swimming at the pool in the area. This pool had slides! I love to swim and be under water, but my daughter does not feel the same way. =] Even with her life vest she clung onto me for dear life. The few of us that went still had fun. Later that night our cousin Alisha and her gorgeous daughter Emma joined us for dinner! She lives in Hurricane, and we hardly ever see her, so it was great that she could come. After dinner we helped the kids make puppets out of lunch bags. Lisa brought a PLETHORA of stuff to decorate these bags...Amy has those pictures since my camera died at that point. Lets just say it's not a lot of fun without a HUGE mess. =]

After making puppets the puppet my little family decided to pack up and go home that night instead of in the morning. Their were a few reasons for that, but my favorite is that my kids slept the WHOLE time, no screaming or crying. We left just after 9:30 and drove all the way through. Did I mention I was driving? and the rain was CRAZY. It started to rain after Cedar City and didn't stop until the point of the mountain. Some areas were terrible and scary. It was enough that I had to slow down to 55 when I was going close to 80. ;) Anyway, we made it home safely. NOW I have to catch up on Midnight Sun. Have you heard the latest?! I feel terrible for Stephenie Meyer. She had given out a few VERY rough partial drafts of Midnight Sun and one of those people posted it on the Internet. She wasn't even done and is now so upset that she may never finish. BUT she has posted the partial draft on her website. So since I've been home I've been reading it. =] I really do hope that this will blow over and she will feel like writing again. So far I've really enjoyed this different side of the first Twilight story.

Besides that my brother in laws (James and Jordan) showed up yesterday knowing that their parents would stop by for a short visit. They stole my husband and went to a movie. When they got back they brought back Rock Band. This is similar to Guitar Hero, except you have a main guitar, a bass, drums, and vocals. Yeah...they came back with the expectation that I would be singing?! seriously?! That only lasted 1 song. lol. Then I tried the drums. Those are fun, but your hands get tired fast and I wasn't great at them. My favorite was by far the main guitar. We "rocked" out after the girls were asleep, I'm surprised they didn't start crying with how loud we were. Definitely a fun game. That was it for my holiday weekend! What did you do?

Here are more pictures!

This is Lisa and my husband towards the beginning of our trek up river. We stopped for lunch on this huge boulder. This is Amy, Lisa and Randy's legs. =] My husband did not like how I was picture happy and he was in most of them. lol One of my favorite pictures and moments on the hike. Amy and Lisa decided they wanted to go on the deep side of the river. lol. They were laughing the whole time, I was surprised they didn't fall in. This is just a really pretty picture of the narrows! I just had to post this one of Lisa cause I LOVE the picture. =] Last, this is me and my baby. she was such a good little girl on the trip (except for the drive down.) ;)