Beautiful Zion

(there are a lot of photos in this post – but really, they’re of Zion National Park, so you won’t be bored. Oh yeah, and disclaimer – these were all taken on my iPhone. Some day I will remember to use a real camera. Or I’ll just get an iPhone 4s and I will have a real camera on my phone)

Early in the week before Memorial Day weekend a friend of ours from our old Portuguese ward that we were attending texted me and asked if we wanted to go to Zion National Park with them. I’ve never been (Russ has been a few times) and of course I said yes! Russ was out of town, so it was going to be just me and the kids, and because the choir would be singing on Sunday I had to be back in time for choir practice before church.

So we agreed to go down Friday night and then drive back home Saturday night and spend the night with Russ’ sister Mary in Payson and then drive the last hour on Sunday morning. It was a lot of driving, but Rhiannon and Iara (two of the other wives who were going down) helped drive on Friday night so I could sleep some.

We go to Zion around midnight and the guys helped set up our tent. As we laid down in the tent, Joseline looked up at the starry sky and said, “Look at all the stars!” It was a precious moment as I realized she had probably never see so many stars in her tender little life. It made me want to go back soon so she can see the stars again.

Around 3 am I woke up to moist pricks on my face and the slow drip of a light rain falling on the tent. And realized the fly wasn’t on our tent. The next morning, Iara’s husband Zach told me that he had realized the same thing when he heard the rain and was about to get up and help me with the fly when he heard me jump out of my tent, open the car, grab the fly and put it up in about 30 seconds. Thankfully our tent is really easy to put up, and the fly is just as easy.

Joseline trying on hats the the gas station during our potty/snack break

Saturday morning we ate hugemongo muffins for breakfast. The kids both picked chocolate muffins and finished off their chocolate milk that was leftover from our gas station snack/potty break on the way down. They definitely needed all the chocolate and sugar for all the hiking we did.

breakfast of champions

little posers – they wanted to pose, and so here are their “poses”

a big gnarly tree with exposed roots down by the river

throwing sticks in the river

throwing sticks and rocks in the water–and the gnarly tree

me and my mini-me on the way to the visitors’ center. I love that girl!

After breakfast, Rhiannon (who was about 28 weeks pregnant – that’s why she invited me and the kids – pregnant woman friendly hike = kid friendly hike) had to drive all the other campers up to the start of their day long hike and rappelling trip. While she was gone the kids and I explored around the campsite. We camped close to this little river, so we went down to throw rocks in for a little while. Then we followed the path over to the visitors’ center where we took a shuttle bus up to the Emerald Pools trail.

Riding the shuttle was pretty fun because we got to look at all the rock formations. The bus also had a little informational/educational recording that played as we drove up to the trailhead.

We hiked up to the pools and a little waterfall. It was an easy trail, completely paved, and when we got down to where the pools were and the little shower of water (it wasn’t really a waterfall – I mean, technically it was, but really it was just water trickling off a cliff… which is a waterfall… but you know what I mean. If you don’t, see the pictures below)

I was surprised (perhaps I shouldn’t have been) at how many people from other countries were there at Zion. I heard people speaking German, Chinese, Italian, and that what sounded like some type of Middle Eastern/Indian language (Hindi? Pashto?). It was fun to be in a place where people come from all over the world.

it was like standing under the rain… there is something really magical about a waterfall

my cuties posing again for me – they were such troopers on this whole trip!

    

some of the flora and fauna we saw on our hikes – Not sure what that big fat black beetle is, but it was super cool. And big. The white flowers I am pretty sure are snap dragons. I love snap dragons. And Vince found the lizards by the visitors’ center. We love lizards around here.

Then we headed back to the campsite to meet up with Rhiannon. We packed lunches and snacks and drove out to the back country to hike through a remote canyon and up a cliff.

Getting down to the sandy canyon bottom took a little doing – it was pretty steep and I had Joseline in the backpack/carrier. She still only weighs about 30 lbs, and I figured carrying her would be easier than waiting for her to follow us. She is soooo slow on hikes/walking/etc.

So we basically hiked a mile (one way) in the soft sandy bottom of a canyon before we headed almost straight up a cliff to get to the top of the rocks. We would have gone further, but Joseline stepped in a cactus, and I wasn’t sure we would make it back to the car if we had gone all the way up to the summit we had planned on getting to.

king of the mountain – or rather, the canyon – this kid loves Zion National Park and keeps asking to go back

another lizard up close. I took this picture a few inches away from the lizard. I was surprised he didn’t run away at first

    

the cliff we all scaled – even Miss Joseline

We ate lunch at the top of the cliff and the kids wandered around looking at rocks and cacti and all the other vegetation growing on the cliff.

  

Ironically, climbing down a cliff is harder than climbing up one, but we made it, and then hiked back out of the canyon. It was a beautiful hike, and the kids really enjoyed it. Well, Vince enjoyed it. Joseline mostly just hung out in her back pack. The weather in the canyon was pretty chilly, but once we got up on top of the cliff we could feel the sun and it was pretty warm.

Back at the camp, Rhiannon watched my kiddos so I could get a nap before we had to drive home. She also cooked a fabulous Dutch oven dinner – creamy chicken soup stuff, biscuits, and a scrumptious potato casserole. We had to eat and run so we could get to Payson sooner than later.

The sun was just setting as we left Zion. It was an excellent trip, even if it was fast. Totally worth all the driving, and I can’t wait to go back – hopefully for a week long trip with Russ and the kids. Anyone want to come?

Up a Creek

On Memorial Day weekend because we had nothing really cool to do (and Russ was out of town, as usual) we hiked a trail in Millcreek Canyon with the Wilde’s. We brought all sorts of snacks and treats, and Doc of course, and headed up the trail.

The trail we were going to hike originally was closed to cars (I guess we could have walked up to the trailhead?) so we picked a hike a little closer. There were some breathtaking views. The first time we hiked Millcreek Canyon was for my birthday last year (an event to which I would link … if I had blogged about it. Looks like my lame blogging has extended all the way into last year! I have way too much catching up to do… my bad).

The kids loved it, of course – Doc included. Well, Joseline wasn’t particularly a fan, but I think it’s because she’s such a light weight (seriously, at three years old she barely weighs 30 lbs, even though she’s over 3 ft tall. Compare that to her cousin Garrett who weighs 35 lbs (he’s one… just barely) and is at least a full head shorter than her. My crazy scrawny baby. She takes after her mama, I think. I’m pretty sure I was at least as skinny as she is. I was always really scrawny.

We stopped at a little clearing for some scrumptious lunch. Vincente wanted to take pictures, but he had a hard time getting anyone actually in them. Except Doc. He took a great picture of Doc.

Our Own Little Beckham

Last Spring Vincente played T-ball and had fun, but this year we decided to try out soccer.

I’m pretty sure Vincente has found his favorite sport. I definitely found mind!

When we signed Vincente up for soccer with his best friend Nicky (one of his friends from preschool/the ward) I put down that I would volunteer to be a coach if they needed one. Apparently they needed one, because I became the coach.

I actually found that I really enjoy coaching. And what I lacked in soccer skills and knowledge was made up by my “assistant coach”, Nicky’s dad (a native Egyptian – i.e., he lives, breathes, and bleeds soccer – there is just an accent barrier – the kids had a hard time understanding him). We made a great team, and I am excited to get the team together again in the fall for more great soccer.

We’re just Rec league soccer folks – not too competitive, mostly for fun and learning soccer.

Speaking of learning soccer – our “division” was 5-6 year olds (technically, Kindergarteners and “just before” Kindergarteners). Seven of our twelve players were preschoolers. Which means that we were often playing games against whole teams of kindergarteners!

YouTube fixed the shakiness of the video for me!! Whoa, that is SO cool!

I am pretty sure we were the most improved team in the division. Our kids started out in a “cluster”, not really knowing what to do with the ball, and ended up being able to steal, block, defend, and dribble. They still have a lot to work on, but they improved so much. It was really rewarding as a coach.

And all the parents want me to coach again this fall! I’m pretty excited. It’s always nice to have a community – no matter where that community is.

On top of that, Vince and Nicky’s other best friend from Kindergarten has decided that he wants to play with them on their team this fall.

Eclipse–not the Vampire kind

While Russ was gone (again) I took the kids down to Mom and Dad Rowley’s for Sunday dinner and to spend the night. We happened to be there on the day of the annular solar eclipse, so we tried to watch it. We tried the pinhole in a box method, which didn’t work very well because it was kind of cloudy. Or we didn’t do it right.

Brady went to drop off some forms at one of his youth leaders’ houses and when he got back he was so excited because he had seen the eclipse and knew how to view it!

We layered up four sets of polarized sunglasses and took turns looking at the sun. Even Joseline and Vincente got a turn. It was truly an amazing experience.

I tried to take a picture through the sunglasses but for some reason it didn’t work. Probably because I used my iPhone. Not exactly the best camera…

Other people were able to get some awesome shots, including my cousin Jacob. Here’s one of his that he posted on Facebook:

I wish I had snapped a photo of Joseline and Vince looking at the eclipse. I hope they remember that they were able to watch an eclipse!

Pomp and Circumstance

For the 2011-2012 school year, Vincente and I have been participating in a neighborhood co-op preschool with three other families from our ward. When I was making the certificates for their graduation, I realized that we didn’t really have a name for the preschool, and “neighborhood/ward co-op preschool” just wasn’t going to cut it. The park where we had the graduation, as well as the subdivision we live near/in, is “Jordan Meadows” so that’s what I named the preschool. The other moms seemed cool with it, but I apologize for stepping on any toes. I made the certificates kind of last minute.

Cassie, one of the moms, had the kids for the last two weeks of preschool and so she helped them prepare a graduation program. It was really cute and really well done. There is a video of a few parts of the program at the end of this post. Please excuse the droopy lens cover. Our camera has seen better days, that’s for sure.

I have really been impressed with how much the kids have learned this year. More than the content, though, I am glad they are learning how to pay attention to a teacher, listen, and obey. And how to interact with other kids their ages. Vincente has really learned a lot in preschool, even if he still doesn’t like writing his name. We’ll be working on that part.

The kids actually came up with a lot of the program on their own – they wanted to march, so Cassie had them march while they counted to 25 (the “magic number” they are supposed to know for Kindergarten this fall); they wanted to play musical instruments, so Cassie had them make some instruments (you’ll see those in the video, too).

We all took family pictures out in the shade. The weather was perfect and Cassie made some delicious and moist cupcakes with the cutest little homemade decorations that said “Congrats Grad!”

I am so glad that we went with the co-op preschool. It really was a fantastic idea, and we’re all talking about doing it again this fall with the younger siblings! Joseline probably had almost as much fun hanging out with the kids in preschool as the big kids did.

And here are the promised videos:

P90x

Although I have done P90x videos before (my favorite is the plyometric DVD. Wow, now that’s a good workout) I’m not super into them. But Michelle was working out to one in the morning, and Vince decided that he needed a little bit of a workout, too.

Scouts and Pancakes

Our ward does an annual pancake breakfast fundraiser for the scouts. It seems like Russ is always busy on the weekend of the breakfast (ah, a job – both a blessing and a curse). So I end up taking the kiddos myself.

Can’t beat all you can eat pancakes, eggs, and sausage (well, maybe if it was all you can eat bacon instead of sausage. Mmm… I love bacon…)

The pancake breakfast was the day after Vince had his little run in with the couch. It was also the morning of the last West Jordan Symphony rehearsal for the spring. Obviously we skipped orchestra and went to the pancake breakfast instead. Probably a good idea since I don’t really feel like cooking much when I’ve been at the hospital all night.