Epic Hike

I got to meet one of my favorite bloggers on Tuesday this week, and what was going to be a few hours playing at Bridal Veil falls turned into a 6 hour visit. The kids had a blast together, and I had so much fun getting to know Cheryl! She is even more awesome in real life, if that’s possible.

Well, as if we hadn’t had enough of each other, we decided to take the kids on an “easy” hike up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Because Cheryl did such a great job blogging about it, I will now refer you to her blog:

Epic Hike! 
(post by Cheryl at her blog)

Complete with pictures. (for the sake of privacy, since her blog is public, make sure if you want to comment on her blog you don’t use actual names of our kiddos, pleaseandthankyou – if you come back and comment over here, feel free to use full names)

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?

The Hearts of the Children

Every few years, the descendents of my grandmother and grandfather (Joseph Theron Smith and Neva Almira Harper) get together for a huge family reunion. There are 10 living children of Joseph and Neva, all with spouses, and somewhere around 40 grandkids (with the number of great-grandkids skyrocketing).

This summer we had a little “mini” reunion (I put mini in quotes because even our “small” reunions are still big…) Because the weather was horribly hot this summer we went up to the little fountain pools at Nelson’s Grove park in Orem. We had actually had a potluck picnic behind my aunt’s stake center and the kids needed an escape from the heat, so we walked over to the park. The kids (and some of the older “kids”) got in the water and splashed around.

I always love being with my Smith family. I think every single one of my Smith relatives is a kind hearted, loving, decent person who wants to help each other in every way they possibly can. Sure, as with every family there are miscommunications, mix-ups, and disagreements, but I feel like everyone tries to handle them pretty civilly, and no one really holds any grudges.

One of the nights we had a “girl cousin’s sleepover” – we’ve really gotta come up with a better name! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed getting to know my girl cousins better, especially the somewhat younger ones (like these two lovely ladies here). It’s really fun that we can all be so close and have so much fun together. I feel like I have instant friends in my cousins, even if we don’t see each other very frequently.

Some of the younger kiddos having a blast in the water.

   

We got everyone to run around the wading pool in a line. This is the beginning of it. The picture at the top is the middle. I wish I had a better camera so we could have got a better shot – but it was still fun.

A Day for the Governor

This weekend was a big one for us! Friday night was the military ball, Saturday was Governor’s Day, Sunday was my first day teaching Relief Society in our new ward, and Monday is the E4-E5 promotion board!

The military ball will get it’s own post, and maybe I’ll post over on My Soul Delighteth about teaching Relief Society.

Saturday morning Russ had to be at formation at Camp Williams at 0700 (for those of you who don’t speak military, that’s 7:00 am – and we live about 20-30 min away from Camp Williams, depending on traffic). We had stayed at the ball until about 2300 (again, that’s 11:00pm) dancing to Article 15 (the UT National Guard’s band). So we didn’t get home until around midnight. I don’t even remember what time Russ got out of bed, but I don’t think he left until around 0630. I won’t ask him how fast he drove (he took his motorcycle) but he ended up getting there on time.

On time for some waiting. They had a formation at 0700 and then released every body until they had to form up again around 0930 for the parade. If you are unfamiliar with the Army (or the military in general) their motto is “Hurry up and wait.” You might think that it is “Army of one” or some such nonsense, but it really is “Hurry up and wait.” That’s what they always do. Form up and then wait for forever for nothing. Or something. But they have to wait. Wait wait wait wait. But you better be on time to wait.

I didn’t get to Camp Williams until about 1005, a few minutes after the parade started, but I think all we missed was a prayer and maybe the national anthem or something. We got there just as Governor Hubert was speaking. We had to park all the way in the farthest north corner of Camp Williams, but the army was cool and picked us up with a van and dropped us off right by the parade. On our way down to the parade grounds three C-130s did a fly over. They were pretty close to the ground, and the kids got a kick out of it (Joseline thought it was a little loud).

We got to the parade grounds and found a seat just about in time to watch the soldiers parade around.

Now, a military parade is not like a Fourth of July parade or a Homecoming parade. Basically the soldiers form up with their companies and in their units, and in their battalions, and they march past the Governor and salute him so he can “inspect” them. I’m sure he doesn’t really do much inspecting. He probably just smiles and looks pretty for the cameras. Mostly a military parade is just for show – but it is a cool show, and a powerful representation of our military. There were so many troops there. It was the entire Utah National Guard – Army and Air Guard. It was crazy. The Guard also had three Black Hawks fly over during part of the parade (just before the Air Guard marched by, I believe). The kids loved that, too.

I didn’t get a good picture of Russ because I was too busy trying to point him out to Vincente. By the time I remembered that I need to take pictures, I had to take them of the back of his head.

Russ was the third from the front on the second row.
You can see his beret where the arrow is pointing.

The band was great, and the soldiers looked fabulous.

After the “parade” they had a fair type thing where all the units and battalions sold food and the Guard put up a zip line and a bounce house. They also had a lot of booths advertising all of the services the military has for families. I signed up for the FRG for our unit, talked to some Military OneSource folks, and got information on the local Family Assistance Center. We also signed up for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. Apparently they are the people who lobby our politicians to keep the benefits for the Guard soldiers.

They also had an Apache helicopter and a Black Hawk medic helicopter the kids could get around, touch, and (for the Black Hawk) get in. The Apache folks were a little more touchy about the kids getting in the cockpits – but I think that’s because Apaches have guns, and the Black Hawk didn’t. The pilots were all really nice and talked to us about their helicopters.

Vincente loved being the helicopters and decided that he is going to join the army and fly helicopters when he gets “big like Papai.” Cute kid. I told Russ that I secretly hope that Vincente will join the National Guard when he is old enough. No matter what else he chooses to do for a career, I would absolutely love for him to be a citizen-soldier!

The last thing we did was head over to the 19th Special Forces Group’s tent where Vince tried his hand at a paintball gun. He was actually doing pretty well. He was aiming. Russ said Vince couldn’t figure out just how to use the scoping bars (or whatever Russ called them) because he was consistently hitting the wrong spot so he probably had the target through part of the scope and not the whole thing. Anyway, after hitting a few targets and some unsuccessful attempts at shooting the rest he told Russ he was done, so Russ finished out – left handed. And of course took each one out in one shot.

Joseline mostly sat in her stroller and enjoyed a cookie. She tried the bouncy obstacle course but ended up getting stuck. She liked the helicopter, but I think what she liked most of all was being with Papai. She’s super attached to that guy.

the great outdoors

Even though we weren’t officially attending our English ward at the time, we still went on our ward campout out in Spanish Fork Canyon.

Our friend Jenna had just got into town with her two boys, so we offered to take them with us. Vince loved having some other boys to play with, and Gabe and Noah loved being outdoors and exploring (basically all the boys in the ward wandered around finding sticks and playing whatever games little boys like to play – warriors, army men, etc). Russ’ little brother Jordan also came down with us. We were super surprised that his mom let him come – but it was so awesome to have him with us! He’s an awesome kid and was really helpful with the younger kids and with keeping the campsite clean and pitching tents – and really anything that we needed him to help with.

The recreation area had a zipline that our ward got to monopolize for the most part on Friday afternoon. Gabe loved it, and to our surprise (and delight!) Vincente went on it, too! Twice! He is such a little stud. It might have helped that his friend Nick went down several times as well. I even went down once. It was pretty crazy.

Joseline had a good time playing with Nick’s little sister Miriam. The camp area was great for the kids – it wasn’t near any water or cliffs or anything, so we could just let the kids play without having to worry too much. And the older kids in the ward helped keep an eye out on all the little ones. We even brought Doc (apparently dogs weren’t allowed, we found out later, but we kept him on his leash for the most part and he really enjoyed being in the great outdoors! And everyone was really sweet to him).

We built a bonfire down by our campsite, and our wonderful neighbors (our real neighbors who live behind us) were also our neighbors at the campout and they shared some really yummy dinner with us – BBQ pork and funeral potatoes all in dutch ovens. There’s something about cooking food in a dutch oven when you’re camping that is just right. In the morning the ward did pancakes, eggs, bacon, the works for breakfast.

As you can see, these two really enjoyed the trip. It was fun to get to know more of the ward members, and I think going on this campout helped us decide to switch wards. So far we haven’t regretted it!