hiking the west rim trail

Ben and I (along with our good friends the Ingrams) went on a 14-mile hike in Zion National Park last Monday (did you know it's Zion National Park, not Zions National Park??  I didn't.).  Anyway, I'm hoping my legs make a recovery sometime soon.  We went to Zion with the intent to hike the Narrows, but a downpour Monday morning and the resulting risk of flash floods crushed that idea.  So, we ended up hiking the West Rim Trail instead.  There were plenty of uphill climbs ... enough to give my thighs quite a workout.  But the real kicker was the drop in elevation (about 3000 feet) ... which gave my knees and shins a thorough beating.  The trail begins at an elevation of about 7500 feet and ends around 4200 feet.  But man alive, it was totally worth it.  The views were spectacular.  We saw areas and canyons in Zion that I didn't even know existed.

Ben and Bill at the beginning

me and Aubrey 

Beautiful views along the way

About 8 miles in

On the shuttle afterwards ... worn out but still smiling!

UEA trip to Natural Bridges and Mesa Verde where we didn't actually go to either of those places

We had big plans for UEA.  Ben (being the seasoned back-country traveler that he is) pulled out a few of his books about Utah's parks, trails, and hikes. 

He spent a couple of hours planning our great camping, hiking, and sight-seeing weekend.  In fact, he talked so much about all these amazing places, that I was actually excited to go camping.  And I mean sleep in a tent and have no running water or toilets kind of camping.  Yep, I was on board and looking forward to it.  The big plan consisted of the following:  leave Wednesday evening, then Thursday we'd go to Mesa Verde and see the Indian ruins, Friday we'd go to Natural Bridges and hike to all the arches/bridges, and hopefully end at Horseshoe Canyon on Saturday with a hike to the Great Gallery.  (For years now, I've heard all about the spectacular petroglyphs at the Great Gallery ... and I was psyched that we were finally going to see them.)

It was a great plan.  But the great plan never really got past the planning phase.  In fact, the great plan pretty much fell apart.  Wednesday rolled around and Ben got swamped at work.  Thursday rolled around and we had a slight boomerang mis-hap.  We had pretty much abandoned all hope of going anywhere over the long weekend.  Until we decided the weather was just too nice not to get out and enjoy it, so we came up with Plan B.  Plan B consisted of the following:  join my sister and her family at Lake Powell.  Plan B was simple, but good.  We do love Lake Powell (so what if we were just there last month!), and we had a great time, so all was well ... I'll just have to wait a little longer to see those spectacular Great Gallery petroglyphs I've heard so much about.

Here's how the trip went down ...

We stayed in the slips on the Mounteers houseboat, so Luke took full advantage of this by fishing first thing in the morning.  (Nothing like doing a little fishing in your pj's!)

Emery was thrilled to finally retrieve his "sling-shot-harpoon-thing" after it had been in a Bullfrog warehouse for a month.  (Harpoons, boomerangs, what is it with all these weapons?!)

We hiked to the Indian ruins in Forgotten Canyon.

 

We explored the beach and found some cool rocks.

Of course, Emery wouldn't miss a chance to wakeboard.

And Sam shocked us by practically becoming a pro-wakeboarder ... the first time he ever tried to wakeboard!

Even Luke gave wakeboarding a shot.  I'm sure his stitches will be just fine after being in that nice clean lake water.  (Come to think of it, the doctor did say to keep those stitches clean and dry.  Hmmm.  I think we'll just take those antibiotics for an extra day or two.)

After dark, we carved some delightful pumpkins.

And the nice park rangers stopped by to judge the pumpkin carving contest.

There was no clear-cut winner.

My kids loved boating, swimming, tubing and cliff-jumping with their cousins for a few days.

 All in all, it turned out to be a great trip to Mesa Verde, Natural Bridges, Lake Powell!

the boomerang

Dictionary’s definition of a boomerang: “a flat curved piece of wood used as a weapon by Australian Aboriginals that is designed to return to the person who throws it”

Let's analyze this for just a moment …

Point no. 1:  First, I fully support the description that a boomerang is, in fact, a weapon.  Not necessarily a toy, as my unsuspecting trio of boys once assumed.

Point no. 2:  I disagree with the definition where it states that it is designed to return to the person who throws it.  Because while this may be true for the Australian Aboriginals, it fails to mention that the boomerang may, in fact, follow an unpredictable and perilous flight pattern if thrown by a novice-boomerang-throwing-13-year-old boy.

With all this being said, Emery made a sweet boomerang in woodshop.

The boys had a fabulous time flinging it high and far.  Ten minutes later, the reality of points no. 1 and no. 2 became quite evident.

Needless to say, Luke was the unfortunate victim of the boomerang-ing band of brothers.  A trip to InstaCare and seven stitches later, he was all sewn up.

At least Luke will have an interesting story behind this scar.

Ben's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Wow ... the big 4-0!  I seriously can't believe that we met when you were 17, and now you're 40!  And the amazing thing is, you just keep getting better! 

We love you lots.  Here's why ...

• Emery:  "I love Dad because he takes me golfing and he works hard and because he's my Dad."
• Sam:  "I love him because he plays Mario Kart with me and we watch football together."
• Luke:  "I love him because he beats me at Mario Kart, which is unbelievable."
• Mom:  "I could spend all day listing all the reasons I love you. But here's what I love the most ... you have the best sense of humor and you always make me laugh, and you truly are my best friend. You're the best! (Plus, you're smart, you're witty, you're kind, you're generous, you're compassionate, you serve, you're righteous, you work so hard, you have this amazing ability to make people feel good, you're the only person I know with water-repellent hair, etc., etc. See? I really could go on and on!)"

We love you!

Luke's baptism

This cute boy was baptized last Saturday.

 It was a special day and we're so proud of him!   

 

And the whole family came over afterwards for a yummy lunch.

 
 
 

That night, we continued our "baptism tradition" of going to dinner at The Lion House, just like we did when Emery was baptized, and just like we did when Sam was baptized.  Luke got new scriptures after dinner and started reading them that night.  What a good boy.

Congratulations, Luke!

sam ... a.k.a. #56

Sam played football this fall.  After a few years of begging and pleading with us to let him play, it was time.  He had great expectations.  He dreamed of being the star QB, star running back, star receiver, star anything, really.  Well, he didn't end up playing any of those positions, but he was a fantastic kicker, safety, and tight end.  He was definitely the star player in my book.  Plus, he looked dang cute in his uniform.

26.2

I'm always amazed at the determination, motivation, and endurance of those who choose to run marathons.  You learn a lot by watching people push themselves both physically and mentally while striving to do their personal best.  There are some who finish quickly and make running 26.2 miles look quite easy.  There are some who barely break a sweat and look more like they're just out for a morning jog.  There are also those whose faces are beet red and they're drenched with sweat from the first mile.  It's an emotional thing to stand at the finish line and watch strangers run, stagger, and sometimes crawl over that line.

Ben ran the St. George marathon last weekend.  He did great and, thankfully, was able to run across that finish line.  Way to go, Ben!  We're proud of you!