Sadly Matt didn't want to miss his first day of middle school and all the kids were worn out from all the playing we made them do so it was time to go back home. We wanted to see the St. George temple so we went there before we came home. It was so beautiful. And after seeing all the red rock it was so cool to see this amazingly white building. We were shocked when we red that the temple is built out of the red sandstone we'd been looking at all week! Can you imagine how much paint it would take to make it that white! Crazy! It was very beautiful especially with the blue blue sky.
The kids look teeny tiny in the front. It's a very big temple.
There were a lot of steps here! Glad they didn't fall down.
We decided on our next trip to St. George, we'll have to plan a day here.
We also stopped at Kolob Canyon on our way out. We just jumped out of the car for a few pictures. Here's another place we need to explore. So much to see, so little time! This was an awesome family vacation with some unforgettable activities and some really good family time together. We loved it!
We were so excited to hike the Narrows in Zions. The pictures are absolutely amazing and now, after hiking it, I can assure you that the pictures do not do it justice. It was so cool. One of the coolest hikes I've ever done. I'd put it right up there with hiking Half Dome in Yosemite. The day before we went and rented special hiking boots and sticks to help us walk through the river on the rocks.
Definitely not sexy, but so helpful!
We didn't have a plan for how far up the river we were going to hike. We didn't know how the kids would do. Hiking up a river is not easy! At times it was up to Sara's chest. It was slow going, especially at first as we all got used to the boots and the poles and stepping on the rocks.
But we just all stuck together and had a ton of fun talking, laughing and oohing and ahhing!
When we started out, it was very crowded. The farther up the river we hiked, the fewer people there were. We pointed that out to the kids to help them recognize how tough they are! They really are!
This was a low cave that the water had carved out. To the right of the picture was fairly shallow, but if we stepped back from where we were standing it was up to my waist. It was so amazing to see what the river had carved.
The kids were so tough and we all hiked up to what they call "wall street". At this point the walls are the steepest and the closest together. We didn't expect to make it this far. This was two miles upstream. They. Did. Awesome. At this point Sara was pretty exhausted so she and I found a tiny little spot of mud to sit on and let Jerry, Kate and Matt hike farther upstream. Abby had it easy in the backpack!
These guys hiked another half mile upstream to a place called floating rock. They really loved it, especially Kate.
On our way back down, we went up a side canyon called Orderville Canyon. We didn't go far up at all; we just wanted to see it really quickly.
The first and last mile of the hike isn't in the water. This is looking back up what we just hiked up and back down. The kids were very tired at the end of the day, but it was so worth it. Matt and Kate hiked 7 miles total! They did awesome and loved it and felt very accomplished. I hope that they will remember that we hiked this and that it was hard and that we did it! And anytime they see a picture of the Narrows they can be reminded of how amazingly gorgeous it is!
We decided to take a day off of hiking for the kids' legs sake. So we rented a jeep and headed up on top of Gooseberry Mesa. The pictures just don't do it justice, but it was beautiful and so fun on top of the mesa and looking out over Zions and the St. George valley. Jerry had gone mountain biking earlier in the summer with a friend and he showed us all the trails he went on. We had a ton of fun four wheeling in the jeep and bouncing all around. It was a good break for the kids' legs and fun spending the day together!
At the end of the day Abby leans over to Matt and says, "Hey, Matt. I've got a present for you." It was so random and funny. Matt says, "What is it?" Abby says, "A phone!" We were all laughing so
hard.
Abby also had the most fun bouncing around in the jeep. She giggled a lot!
I interrupt this regularly scheduled blogging to give you some current videos of the kids in their Christmas activities. Matt is really loving playing the trumpet in his beginning band. Kate really enjoyed her dance as a jester in the studio's production of The Enchanted Toyshop. For some reason her dance stopped short which is really a bummer but at least you can get a taste of it. It was a fun dance.
