MOAB Family Campout

For my family's spring break, we decided to do our annual camping trip a little early in Moab! Travis and I hadn't been to Moab since right after we were married and have been looking forward to going back for awhile now. This time we were able to experience the off-roading adventures in Moab with our Ranger Crew. Yeah!

We arrived first on Friday afternoon. After camp was set up at Pack Creek Campground, we headed over to Sand Flats Recreation Area and did our first trail, Fins and Things. It was awesome! It was more rock crawling then trail riding for sure. It was gorgeous riding during sunset too. Dallen and Lily did great and we headed back to camp at dusk. Sarah, Emily, and Jacob arrived shortly after and we planned to do more riding the next day.

We got going Saturday morning and did Fins and Things again but with the rest of the group this time. It was a blast! Jacob loved that the trail was marked with Stegosaurus' (he's really into dinosaurs right now). Dallen did great except for when we'd scream at the scary parts- he cries when we scream. So sad, but cute. :) After the long ride, the kiddos were ready for a break, so Sarah, Jacob, Dallen, Lily and I went back to camp for lunch and a playing-in-the-dirt break. Emily and Travis decided to try out another trail, Hell's Revenge while we rested. When they got back, the family still hadn't arrived so Travis, Emily, Dallen, Lily and I decided to go on a short hike near Potato Salad hill. It ended at a swimming hole and waterfall. It was a really pretty hike and nice to get out and move after riding most of the day. While we were gone, the family arrived: Mom, Dad, Joe, Claire, Audra, Charity, and Joy. We ate dinner and had yummy Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler and then called it a night. For the most part, Dallen did OK sleeping. He still wakes up in the night at home and did while we were camping too, but it wasn't anything too extreme. He did end up in our sleeping bag one night for most of the night because I was just too exhausted to deal with him. Overall I didn't feel too sleep deprived, so that was good. 

Sunday we made it a hiking day. We headed into arches and did the hike to Delicate Arch, one of our favorites. It's a really cool hike on a trail and then up slick rock, through sand and on a short exposed ledge. The view is awesome once you get there and kind of nerve racking with little ones too since the arch sits on the edge of a huge bowl. Travis wanted to get a good hike out of it and lead the group at a pretty fast pace. Joy was his hiking buddy and kept up with him every step of the way. So cute. The rear was brought up by Jacob and his buddy Joe who ended up carrying him half the time. Who can blame him though?-it's a long hike for such a little guy. We ate lunch at the arch and discovered that Dallen was teething and getting a fever. He just couldn't take it anymore and cried/screamed/fussed the whole way back. Travis and I booked it back to the car where the Tylenol was and he felt a little better soon after. Poor guy! :( Sunday wasn't a very good day overall for Dallen. We ended up giving him medicine most of the day. Since the hike turned out to be a little more challenging then we thought and with a few of the group needing a break, we decided to take a scenic drive through the rest of Arches and then relax at camp the rest of the day. Well, Dallen, Mom, and I relaxed at camp the rest of the day. :) Travis took the rest of the group on rides up Hell's Revenge. Our camp site was really close to the entrance to Sand Flats so it was quick getting over there and doing the fun rock crawling rides. Sunday night we chatted around the fire and enjoyed visiting with Sarah and Emily on their last night. (They had to head back to Provo for work and school) 

Monday was our bad weather day with a huge wind storm all morning long. So we headed into town to look at the shops. It was fun checking everything out and just having a nice relaxing morning. We headed back to find that the wind took out Mom and Dad's really nice canopy :( Of course something has to break while we're all together. Bummer... So the wind seemed to let up for the afternoon and we decided to head over to Sand Flats again and take Mom on her first Ranger ride. We parked at Slick Rock Bike Trail so that I could get a ride in, while Travis took the little girls, Mom and Dad on Hell's Revenge. (It was Travis' favorite ride). Mom wasn't a huge fan in the end and Joy cried a bunch too, but everyone else had a blast! In the mean time, Joe and I did 3 miles of Slick Rock. It was fun but was still a little too windy for my liking. Claire stayed back at the car with Dallen and then we switched-Joe took Claire on a shorter portion of Slick Rock while I stayed back with my bebe. Once everyone got back, Mom and Dad offered to take Dallen back to camp while Travis, me, Joe, Claire and Charity went on a ride. It was a nice break and great to be able to scream at all the scary parts and not scare Dallen-ha! We did the beginning part of Fins and Things which turned out to be the scariest ride out of them all and then we did Hell's Revenge one last time since I hadn't been on it yet. It was definitely a fun ride and one of my favorite days. :)

Tuesday we did a trail ride all afternoon called Chicken Corners. We rode from camp way out along the Colorado River up to this awesome view point. Dad rented a RZR 4 so we all could go. I'd never been to that part of Moab and it was nice seeing some new places. I got to drive the Ranger and had fun changing things up for a bit. Travis tried out the RZR4 and now has a new off-roading love and will probably be wanting one of those in the near future. Oh brother! :) We had to head back a little sooner then we would've liked to return the RZR but it gave Dad time to get out and shoot his new hand gun. Mom, Joy and Travis all went out and gave it a try while Claire and I attempted to make dutch oven dinners. They turned out great, just took a really long time. :)

Wednesday morning we all packed up and left by noon. It was a great camping trip with tons of adventures. We all decided it would be a great place to come back to and keep exploring!

St. George Visit with Grandparents

Travis had a free weekend and so we decided to head down to St. George and meet up with Grandma Linda & Grandpa David for a day of shopping and visiting. It was so good to catch up since we've all been so busy and hadn't chatted much since Christmas. We met up at ACE which happened to be next to the Bosch store which Linda loves. So we wandered through there a little bit and then had lunch at Cappriottis. Linda filled us in on Grandma Lorraine and how she's getting down to her last few weeks. She's on hospice now and just hasn't been herself as much. I kind of feel bad for not going to visit her last fall and hope she doesn't feel too much pain in her last few weeks. The rest of day we shopped for clothes for Dallen and of course went to Costco. We ended up staying until dinner time and ate together at this hole-in-the-wall Chinese place. It was a really nice day and great that we live close enough to get together for the day.

SFW Banquet

We went to the SFW Banquet for the first time this year- Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. It's a banquet with raffles and auctions that raises money for the organization. There was TONS of stuff to put our raffle tickets in for and even some boots to bid on in the auction. We had a great time checking everything out and visiting with friends. It was a fun event, especially in a small town. Travis ended up out bidding everyone on the hiking boots he wanted and still got them $100 cheaper than what he would've bought them for at retail value. In the raffle I won a hair cut and color from the place I usually go to, and Travis won a hunting DVD, a T-shirt, and some tools. It's even more fun when you win a few things. :) We had a great time.

Clogging Weekend

It was so nice to see the family again after 5 months since the last visit. Mom, Dad, Audra, Charity, and Joy all came over for Charity's Clogging Competition at Thanksgiving Point. We all stayed together at a hotel so that everyone would have plenty of time with Dallen. Unfortunately, he came down with a little cold that weekend and wasn't his super happy self. But everyone still enjoyed being with him and we all had a great time. We went up north a day before the family came to finally go to the temple together, thanks to Sarah and David for watching Dallen and to the Rowe's for letting us stay at their house one night. Then Friday we got all of our errands done and met up with the family at the hotel that night. The best part of the day was that Dallen noticed all the mounts in Cabelas for the first time! We of course have been to Cabelas numerous times with him by now but this was the first time he saw all the deer and elk. So we walked him through the museum and had fun taking pictures and watching him take it all in.

The next day was the competition which was the usual vibrant display of creative costumes and cute dances. Emily, Sarah and Jacob met up with us as well and we all enjoyed watching and visiting together. After Charity's performance, which she of course did really well in, we took Dallen outside to see the farm animal zoo next door. Joy came along and loved feeding the sheep and goats pita chips. :) I think Dallen liked the geese and ducks the best. Can't wait to take him to see more stuff like that. 

That afternoon Dad, Travis and David went gun shopping for Dad's first hand gun. I think in the end he found one he likes and they all had a good time checking out guns together. In the mean time, Mom and Dallen took a nap, and me the little girls went for a swim. I hadn't gone swimming with them for a long time and had lots of fun playing with them. That night we all went to Tucanos which isn't exactly as enjoyable of an experience anymore trying to keep Dallen from grabbing the skewers and knives. I mean the food was still delicious as usual, just the eating out part is now an adventure. :) And that was our trip! 

ATV Tubing!

Emily and friends came down from BYU for their 3day Presidents Day weekend. Since it's still pretty cold we all bundled up and went riding for the afternoon. We decided to bring the tube and boogie board too, hoping to find a spot to sled. Well instead of sledding we decided to pull each other behind the four wheelers. The road was perfect for it with snow built up on the sides keeping the tube and board from sliding too far to one side or the other. It was way fun watching them all do it that I had to give it a try. :) I screamed most of the way and just had a blast. I just love doing that kind of stuff! Last time we went sledding behind the ATV was in Aspen like 5 years ago or something. It was way fun and we enjoyed having the company!

Emily being pulled by her friend

Me-Tubing around the corner!

Fish Lake Ice Fishing

The Starley's and their family invited us to join them for the day at Fish Lake to experience some ice fishing. Neither of us have ever been ice fishing and I was pretty nervous taking Dallen out on the ice. When we got there I couldn't believe how many people were out on the ice and figured it was safe. (Little did I know that the weekend previous a snow mobile broke through the ice and sunk) People had their huts all set up and snow mobiles all over the lake. There were tons of fishing holes drilled out with people just sitting in chairs waiting for a bite. Both Travis and I agreed that it was the most boring fishing we've ever done, but to each his own I guess. Nick's uncle was the one who loves to ice fish and had all the stuff for us to try it out. Cael had a blast catching the fish, putting back the small ones and just carrying around the dead ones. Lily had a great time playing with the fish while they were flopping around on the ice after they'd been caught. Dallen was only outside for about 1/2 hour since it was so cold but enjoyed the rest of the day in the cabin with Tamara (Grandma #3 for Dallen-ha!), Savannah, and Grandma Mundy. We definitely missed Mindy on this trip though- she was in California with some friends. After dinner we all played Mafia and had a great time laughing and hanging out. It was a really nice day trip and fun to try something new.