Regan and Spencer Go Solo...Together

Their first backpacking trip by themselves. Jason drove them up into the canyon and hiked to a certain point with them. They hiked in further and picked a campsite, pitched a tent, and stayed the night.  At some point during the night, a large rock fell in the distance.  Regan was certain they would be crushed by another falling rock and was ready to leave everything behind and run for home. Interestingly enough, Spencer, the one who usually freaks out, convinced Regan to stay.  Maybe he was more freaked out at the prospect of walking back in the dark.
  





In the morning, we hiked up to get them.  When we got there (around 11 am), they were still fast asleep.  Exhausted, Regan said, from the worry of being crushed to death during the night.

On the hike back, we found this injured baby falcon.  We brought it back with us and took it in to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resource.  They told us we should have left it and that they would have to hike it back up there.  Lesson learned, I guess.

Weston's Candy Land 6th Birthday

When I asked Weston what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday this year, he told me surprise him. Thinking about his favorite thing in the world (candy), I knew I had to try it.  It was the most expensive and time consuming cake I've ever made, but it was all worth it when I saw the look on his face. I don't even remember what else happened that day, but this cake will long be burned in my memory. And it better be burned in his memory as well.

Escalante

A few shots of our camping trip in Escalante before heading to Coyote Gulch.







There were some very interesting rocks in the area.  The kids thought this one looked like my slipper.


They actually hauled a bunch of these rocks back from the hike and brought them home. They called them "bathtub rocks".  If we still had every rock that has come home from a hike, it would probably fill an entire room in our house.


Once again, the trip is a success because they found a snake.  Double success for catching it.

Coyote Gulch 2014

This was truly one of the most amazing hikes I've been on.  Not that I get out that much, but still...loved it. It was the first real backpacking trip that the younger boys had been on and they did
great.

Getting ready...






























It's not a successful trip without running into a snake or two.


The view from here was alone worth the trip.  The picture, of course, doesn't do it justice.  Notice the arch in the distance.  That's where we're headed.




Heading down Crack in the Wall.


For those that choose to exit the hike on this side, consider this the sand hill from Hell.  Going down? Not so bad.  Coming up?  Because of the soft sand, it's like walking upstairs on an escalator going down. Forever. Bad enough in and of itself, but in the heat of the day... just bury me at the bottom. Which is why we exited through a different route.


Sand castles at the bottom.  And a little relief from the heat.


The stretch of river that we hiked was about 12 or 13 miles. The sand was so amazingly soft that we hiked barefoot in the river most of the time.  The temperature was perfect and the views were amazing.  Heavenly.




Our Camp site.



The fourth arch on the hike.


This is the other way out.  Straight up this (looks a little steeper than it is), and a couple of miles across the hot barren desert back to the car.  Still somewhat tortuous, mostly because of the heat, but far better than the sand hill. 

Ben was a little sketched out at first, but came through in the end.


Loving the hat that he found along the way.

Spencer's 12th Birthday

It's a Golden Snitch and Gryffindor color cupcakes (Harry Potter), in case you couldn't tell.
Some one was slacking on camera duty, because these are the only pictures of his birthday I could find.  I do remember that he didn't want a party.  He only wanted to go to the St.George Temple and out to eat with me and Jason.  We were able to get some family names (thanks Uncle Richard), that he could use for baptisms.

Easter 2014