With June came swim lessons, sleeping in, and our big road trip up to Utah. On our way up we stopped at a really big meteor Crater in Arizona and the Grand Canyon. On the way home we hit up Arches National Park in Utah and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. We’re so blessed to have a National Parks pass! Ready for a ton of pictures?
Pretty flowers in the front yard and church clothes means……spontaneous family photos!One-on-one swim lessons have been so good for Abigail!Mosquitoes are no fun! She was determined that they would not get to her!Abigail found this bear that you can draw on and then wash…there was a similar one from the 90s. Glad to know the concept is still around!First picture from our road trip: we have always driven past this rest stop and said, “Next time we need to stop for a picture!” and…never have. Until this time!!Leave it to the kids to find video games at our hotel. 🙂 They played while we got breakfast ready.I can’t remember if this was in New Mexico or Arizona…but it was pretty!It was crazy to find a forest when I was expecting desert landscape.Giant hole in the ground in Arizona!I can’t even begin to fathom how big the meteor was.It’s really hard to get perspective unless you are there, gazing down into the crater.I’m also trying to figure out just when Joseph got as tall as us.Family photo!This is a replica of what was found in the crater. Much of the meteor had vaporized upon impact, but this was left.Abigail thought this guy was funny.“Say cheese!”She loves cut outs!A replica of the Apollo Test Capsule.Grand Canyon!It was in the 70s and felt so good!Joseph’s first real look into the canyon. He was just as thunderstruck as I was.I love this boy!Duck on a Rock outlook.Family photo! It was so nice when people would offer to take a picture!Close up of Duck on a Rock.Google Photos made it B&W which I kind of love.This crow was circling around and “mocking us” (according to Abigail).I think he (or she) was just enjoying the breeze. 🙂These two were so fun to travel with!There were tons of places to just pull off and get pictures. Way easier than hiking!The texture and layers are just stunning.I managed to get everyone!If you look right next to Joseph’s sleeve, you can see the river!I love the different colors, too.Pictures cannot do it justice!Another stunning vista.Beauty was everywhere.Love that this kid will still take pictures with me!Love this one, too!Another amazing view.It was so cool to see all the layers!Showing me her Navajo jewelry (we found some Navajo women selling jewelry they had made).After taking a break in our hotel room and getting dinner, we headed back to the canyon to get sunset shots and realized the elk crossing signs were very valid. 😉Baby elk!Baby and momma.Sunset was even better!The cliffs were completely different colors!The wind was a little crazy, though. 😉Seeing the sunlight kiss the top of the cliffs was so pretty!I love these people so much!An amazing shot.Taking pictures with her tablet.He was so impressed with the entire thing!I love this man!I love that the sunlight paints the clouds and the cliffs!Another shot of Duck on a Rock.The sun was sinking rapidly.Another shot of me and Paul.I’ve spent 23 years of my life married to this man and I am so grateful for him!I was amazed to find trees growing seemingly out of the rock.Selfie with the one who made me a mom.The textures!!Peeking over the edge.The wind was nuts!!She’s kind of obsessed with Smokey the Bear. Don’t ask me where she heard about him, though.A random pretty pull out between Arizona and Utah.While in Utah, we toured the Temple Square area in Salt Lake City. This is in the Conference Center and has always been one of my favorite paintings.A Cristus statue in the Conference Center.The Salt Lake Temple is undergoing major preservation renovation, so that’s what’s up with all the cranes and scaffolding. The domed building is the Tabernacle, which was the original building where conferences used to be held before the Conference Center was built.We were sitting in the Tabernacle (they do a presentation where they demonstrate how good the acoustics are because when it was first built, microphones didn’t exist) and imagine my surprise when I happened to turn around and see my Relief Society president from when we lived in Colton! Talk about a small world!While we were in Utah, we visited my nephew’s elk ranch.Abigail was pretty keen on the idea of feeding them.I wish you could see the big grin on her face. Afterwards she was a little grossed out by the elk slobber, haha.This is one patient teenager.Feeding the elk some of the green stuff they like.Joseph decided to get in on the fun.Abigail feeding them.Checking out the mommas and the babies.Fireworks fun with cousins on the 4th of July!Lunch followed by Swig with my bestie was awesome!My best friend and I took Abigail to Thanksgiving Point which is a huge place that has several kid friendly venues. This was at a farm area. The kids (baby goats, that is) kept sticking their heads under the fencing to try to get at stray pieces of goat food. Abigail was pushing it towards them. 🙂I love goats.Apparently goats like selfies, haha.Abigail loved getting to ride a horse.She was a little anxious, so I stayed close by.The children’s museum at Thanksgiving Point had a Daniel Tiger exhibit. Abigail was so excited!Pretending to be Katarina Kittycat.Standing next to a display with Mr Rogers’ red sweater and shoes. It’s his show that Daniel Tiger is a spin-off of.She loved getting to play with Trolley.There were other parts of the museum that were fun, too.She wasn’t too sure about this exhibit. 😉This was a light harp that would make music when you ran your hands through the beams of light.I’ve known this amazing woman since our early teenage years. It was so good to get to see her!!This was a fun illusion!Our last stop at Thanksgiving Point was the butterfly house. This was a fun place!A nice woman got a butterfly to go from her to Abigail.Abigail was trying to get it to go from her finger to the bushes but it decided to land on her shirt instead.These are my favorite butterflies. When their wings are closed, they look like this……but then they open their wings!On our way to Arches! We stopped at a random rest stop and this train engine was there. Headed into Arches.It was soooo hot.It’s crazy to see what wind and water can do.This was one of my favorites.Checking out the scenery.Daddy-daughter selfie!The Darr men.This was another cool one.It was crazy to see these pillars.They didn’t look like they were stable!Wind and water are crazy, man!Found an arch!This was a cool area behind us.We went walking a little on one of the trails to get this shot.One has to wonder how the arches get there.Dad and the kids.I was so focused on the arch and the holes that I didn’t notice that……it looks like an elephant! Now scroll back up to the previous photo to see what I mean. 🙂This goofball was OVER the heat but still trucked on.So many awesome spots for photos.Memory-making for sure!This was as we were driving. It was so cool to glance out and see such cool formations.I was fascinated by that tiny hole near the top.The different textures were so cool to look at.This one might be my favorite, though.I think this was after we left the official park, so it was cool to get a little parting gift.We drove through a tiny bit of Colorado.We stopped at the McDonald’s in Roswell on our way to Carlsbad Caverns.Abigail liked the space theme.She also got some wiggles out, which was good.The caverns were so cool!An elevator takes you down into the caverns.Once down in the caverns, it’s probably between 1-2 miles that you’re walking as you wind your way through the caverns themselves.This was a ladder that the earliest explorers used to get up and down. Um, no thank you, haha.I was mesmerized by the formations.It’s crazy that it’s all from water!A cool bat sculpture.We got Abigail a stuffed bat that she wanted to make hang from the cave.Oh look, another cut out. 🙂
3 thoughts on “Summer Shenanigans”
Why does the RS president look familiar?? I recognize the face but can’t place a name.
Paul’s looking pretty macho is some of those pictures! looks like you had a great time. It was good seeing you guys. Abigail is Definitely on my favorites list! Ted
Why does the RS president look familiar?? I recognize the face but can’t place a name.
She was from Colton 1st Ward. Linda Flynn. 🙂
Paul’s looking pretty macho is some of those pictures! looks like you had a great time. It was good seeing you guys. Abigail is Definitely on my favorites list! Ted