Grand Canyon

Three days after getting home from Disney we had things all packed up and headed to

 GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK!!

It was one of the prettiest drives we've ever been on.  Everything was so green cause of all the rain.  It's a pretty long haul from here and we arrived in the late afternoon, too late to get a permit though...

Why?  Because we wanted to hike to the bottom.  Check out that trail!

So we camped out and were first in line at the permit office the next day and got a permit for the following day.  Cool!  If you ever want to do this, and we highly recommend it, apply for a permit 3 months ahead.

We spent our extra day scoping out the trails, complete with wildlife.

 Then the next morning we were ready to descend into the depths of GRAND CANYON!  Not gonna lie, having passed the 1/2 century mark I was a little nervous!

But we just kept walking down and down and...

down and down

 and down and down

 and the views down were spectacular

 and the views up were amazing...

but never doubt, we were always going down

 and down

 with a few rests and then

 down some more until...

 You go through a tunnel and pop out at a bridge that takes you across the Colorado River to the Bright Angel campground AT THE BOTTOM of THE GRANDEST CANYON!!!

And you're so hot and tired that this is what you do.  (Can't show Dad...just image trying on pants in Kris and Billy's living room...)

Then you relax in the nicest of camping spots and go to the ranger show on Condors, and it's so exciting cause the day before we saw two of them!

And then we have a magically, scientific dinner (military MRE) that heats itself and tastes yummy and then go to another ranger campfire program and see lots of stars and the full moon and camp in bliss.

We were up and at em the next day ready to head up and out.

 You might think that is the top...hahaha...it is just a mountain within the canyon.  We're talking a deep hole in the ground!

 We took the South Kaibab trail down and the Bright Angel trail up.  The up trail followed the path of a stream most of the way so it had an "oasis in the desert" kind of feeling.

And after 6 hours and 45 minutes we made it to the top!  (Which is faster than the average time!  Way to go old people)  We're looking at our calendars to see when we can do that again!  Anybody wanna come?

Disneyland Trip

In September we headed to California.  We had some time to kill so we went to San Juan Capistrano.  It was so fascinating. 

The tour included those listen to the recording tour guide things.  Kinda long winded but fun to do.

This part of the mission was built in 1776!!  

On Charina's birthday we met up with LaDon, Jamie, Ally and Daniel for our remaining day of Disney magic.  Sorry Charina....we did have lots of fun for you!

We agreed to go only if Jamie agreed to stay in a wheelchair all day.  We had an accord and we were off!

We had a great time!

Except maybe LaDon after the Tower of Terror!

After our day at Disney we drove Jamie and the kids home and then jumped on an airplane in SFO.  LaDon left LAX for his cousin's mission farewell.  If you're ever wondering if just one or two days can be fun and relaxing, I assure you it can!

I Found my Camera

I finally found my camera and so here's some pics of past adventures.  But it barely puts a dent in all we've been doing.  It's been a great past 6 months!!!!!!!

There is NOTHING better than YW Camp!!!  Our cute little 11th Ward hooligans were so much fun and perfectly behaved.

Sum and Andy came for a visit which was fun and life saving (Andy was a great deck maker) but this is the only pic I have.

Viana and Brooke earned a trip to our house for their exceptional "didn't pull my card ever" school year.  We camped on the way home at the Colorado National Monument just above Grand Junction.  A hidden gem!

We took several awesome hikes.

This is the view from "Devil's Kitchen"

This must be a hereditary condition!!!!

Doug was in little girl heaven.

The girls had a "to do list" before they even got here.  This is our picnic, menu included on the list, at Keller park.

We had another great camping experience in the Redwoods with the Lindes.

Ally wore her helmet 24/7 , including meals, when we first got there.  She was practicing for wearing it to school as she rides her bike.

Or maybe she just has a thing for funky headgear???  The car was packed to the rafters.

This is the Linde's new car.  SO NICE!

We got to do lots of this...

While the kids did lots of this.  This is in broad daylight but the trees are so thick it's kinda dark.  There were tons of trees that had been cut 50 or more years ago in the camp and so it was climbing heaven.  The fav was to climb up and then jump down into LaDon's arms.  This is a short one, by the way.

Of course the tradition age pose.

Even I got in on that act as Ally took my pic..

The trees are so magnificent.

But Daniel's favorite was the 2 hours we spent at the river throwing rocks.

A baby bump pic.

Dad's camera has most of the pics so I'll try to get some more adventures posted.  Thanks for looking!

Incline

This is what Dad and I did on Saturday.  Dad is now a lover of the incline!!!  It was a great hike and most importantly-WE SURVIVED and can't wait to do it again!

What is that thing?

I AM FREE, I AM FREE, I AM FREE AT LAST!

What is that horrible, lichen covered thing?

Just my arm, out of the cast.  You can tell how far down my finger could reach to scratch the dry skin.  GROSS!

But after 6 weeks it hasn't withered too much but it sure is tender and stiff.  I'm so happy to have 2 arms again!  I'm off to wash my hair using 2 hands.  Ahhh, the simple pleasures of life.

Sydney is 100 today!!

Today is Sydney's 100th Birthday (in dog years that is)  We had a little party for her.  All her friends came (ie, me and Dad)  As you can see in the video, she even blew out her candle!  You'll notice we did not sing, "and many more....."

Syd loves being festive.

And as this video shows, she soon tired from all the exertion.  She is 100 afterall!!!

Happy Birthday Syd!!