Holiday

We got to meet up with my little sister Merry and her four kids at the Discovery Museum in Salt Lake. They are in town for the holiday!


Bella and Anna shopping

Henry working the crane with Oey and Jarom as loaders.

Peeping in the mouse hole.

Mail call

Gloria, Merry, Emma, Bella and Merry's mother in law Colleen .

Next day was Thanksgiving! We got to share it with a bunch of family from my mom's side, which was really fun since I didn't grow up next to them and all of their fun traditions. My Nana goes all out when it comes to Holidays and she always has a million of the cutest homemade decorations all made by her own little hands. There's Matty sitting between Aunt Martha and cousin Spencer.

My Nana and Papa, the great hostesses!

Us and the Petersons. My young cousin took this one, that's why it is pointed right at our growing tummies.

Uncle Matt gave us all the greatest massage ever in between all the very competitive game playing.

Next day we drove down to St. George to see my other sister who also came to Utah for Thanksgiving. We packed in some swimming and In N Out runs. And as you can see some miniature golf.

Me, Glow and little growing Ruby. There was some betting going on, and the people in this picture didn't win.

O and Z up to no good.

Digging for our balls

That night they had a temple lighting. It was such a neat experience, they had a little program which I heard nothing of and then some Christmas carols and in the middle of singing the lights popped on. It was truly beautiful and our pictures don't do it justice.

Matt and the model, some guy took a million pictures of Oey looking at the lights. Don't ask me why. You can't really tell in the photo but he has two big red bug bites- not so pretty.

Cheese

And of course some playing in the leaves


This was the type of picture the guy was taking. (And here's where it ended up!)

Me and Boo

The next day Amy and Glory went to the temple and I took the kids on a hike out by the Santa Clara River, where we could see some petroglyphs up close and personal. This is Jarom on the cliffs at Land Hill. It must have been a one hundred foot drop, and was a little nervewracking because it was like that the whole time.

the first petroglyph panel we found (Jarom found)

Bella keeping watch over Oey. All Oey wanted to do was find potholes and fill them with rocks.

some of the ancient rock art we got to see

rambling along

Next day again. Matt took the kids on a hike and I went to the temple with Glory and got to feel Ruby move all around. This and the next picture are funny to me and most likely to Glory when she sees them. Matt took these in secret hiding.

We were trying to make Glory's tummy really poke out in the pictures.

This one is not from Matt. I always have the greatest time going to the temple with glory. I know it will be just like heaven. We are just little angels making merriment, giggling and our hearts are overflowing with such love and peace. We said goodbye after this, sooo sad.

On the drive home we took a small but amazing detour through Kolob Canyon. The setting sun just highlighted all the beauty and wonder.

Our one kid who would brave the wind, Oey would have but was asleep. We just wished we had enough time to do a hike. We will have to come back down when we are sick of the cold.

Matt and I in front of Beatty Point- no lie!

Goodbye

big baldy

We've been having incredible weather here, so over the weekend we decided to hike up Big Baldy on Mount Timpanogos.


Here we are, starting up the trail through Dry Canyon. Snowcapped Timpanogos is way way above and behind us.

hugging a ledge

momma and the baby boy -- the limestone cliffs we walked past were pretty amazing

the late sunlight broke on us through the arched little forest

in a meadow of wheatgrass (bluebunch?), which Bella collected along the way

Jarom in the wilderness (see how the sunlight's diminishing?)

the three amigos

it's a beautiful trail

this is me looking down once we started the steep switchbacks up the actual ridge

a formidable group

stormin the trail

there's Big Baldy, our destination, way up there ahead of us!

Sunset over the valley/ We hiked as best we could, watching the sun light up Big Baldy, but as soon as it disappeared in the west, we knew we had only a bit of twilight to hurry back down the trail. So we turned around. We got about a mile and a half up. It was only a tiny bit disappointing, because everything else was so grand and beautiful and wondrous. We'll be back to summit this one again soon.

beautiful view looking back through Dry Canyon, with Utah Lake, the Lake Mountains, and the Oquirrhs drifting behind it all

So, true to form, I lost my beanie halfway up the trail. Then I lingered back, helping Bella on the way down, and I hear Jarom shouting out from a few hundred yards ahead of us, "Dad! We found your beanie!" Here's Amy wearing it, and Oey watching Bella and me barrel down towards them.

Jarom in the hazy waning daylight. Jarom collected rocks, Bella collected wheatgrass, and I collected a few sturdy sticks.

Here's our valley as we made it back to the trailhead.

Poor Oey had been sitting in a cloth diaper (my fault), and those things don't hold water as long as a disposable. We pantsed him before getting back in the car.

poor kid