Celebrating More Birthdays

 Sophie celebrated her 15th birthday at home for once since we vacationed earlier in the month. She decided to call up some gal pals and hit the local city pool. For a big surprise we gifted her tickets to her first concert--Imagine Dragons. She enjoyed burgers and ice cream for treats.

Neal had his birthday soon after and went out for sushi's during his lunch break. He was gifted his own full bee suit. We were planning to have key lime pie after the lasagna he requested but a friend brought a homemade Swiss apple pie over so we saved the key lime for another time.

On his birthday, because he was working he was fine with me getting out to celebrate one of my best friend's birthday. Kate and I headed to Frisco in which I surprised her with a tour of indoor and outdoor art before we headed over to create our own masterpieces at a local art shop.

Berries!

 Our summer tradition with the Hancock family and we even got the McCreas in on it. I love this picture. Not everyone is in it. Everyone in the front is squinting and everyone in the back is barely viable. Skills!

A Young Man's Room

 What is a young man's room? It is pretty much the same as a boy's room but without the dotted track meandering across the walls from his nursery days. Yep, Rhys has been showing some signs of maturing. He's branching out a bit more and we thought this summer would be a great time to show our love for him by updating his room. We went to pick out paint colors for the bottom half of his room and with 6 out of 8 choices being blue we felt it was safe to lean that way. When all was said and done he picked practically the same color he had already on his walls. It was a 3 day project but Rhys and I got it done with minimal help from Sophie and Neal. Rhys learned how to prep, keep it neat, brush, roll, and touch up. He also learned why mom would want to pay professionals in the future. With a fresh look we rearranged his room and surprised him with a new and way better mattress. He is comfy and and although it wasn't all smiles, I'm glad we did have some fun making memories. 

Birthday Celebrations for Rhys and Keri

Though it was some time after Rhys' birthday, we gathered with Oma and Opa to enjoy a swim, catching up, and food. Oma had gone all out! She had spent a lot of time preparing Lego themed cakes. It was good to hear about their adventures in Alaska and to share our own. 

My birthday fell on the next day so we were pretty sugared up. I enjoyed church, several birthday wishes, my favorite German meal, and ended the day with Tin Roof Sundaes. Neal gifted me a vented bee suit to do even more to support our hobby!

SW National Parks: Part 6 - Natural Bridges, Monument Valley, Navajo National Monument, Four Corners

Day 13: It was our last day of the Southwest until we had our long drive home. We started the day by driving to Natural Bridges National Monument, UT early because we had a lot to pack into the day. It was here that we spotted the most elusive of animals. It is the  Southwest, so you may be thinking the jackalope--but no. We are talking about the common jackrabbit. I had not seen one since I was a girl, camping at Hole-in-the-Wall in the Mojave desert. In all our time, we had seen mostly lizards but not one jackrabbit. We were making a turn when one made its way across the road to rest in the shade of a bush on the other side. It was long-legged, lean, buff-colored, with long, black-tipped, brown ears. It was everything a jackrabbit should be. Leave it to the last day but I was able to cross this one off my bucket list.

We stopped and took short hikes out to the different bridges but my favorite was the ruins. A short hike to the viewpoint revealed a kiva with roof intact. We were happy we had brought binoculars. Neal and Sophie stopped short of the viewpoint to sit so Rhys and I got to tell them all about it. I wondered if the roof was a restoration but it turns out it was the original roof. The ruins were so well preserved was so well preserved and later I found out that it was discovered in the 1880s and an archeological expedition documented the sight in 1907, thus it was made a national monument  the next year but the the ruins were soon forgotten until 1936 when a custodian to the park climbed up there from the canyon floor below to take his lunch in the sun. He had passed by the ruins above him for many years.

We jumped in the car and prayed we hit the gas station in Mexican Hat because we forgot to fill up that morning in our excitement. Mexican hat is actually named for a rock formation that mimics a balancing up-side-down sombrero. We traveled along until...um...highway 261 became a dirt road. And not any dirt road! The scribble on Google maps indicated a series of switchbacks down the face of a canyon wall called Moki Dugway. If you are unaware, a dugway is defined as a way dug along a precipitous place otherwise impassable by using for the fill on the downhill side material excavated immediately above it. Remember our brake issues. I was sweating and Neal was all lit up like a kid in a candy store. Surprisingly, to me anyway, we did tumble to our death. I actually closed my eyes at parts so my anxiety did not spoil Neal's big moment. That's what love is.

We did make it to the gas station and filled up to continue onto Monument Valley in Navajo Nation.  It was fun to see the iconic view of the highway among the buttes. Got our Forrest Gump snapshot of where he ran in the movie with the same name. We paid our money and took the dirt road tour among more formations which was garbage--the road, not the formations. We were glad to say we had done it but didn't plan to return. Maybe we would have been more inspired if it were one of our first days out on the trip. 

We continued on to Navajo National Monument in Navajo Nation where we took a short downward hike to the Betatakin ruins viewpoint. There were more ruins in one place at this place than what we saw in the morning. We took our time coming back up and enjoyed the flora along the trail. Though the Monument had two other ruins, we moved on because of our packed day.

Back in the van, we headed to Four Corners on Navajo Nation. Neal and I had already visited there when we were young but we wanted to have the kids do it too. We got our photos in different states, Sophie bought some jewelry, and Rhys took a lap around the square to say he'd run through four states that day! We ended our day in Farmington, NM and drove long hours to get home the next day. Awesome trip and awesome memories!

SW National Parks: Part 5 - Capitol Reef, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Canyonlands, Arches

Day 11: The next day we left Escalante and continued past Boulder where there was some beautiful land and views--lakes, pines, wildflowers. Then we descended into Capitol Reef National Park, UT and the settlement of Fruita, located within it. Here we took in the history of the Fruita, which was settled by about 8-10 families, most of which were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the 1880s. What few inhabitants were there abandoned it when the National Park Service purchased the town in 1955 to be included in Capitol Reef National Park. 

We toured the barn, Gifford house (now a park store), school house, and blacksmith shop. We even tried out some old farming machinery. There were many small orchards on either side of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek. We bought 3 small pies at the Gifford House to share and try out because...well...pie! The fruit was not from the orchards but was Utah fruit. We enjoyed strawberry-rhubarb, apple, and mixed berry. Given each of our love for pie, I was pretty proud how we shared without whining. So mature.

A cool section of the park featured petroglyphs created by Ancestral Puebloan people between 600-1300 AD. It was fun trying to spot them and guessing what they may be or mean. Along the boardwalk that skirted these engravings, we spotted mice and beautiful flowers.

We took the scenic drive, enjoying the beauty in the canyon walls around us. At one point we saw large, shiny, black bumble bees getting all up in each other's faces over a flower with, apparently, delectable nectar. 

Then we did a whole lot more driving and made our way to some slot canyons. We were keeping an eye on some rain clouds in the distance because we did not want to die in a flash flood. I don't want you to get anxiety so I'll end the suspense right here. We didn't die. We also did not get caught in a flash flood. 

Also, at this time I would like to mention that no one lives out there. The Southwest is empty of people and the small towns have some very strong, able people. Or maybe introverted, solitary, or impoverished people that get to or prefer to live there. I can't believe anyone lives there. Yes, it is beautiful. It is also incredibly desolate and rugged. I was in awe of this southeast area of Utah and the few people that make it their home.

Anyway, back to our adventures. We made it to Little Wild Horse slot canyon which was our last and best slot canyon. We did not do all the miles but we really enjoyed some tight squeezes before heading back. We were thrilled with this hike.

We ended our day in Green River, UT having dinner at a restaurant right on the river's edge. We had a great window seat and the food was great. After being in such a dry and desolate area it was strange to see the amount of water traveling down the river. They also had a few hummingbird feeders so we could see them coming and going. After dinner we walked down to the bank and spotted them in the trees and watched branches or longs float by while the boys tried skipping stones.

Day 12: We made our way to Canyonlands National Park but we also wanted to hit Arches that day and knew the temperatures were only going to rise. We didn't stay in Canyonlands long but we took in some views and watched the crazy 4x4 jeeps climbing and descending the narrow dirt swtichbacks before heading out.

When we reached Arches National Park we had to wait just a short time before our reservation was open. Neal had never been to Arches so we hit the best stuff with only short walks due to time and heat. We ended the night in Blanding, UT.