General Conference at the Cabin

We were invited to stay in a cabin in southern Utah. This cabin was nicely located around the Duck Creek area, so we chose the weekend of General Conference and made the drive. When we arrived, we realized that the owner's idea of a cabin, and our idea of a cabin were quite a bit different. This was a beautiful house in the middle of the low cedars. There were multiple bedrooms (Mom and Dad shared, but the boys got their own), bathrooms, and TVs. We used one of those TVs to watch a good chunk of General Conference on both Saturday and Sunday. 

We stopped to eat at the Beaver Creamery.

We had to get ice cream, too!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way to the cabin.

We liked this sign that you could only read from the top bunk.

The cabin was beautiful.

There were fun places to read.

On our first night in the cabin, we went out on the large back deck just after dark. Far away in the dark, we heard the bugling of several elk. We listened, trying to makeout the direction of the noise, and to get a recording on our phones. This was the first time that most of us had heard an elk bugle, and it became a highlight of our trip. We couldn't wait for the next night when we could go out and listen to the elk. 

The large deck was fun for the views and the animals.

We saw a lot of deer. And heard a lot of elk.

There were several things that we wanted to do while we were in the area. We hadn't been to Bryce Canyon for quite a while, so we spent half a day at the national park. We tried a new hike to an arch in the bottom of the canyon. It was a little longer, and a lot steeper than other hikes we'd done in Bryce, but we made it easily and enjoyed our time on the quiet trail. 

Bryce is one of our favorite National Parks.

We love the red hoodoos.

Mom and Dad love adventuring together.

Mark is a good hiker!

We liked hiking down. It was coming up that was difficult.

Seth finds unique spots to take pictures.

The natural bridges is behind those trees.

There are two arches, bridges, or whatever they are!

We liked walking along the rim of the amphitheater, too.

Mom and Dad think clouds make the picture!

We also spotted Dad's favorite Stellar's Jay.

Since it was Autumn, we also made a couple of leaf drives. These were out along Highway 14 near Navajo Lake. The leaves were gorgeous, and we stopped and took a lot of pictures, including pictures that the boys could enter in Reflections. We drove most of the way around the lake, and we wished that we had a cabin in the area, too! We also made a quick stop in Cedar Breaks, as well as driving up to Brian Head. This peak is high and it was cold and windy, but the views were amazing! We enjoyed our stay in the area, and we were grateful for the opportunity to spend a week in the woods.

Dad took a lot of pictures of Mom because Fall is her favorite.

The leaves were so pretty.

The boys had fun exploring by the small creek.

We took reflections pictures here, too.

How did everyone get so grown up?

Pictures don't do justice to the beautiful colors.

Quick windy stop at Cedar Breaks. A mini Bryce!

It was cold and freezing at the top of Brian Head!

But the views were AMAZING!

The colorful leaves went on forever!

Mom was so happy in the leaves! And Dad just likes to be with Mom!

Spectacular September

September was spectacular. Fall really was great this year. The leaves lasted for a long time, so we enjoyed lots of beautiful Fall drives and fun. We also had a few other great adventures.

Mom went to check the leaves our mid September and they were already looking amazing!

Fall baseball

Mark and Dax both played a little Fall baseball. Dax played in quite a few tournaments and they even won a ring at one! Mark played with his old buddies from the Scrappers. It was so fun to be with these families and boys again. He had a great time and loved playing for Bryce again. They played on Saturdays and entered a few tournaments. We thought they were going to win the first, but they ran out of pitching and lost by a few runs in the championship game. It was still a fun weekend.

Mark played so well with the SWAT team. They took second.

Bryce was always so good to Mark.

Such a fun group of boys!

We spend so much time at the baseball field freezing to death!

Another ring for his collection!

Winners!

Steph Baby Shower

Stephanie is having another baby! We haven't had another baby in the family for 4 years, so we wanted to do something fun. Everyone came to Utah and we had a fancy lunch, got our hair done, and ate dessert at the Chocolate. It was so fun being together with all of the sisters and my mom. 

Mom was first to get her hair done.

All wavy and ready to go!

The brunettes!

It was a fun day with the Daniels girls.

Fall adventures and pumpkin patch

We always get invited to try lots of Fall adventures for the website. The boys look forward to cutting their own pumpkins at Glen Rays, so we headed there first! October will be full of these adventures, too!

Gordos is a cute little farm.

Dax loved these adorable baby goats.

Glen Ray's has the best pumpkins.

We went through the corn maze.

We found this itty bitty pumpkin. Of course, we brought him home!

Other fun

Seth also ran in the Hawk Walk at Highland this year. He did a great job and had a lot of fun, especially with the super hero theme. We also got to try a few different ice cream places for the website. Perfect end to summer time.

Seth colored this shirt all by himself. 

He ran a bunch of laps and got squirted by his dad's Super-Soaker, too!

Tried all of the treats at Cloud Ninth.

Mom and Dad went on a date to Sweet Rolled Tacos.