Bryce Canyon Day 2

We got upgraded hotels when we arrived, so we were in the one across the street with the really nice breakfast. We also had two rooms, so each of the boys had their own beds, and only Mom and Dad had to share. It was important we got a good night's sleep and a good breakfast because we had an e-bike ride scheduled at 9 o'clock. We snugged on our helmets, loaded our saddlebags, and started our ride into Bryce Canyon National Park. 

The ride was really beautiful along the bike trail, and we spotted a few deer on the way in. Later we spotted a towhee, pinyon jays, tanagers, and even a short-horned lizard. We weaved in and out of bristle cone pines in the perfect cool morning. It really was very beautiful, and we got to see this park in a way we'd never experienced before. Several times we parked the bikes and walked to a viewpoint to enjoy the view. Mostly, we enjoyed cruising along through the trees, feeling the wind in our hair. We enjoyed the 5 mile ride so much that we even took an extra ride to Fairyland Overlook.

Riding the e-bikes was so much fun.

It was amazing to go into a national park this way.

Mom had a blast!

Dax was nice and hung out in the back with mom!

Bryce Canyon is beautiful!

We liked riding to all the viewpoints on our bikes.

Such a beautiful day!

This was our favorite thing at Bryce Canyon this trip.

Cute little horned lizard.

Seth loved being able to ride his own bike!

We made it to our fourth Utah National Park this year.

After returning the bikes, we were ready for a hike. We know a short half-mile walk just outside the park called Mossy Cave, which features a man-made waterfall. We'd done this one before, but it's fun and easy, so we walked along slowly and enjoyed ourselves.

The water was freezing. We didn't last long!

We love this little trail.

The boys wanted a quick lunch before our next hike, so we stopped at Subway. Then we made a drive out to Taylor Creek. This one is another old favorite, though it is a little longer and much more difficult to get to. Still, it has a waterfall and narrows down to a slot in three separate places. Then, it ends at a fairly large arch. There are only a few places you can see all three of those features on one hike.

Willis Creek is amazing!

The rock formations are so cool.

The waterfall was just a trickle this visit.

Mark is such a good rock explorer.

Dax was a good hiker despite his aching knee.

It was hot!

We had a fun time!

We went back to the hotel for a short break in the middle of the day. It wasn't too hot, but we'd been really busy, so we sat for a while. The boys even spent a little time in the pool before we grabbed dinner.

Then we went to the rodeo. They have a small rodeo that runs every day in the summer, and though it didn't really compare to the Lehi Round-Up, it was still entertaining. They had kids involved with riding sheep and barrel racing. On our night, no one successfully rode a bull for more than 5 seconds, not to mention 8, but the bulls were still exciting. Mostly we laughed along with the other fans at the fun, rather than watched a world-class rodeo like we're used to.

We have so much fun together.

Always being silly.

This rodeo was pretty small!

We still had fun!

The sunset was nice!

Bryce Canyon Day 1

In March we went to Capitol Reef for a few days. Then we visited Arches and Canyonlands on Spring Break. When we got the opportunity to spend a few days in Bryce Canyon, we jumped at the chance! 

The day after Dax's Red Sox won the city tournament and Seth's Rangers qualified for state, we headed south. We got a late start because the fence guys came that morning and set the posts for the fence on the south side of our property. That meant that we didn't arrive at Ruby's Inn until after 4:30. After checking into the hotel, we went to their big restaurant. They have a gorgeous buffet, but we opted for the steak and shrimp (Dad and Dax for the steak and Mom and Mark for shrimp). The food was really good, and Seth even shared an item or two from the buffet with the rest of us.

Oh Seth!

After dinner, we drove out through the national park. It was pretty quiet because clouds had rolled in, and most of us opted for jackets as we did Bristlecone Loop Trail. It was a short mile, and the wind was blowing enough that we had to hold onto our hats. Still, the first hike in every national park is magical.

It was so windy!

Mom's hair was crazy!

This trail has some nice views.

Mom and Dad are adorable.

Bristlecone Loop!

We like to stop at the overlooks on the scenic drive, and the arch is our favorite one.

Of course, by the end of the hike, it was getting later, but that didn't stop us from stopping for some ice cream. Seth was also able to convince us to go swimming for a few minutes, but it was chilly. So Dax and Seth didn't last too long in the pool.

Ruby's Inn has a cute little old west town with an ice cream shop.

It was a nice evening despite the chill.

Freezing!

Youth Conference

Mark:

Youth Conference this year was probably my favorite one ever. We had a quite a few kids that actually came, including many Priests, and we enjoyed Bradley's tour guiding on the way down to Moab in our Bishop's truck. We arrived at camp earlier than most, and got a pretty good spot to set up our World War 2 style tent that barely stood up for the few days we were in it. We squeezed 6 people into the tent but that's all part of the fun. We took a quick trip to the Monticello Temple, and I ended up baptizing most of the people in our group. That night we had some fun hanging out and accidentally blowing some stuff up in the fire. We enjoyed watching the Teachers do dumb stuff because there were some girls there, and that's their favorite part of the whole thing. We then talked loudly pretty much all night before getting a scant amount of sleep until the light came.

The Priests rode with Bishop Rich on the way down.

Mark loved the campsite in the mountains.

He did not love the tent.

Monticello Temple selfie.

Late Night Shenanigans

The next day, we woke up and had a decent breakfast before hopping in the truck and heading over to Arches. We sat in line for a few minutes before getting in and then got ahead of some of the cars in our group. This allowed us to stop at all the viewpoints and see Arches before making it to the trailhead. It was a hot one out as we headed up to Delicate Arch, but a couple other Priests and I kept a good pace the entire way. We took a classic group picture at the top, and then began the trek down. We thought we were cooking as we half-ran down the trail, but as we neared the bottom we turned around to see some of the Young Women keeping pace with us somehow. We waited for a while at the bottom of the trail for some of the slower members of the group before heading back out to Moab.

Quick stop at Balanced Rock.

Made it to Delicate Arch.

Ockey boys!

The whole gang!

Our group traveled a bit out of the town to a nearby reservoir which was pretty cold and not great for swimming. We skipped some rocks and a few people did the rope swing, but it wasn't as fun as the arch hike. Then we headed back to the park in Moab for dinner and a really fun Ultimate Frisbee game with almost everyone in the entire ward. That night we had our Testimony Meeting, which was, as always, very spiritual and moving. Then we spent some time back at the camp teaching some of the Young Women about the stars (No, it wasn't like that! I promise, we leave that to Dax!) before going to bed a bit earlier than the night before. 

We woke up a bit later and almost missed breakfast, but still managed to get our tent down before everyone else. We helped the other classes clean up and then headed over to our last hike at Millcreek. This was a fun one, and we ended up just walking in the river for the second half of the hike, which, although cooler, was also much more painful. We hung out at the small waterfall for a few minutes with the 3,000 other people that decided to hike it that day, and then came back through the river the way we'd come. We got out halfway and literally burned our feet on the sand. We made it back after some crying, one lost person, and some foot pain, but everyone made it. We began the long trip back with one stop at a gas station (the power was out so it was useless) and took a couple naps along the way. It was a super fun trip and bonds were formed for sure between our group and the entire ward. 

Not sleeping.

Mill Creek Waterfall. We did this as a family a month earlier.

Gas station stop

Dax: 

The first day we drove up six hours all the way to Moab and set up camp. We went to the Monticello Temple, which was interesting with a big group because it was so small. We even had to split into two groups because there were not enough stalls for everyone to change. 

We hung out the second night, watched a movie, and my best friend and I got our hair done. We stayed up late in our tent, which was a bad idea. While we were talking, we heard giggling outside our tent after everything we said. We went outside and saw 5 of the Young Women standing about 5 feet from our tent. We asked them what they were doing and they replied, "Stargazing." When we asked them why they were doing this 5 feet from our tent they said, "Well we were just walking past to that clearing over there." We went back in our tent and came out a couple minutes later to see what they were doing. They were in the opposite direction from the clearing about twenty feet from our tent. Our suspicions were then confirmed. They were spying on us. 

Dax didn't take a lot of pictures. But his hair looks nice!

The next day we got up and drove into Arches National Park. Most people walked to Delicate Arch, but a few of us decided to trail run it. The top was cool, and the arch was as cool as ever, but it was extremely hot. On the way down my best friend, a Young Woman, a Priest, and I were stopping for a rest break from running. Once we started running a lady asked the Priest, Jackson, if we were his kids. We thought this was hilarious because we were all 15 and the Priest was only 18. 

After the hot arch hike we went to cool off in a nearby reservoir. The lake was pretty cool but still nice. Soon we discovered a rope swing. I was the first to go off it to test it out. I swung out but my legs got caught in the water. I dragged along flipped and face planted into the water. We got back and had a nice devotional and then went to bed. We stayed up way too late again and had to wake up early in the morning. We packed up and went on a nice water fall hike, and then drove the six hour drive back.