Friday, February 15, 2013

Fun Times in Utah

I have one week left here in Utah.  The time has gone by fast.  I'll be sad to leave but excited to get back home.  We have done so much over the past few weeks. 

Girls Weekend in Las Vegas:




 Mom, Amy and I went to Las Vegas for a well needed weekend get away.  We didn't get many pictures of this weekend because we were having too much fun.  We ate at Cheesecake Factory, shopped, shopped and shopped some more, laughed until we cried, and played games.  

Amy, Justin, and Haddie's visit:
 
Amy, Justin and Haddie came up for a weekend.  The kids has tons of fun playing with Haddie.  Haddie kept waking up early wanting to play with the kids, too.  Tyler followed her around for the first few days taking many, many pictures and videos of just her.  So we've got pictures and videos of her walking and her eating and her sitting and her climbing the stairs.  Its a good things she's so cute! 


  


Amy and I went to Les Mis while she was here.  I loved the movie!  Bawled through the end of it.  Les Mis is one of my favorite stories and plays.  It has so many wonderful messages about love, forgiveness, justice and mercy.   


Dad and Mom took us out for ice cream at Yogurt Land.  Fantastic place.  A lot like Sweet CeCe's but more choices in yogurt flavors.  It was very yummy!  Thanks, Mom and Dad!


Glitter Pit:

Out in the desert near St. George there is an area full of glittery rocks called gypsum.  I wish I could really show how much they sparkled and how many of them there were.  They literally covered the ground!






 The kids collected so many rocks that their bags split.  Hannah took her coat off and used it as a makeshift bag.  We eventually had to limit their choices to 4.  There was no way I was shipping 30 pounds of rock back home. 

 Star Wars Canyon:

Dad discovered by accident this canyon.  He named it Star Wars canyon because it reminded him so much of the this: 
http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/g/u/e/guerre-des-etoiles-1977-77-g.jpg

 While we were hiking through it I could definitely see the similarities.  It is a narrow slot canyon that has been worn away over the years by water.  We could see evidence of the many layers that have been worn away over time.




Mud from a previous rain.  It dried in paper thin sheets that you could pick up if you were really careful.
  
Layers deposited over time by water.  There are 3 distinct layers here.

That's Amy sitting in the "Giant's Amphitheater." She's sitting on this very large step on the wall of the canyon.  There were several more steps farther up.

Hannah rock climbing!


Tyler digging for gold.  Unfortunately all he found was the top of a large rock.

We didn't go all the way through.  Once you get to a certain spot you have to climb over these 10 feet high boulders to get to the next level down.  Not too safe with three younger kids in the group.

If you look carefully you can see the huge boulders we would have had to climb over.