Zion National Park

Last Saturday, we FINALLY made a trip down to Zion National Park. Here's a pic from the last time we were there:

Yep....Luke was only 3 weeks old. He was such a cute little baby! Awwwww

I just can't believe it had been over two years. We used to go nearly once a month! That is, until a national parks pass jacked up to $80 a year. But on Thanksgiving, Mark's mom generously gave us our early Christmas present (money for a pass).

 

  

Zion is hands down one of the most beautiful places on earth. We're so lucky to live close by. From Cedar City, it takes just over an hour, but from Hurricane it's only about a 25 minute drive.

PS. If you click on a picture, it will take you to a photo viewing thingy where you can scan through all the pictures on the post in large format. It's awesome!

 

We decided to go on the Lower Emerald Pools hike, simply because it's short and the trail is paved so you can take a stroller on it.

 

I have pictures of Madelyn exactly like this when she was a toddler. She kicked her shoe off that ledge and Mark had to climb down and get it.

 

The Emerald Pools aren't so emerald this time of year...

There's a waterfall that splashes over the trail and makes the lower pool. There's middle and upper pools too if you want to keep hiking, but the trail is a lot harder and not paved.

Madelyn was cold and ornery to the max, but she did enjoy clambering up on some cool rocks.

 

There's a large footbridge that crosses over the Virgin River at the beginning/end of the trail.

Looking northward...

Looking south at Bridge Mountain. Gorgeous!!

A giant Fremont Cottonwood tree in front of the Lodge

 

Pretty fall colors

The Watchman, my favorite.

I'm sure we'll be back again soon! If you come visit us, we'll take you there!!

Black Friday...

Not that I didn't go to seventeen stores on Black Friday, but I just didn't go until 4:00pm when all the normal people emerged. Hey, I had a busy morning! I was up half the night coughing with Luke, who then wanted to get up at 6:30am (maybe he wanted to hit the sales?), and so consequently we both crashed in bed again till 11:00am.

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I haven't slept in like that in ages!

Anyhoo, then I had to spend a few hours paying bills, doing laundry and dishes and such. The kids were kind of bored. Madelyn decided to "do some exercise."

 

Mark has this chin-up bar (which the kids use more than he does) that Madelyn had me put up. Eventually she figured out how to shimmy up the door jambs to reach the bar. Mark's nickname as a kid was "Monkey". I think I can see where she gets this from...

 

Then she'd leap down and go run to my bed.

She decided to practice her jumping skills she's learned on "the tramp" at gymnastics. There's the tuck jump...

Pike

Straddle

CANNONBALL!!!

Let's just say those lessons are paying off!

Then Luke had to come in show her who's boss and take a swig of juice.

 

Later that night (she never got fully dressed all day), she tried really hard to make a card tower, but it kept falling down. Finally she just started scotch taping the cards together at the top. Looks like it worked! I love that silly goose.

Thanksgiving week

Okaaaayyyyy. So I am behind in my life! Behind in housework, in blogging, in crafting...I've got a pile of mending and ironing three feet high.....I haven't got a clue how I'm going to get everything done in time for Christmas. So I'm going to do something which I find annoying in other bloggers, which is try to catch up and do a ton of posts back to back. Yay for you guys! haha.

Last Tuesday, I had to go in first thing in the morning to get a dental crown done. It was horrible. I'd been putting it off, but the tooth was starting to crack. My insurance wouldn't pay for it yet (12 month waiting period) so I had to pay $958 out of pocket. Happy Holidays to you, Dr. Morris!! Hope you have fun spending my Christmas money!! Humph.

Anyway, after I finally got the feeling back in my face, Madelyn and I spent most of Wednesday cooking and baking:

(actually, these were made with frozen Rhodes roll dough that I baked. Yummy, though!)

Madelyn helping me make my Four Berry Pie. We also made pumpkin pie, roasted garlic butter, and taco soup for dinner that night.

Thursday, we ate with my side of the family, and all of my siblings, nieces and nephews were there. The food was delish.

We celebrated Emery and Shay's birthdays while we were at it. :D

Then we headed to the back yard by the pool to take family pictures. Madelyn was being super cooperative, as you can see:

This was our best shot! It's a good thing we just got a bunch of cute family pics of us last month...

The program I used to do slideshows with went out of business, so I'm trying out Smilebox. It meanders along verrrryyyy slowly, so just click on the arrow buttons to speed through.

This slideshow design customized with Smilebox

Luke had fun running over to the edge of the pool about 50 different times during the photo shoot. It sure kept us hoppin'.

Then we headed over to Mark's folks to visit, since they live in the same town as my parents.

Once we got there, Pop Yoder had to arrange the obligatory Hearts game(s) while the kids played outside.
 

Cousin Autumn Yoder was there from Las Vegas. She and Madelyn are about a month apart in age. They LOVE playing together.

The day ended with a trip to St. George. Luke, who had been sick with a cold for two weeks, wasn't doing very well at all, as it had settled into his lungs. Every year, he gets RSV/croup/bronchiolitis or whatever it is that makes him cough and wheeze like a 90-year old emphysema patient. Of course, nothing was open by the time I told Mark we really needed to get him some medicine (5:30pm on Thankgiving!) After some calling around, we finally found a Walgreens in St. George that was open, and so drove the 20 miles to get some oral steroids and then went another 50 miles back home. Luke got a lot better after we gave him the medicine.

I am thankful for my friends, my family, my home, and especially for a husband who can write prescriptions! Hope your Thanksgiving was a fun and healthy one!

More family pictures

Here's some more pics from the fabulous photo session my friend Michelle did with us at SUU in October. I LOVE THEM! Makes me want to go snuggle with those cute little munchkins of mine. Enjoy!

 

  I just love the trees in this picture! SUU campus is one of my favorite places in the world. I miss going there every day.