Busiest Weekend Ever!

Chace and Rivka, you BYU-day besties are crazy folks. They sold all of their earthly possession and are moving from Chicago to Portland. They made time to stop in our necks of the woods on their way across the country.

We decided to meet up with them in Moab on Friday afternoon. That morning I got a brand new (to me) fancy camera. I told a friend I was in the market for one, and she told her friend, who called me. Long story short, I bought a camera and made a friend. I keep calling Nanette, the old owner, and she's so helpful! Who knew the camera would come with technical support :)

Five minutes after we left Henry decided eating markers was fun to do - to do, to do, to do (name that song!). He dropped said marker into the carseat where it soaked into his shorts the rest of the 3 hour car trip. He was green for days.

Utah is such a stark difference from the lush Indiana I grew up in, but it is amazingly beautiful in its own way.

After getting settled at our campground in Moab, lots of hugs, chatting, and snacks we were on our way to Arches National Part. We didn't have a lot of time (it was 4pm before we got there). So we decided on Delicate Arch.

Holy baby-packing. The kids were really good but we sure did take turns carrying them up that mountain.

Hot and tired but enjoying the view!

And then be packed them back down. Macey did super well on the way up but was really grumpy and over the whole thing on the way down. We all survived to tell the tale though.

We ate dinner later (9pm!) then all 5 us snuggled into a 2 man tent where we all through our share of fits (minus Thomas, he's so composed), shed a few tears, and then nodded off to sleep. I'll be the first to tell you that I don't think I slept more than 2 hours. It was terrible. I am just not a good camper.

The next morning we stopped at Copper Ridge to check out some dinosaur footprints.

Kimball in a track!

And then we saw the terrifying beast that made the prints. Oh wait. That's just Chace.

We headed over to Goblin Valley State Park. If you are in the area and have never been, you should look it up. It is amazing and not very well known. There are tons of crazy rock formations that you can just climb all over. The kids LOVED playing here and it is just plain neat.

In another life Thomas and Chace will be B-boys. I kid you not. Break dancing on the rocks.

My three billy-goats who scaled an especially tall formation and were so proud of themselves.

Crawling through a little tunnel.

We then headed over to a gorgeous slot canyon that is just a few miles from Goblin Valley - Little Wild Horse Canyon. My kids were so done at this point and we really grumpy. Good thing they are still cute though.

One fun thing about this trip was I packed a "nature journal" for Macey. So anytime she was tired of walking, being packed, or just of life, we sat on a rock, pulled out her journal and she drew the things that she saw. She really liked this and it was a fun distraction for her. I'll be doing this in the future too.

We came home Saturday night and put all of the babies in the bath. You've never seen dirty water in all of your life, I'll tell you what. They snuggled into bed and slept well while we got to chat with our friends.

The next morning was church and then we came home and took naps. Every single person in the house fell asleep and it was a wonderful, much needed, treat. We then made some brownies, picked flowers from the yard, and sat on a quilt outside to chat while the kids played.

Then before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye again. This is all that Chace and Rivka own, by the way! I don't think that I could pack my life into a van and wagon.

Oh how I love this face :) "You come and see me in Or-a-gan, now ya hear!" What a goon.

Thanks for the great but too-short weekend. We'll come see you all in Oregon this fall!