Halloween Festivities

First of all, I cannot believe that Halloween is just a few days away. Where in the world has the time gone? I get so sick of saying that, but I can't help it. It seriously flies away in an instant and I'm left shrugging my shoulders.

I guess when the realization that October is almost over hit me, I morphed into FESTIVE mode yesterday and got domestic! I spent the day in the kitchen, filling my house with the yummy smells of fall. I dipped caramel apples for the first time ever. I've always wanted to do it, but just never took the time. I went to the bakery supply store and bought a 3 lb. block of caramel and went to town. After dipping them in the caramel, I rolled some of them in nuts and drizzled them with chocolate, some had toffee and chocolate, some I just drizzled with chocolate and some were just plain ol caramel. The kids could hardly contain themselves when they came home from school and saw them. If I had let them, they 'd all be gone by now.

After I got that mess cleaned up, I made a MONSTER batch of our favorite Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I LOVE the smell of my house when I bake those cookies. It makes you want to eat them as they come out of the oven! But instead, I'm going to give most of them away, along with the carameled apples. They're too much of a temptation, and quite frankly, IRRESISTIBLE, if they're sitting on the counter. I guess I'll have to keep a few for the kids to keep from getting in big trouble. They would not be happy if I didn't save any for them.

By the time all of that was cleaned up, it was time to make dinner. I threw a quick spaghetti dinner together and sat down for the first time that day! It felt so good to sit for a minute.

After dinner, I looked over at the pile of dishes that had filled the sink for the third time that day and just sighed. Chris started to do them, but I told him to hold off and asked him if he'd help the kids carve their pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins is always an interesting and fun experience! This year, we decided that we'd let the kids do most of the work. Landon was so excited to be able to draw his very own face on his pumpkin and had a very specific idea in mind. As Chris helped him carve it, Landon was right there giving him very specific instruction about how to carve the mouth. It was so cute.

Todd managed on his own and did a great job. Dylan persevered and carved his whole pumpkin all by himself. I was impressed. The knife was tough for him to maneuver, but he did it! Emmy was really enjoying herself until she started gutting the pumpkin. She wasn't really enjoying the slimy, squishy feel of the seeds, but she managed until her arms started itching so bad it hurt. I had her stop and wash her hands and arms. Within about two minutes, she had HIVES everywhere her arms touched the inside of the pumpkin. I could not believe it. I've suspected for a while that she's got a mild allergy to fruit because when she eats it, her throat starts to hurt and her ears itch from the inside. Evidently, her allergy is with more than just fruit. Maybe it's with anything raw. I don't know, but we'll find out soon. We'll be making another trip to the allergist.

We had a fun night together and the cherry on top was to light the pumpkins. We sat outside for 10 minutes just watching them glow in the dark! I really love Halloween, but once it's over, I instantly switch gears and it's all about "The Holiday Season" for me!!! I say "The Holiday Season" because Thanksgiving and Christmas are all-in-one for us. I love decorating for Christmas about mid-November. I've got so many decorations that it takes me that long to do it all! But besides that, we just love the spirit of Christmas so much that we love to incorporate it into Thanksgiving....a time of family togetherness, thankfulness and giving. Some might say that decorating for Christmas so early takes away from Thanksgiving, but it's not like that at the Morgan's house! I am sooooo excited for the coming season, but can hardly believe it's already here.

There are many more domestic cooking/baking days to come, afterall, 'Tis the Season for CHOCOLATES!!!!

Picture Time!

I took the kids on Friday to take their pictures. Most of them turned out pretty good, but it's really hard to get 4 kids to smile naturally all at the same time! I wish Chris had been with us. He can get them to smile really good with his silly antics.

The stomach flu has gone through all of the kids this past week and unfortunately, Todd was not feeling very well during this photo shoot. I felt so bad when he told me he was feeling sick again, but we were there and I didn't want to leave. I didn't get really great ones of Emmy because she had to pee so bad she could hardly stand it and Dylan forgot his glasses and has a red kool-aid mustache!! But HEY, what do ya do??!! Considering the circumstances, I can't complain about how the pictures turned out. We had fun taking them. I had fun playing with the photo editor as well. Here are some of my favorite....

Our Week With CC and Chelsea

We had an AWESOME week with our kids from Florida!! It was so nice to take the week off and enjoy their company.

We took another road trip to Moab so they could see the the spectacular sights there. This time, we made sure we hiked the 3 mile hike to Delicate Arch very first. It was so worth it! The weather was absolutely PERFECT, despite the wind.

Our hike was pretty uneventful until Landon dropped his water bottle on the slick rock and started chasing it. Everyone was yelling at him to stop chasing it and just let it go, but he kept going. My heart was in my toes as I watched him gain speed. I was too far away from him to grab him and was so afraid that he was going to trip and roll off the cliff with the water bottle. When he realized the bottle was going faster than he could, he stopped and sobbed. I think he was more upset about everyone yelling for him to stop than he was about losing his water. I was absolutely beside myself. Someone had a hold of his hand the rest of the way up.

Little did we know that the worst was yet to come!! Mr. typical-teenage-not-thinking-boy CC decided to stray off the marked path and take a short cut. We thought when we saw him at the top of a rock that he'd just come back down, just like he'd been doing the whole hike up. But NO. He kept going. By the time we rounded the corner to Delicate Arch, several of the family members were already there. The first thing that Chris and I heard was, "CC's stuck on a ledge down below the Arch."

Emmy was already anxious about the heights and the cliffs without railings and the strong winds, but when she heard that, she panicked. So I stayed up on the ridge with her while Chris went down to assess the situation. The more details I heard while Chris was gone, the more upset I got about the whole thing. How could he do that? WHAT on earth was he thinking????? Did he not realize...? You know, typical mother things to think. I feared that we were going to have to call in a rescue team.

From what I could gather, he was inching over on a ledge about the width of his foot....the width - NOT the length...so I'm guessing about 6 inches - if that - thinking that from there, he could just crawl up the slick rock to safety and be with everyone else. WRONG!!!! By the time he got to the point of no return, he quickly realized that it was much too steep to climb up on his own, as there was NOTHING to hang on to. So......he stood there, stuck.

I could see from a distance that Chris was trying to figure out how to help him up. It was too steep for him to simply reach down and grab him. He would've fallen. When Emmy realized what Chris was doing, she was HYSTERICAL. She was so afraid that he was going to fall or that CC would accidentally pull him over. Luckily, April thought quick and threw Chris her sweatshirt so he could lower it to CC and pull him up. THANK HEAVEN IT WORKED!!!!! April photographed the whole incident. I don't think CC has ever been so terrified in his life. He was so grateful that he was safe in dad's arms after he was able to crawl up the side of that slick rock. UGH.......we were all a bag of mixed emotions. Relieved, happy and grateful that it all ended well. Mad, angry and upset that it even happened at the same time! Oma told him he was going to get a spanking! I thought that was hilarious. I told her she should've turned him over her knee.

By that time, despite the successful rescue, Emmy was convinced that someone was going to get blown off a cliff by the wind. So to help her cope, she wedged herself under a rock and hid her face so she wouldn't have to see people sitting what she perceived to be too close to the edge.

The Arch itself was breathtaking. Again, I marveled at the beauty of the earth and thought about it's creation. Simply amazing!

Soon enough, we were on our way down and everyone was safe. By the time we got back to the van, we were tired and hungry.

We ate lunch and then did a few more of the really easy hikes. Here are a few pics from Sand Dune Arch....

Corie and April

CC and Chelsea on top of Sand Dune Arch with Dylan sand jumping below.

We did Canyonlands on day 2. Dead Horse Point was so much prettier this time. There was no haze in the air and I got some awesome pictures! It was pretty cold though. It was only around 50 degrees when we got there, but by the time we had been walking around for a while, the cool temps felt so nice.

We found a letterbox hidden in the rocks. At first glance, it looked like someone left their garbage sitting there. My initial reaction was to be mad. I reached down and picked it up and in big, bold letters, it said "THIS IS NOT GARBAGE!" and then explained what to do with it. We opened the box and inside we found a notebook that had been signed by all different kinds of people from different places. It was pretty cool. We all signed it and then hid it again for the next person to find.

Our next destination was Mesa Arch. I wasn't sure I would be able to make that hike because I was in flip flops. I got a huge blister on my right heel from the Delicate Arch hike and could not wear my sneakers. I decided to try it anyway. It wasn't bad. There was only one spot where there was slick rock covered in sand that I was worried about losing traction, but I just held onto Chris and I was fine.

This arch is so spectacular. The view is breathtaking - literally. I decided to be brave and sit with Chris near the edge. I was fine as ling as I was holding on to him, but when he got up and left, my stomach dropped immediately to my toes and my head started spinning. I seriously felt like I was falling. Of course I was fine, but I felt too exposed to the edge.

Emmy, once again, was freaking out about everyone being too close to the edge. She just didn't have a very happy experience. I just couldn't understand what her problem was. she was just fine when we were there a month ago.

Hannie was such a trooper! She made every hike with us and never complained once. She used her cane to help with her knee, but she's quite the studly hiking Oma!!!!!

After that, we ate lunch and headed over to Upheaval Dome. Dylan got car sick on the way there, so me and Landon opted to stay in the van with him. When he felt better, we walked around and took a couple of pictures to pass the time.

Once again, we had a great time. I don't think I could ever see too much of that place. I look forward to going back again.

While we were in Moab, it snowed in the valley for the first time this year. CC and Chelsea were kind of bummed that they missed it, so on Monday, we took them up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Silver Lake. It was so gorgeous up there. There was enough snow to be beautiful, but not too much to be miserable.

Only in Utah can you be on desert slick rock one day and in snowy mountains the next! It was awesome. Chels made a snow angel and a tiny snowman with Landon. She and CC had fun pelting each other with snowballs. We had a GREAT time. Todd, Emmy and Dylan were really miffed when they found out where we'd been while they were in school. Oh well, it's not like they haven't seen it before!

From Big Cottonwood Canyon, we drove to Little Cottonwood Canyon to the temple quarry and showed the kids where the stone for the Salt Lake Temple came from. They thought it was pretty cool as they checked out the reject pile that had visible spike markings in the stone. The history of the Salt Lake Temple really fascinates me. There was a kind of reverence I felt as we walked around the quarry.

Our week with the kids went way too fast, but it ended on such a great note! On Tuesday, October 14th, we went to the temple with CC. Chris was his escort. He was a pretty proud dad! It was such an awesome experience. CC was absolutely glowing as we sat there in the session. I had to stop looking over at him because I kept getting teary eyed and like a dumby, I didn't have any tissues with me. We stayed in the Celestial Room for quite a while. We let CC take his time to absorb, ponder and pray. I will NEVER forget that night and how great it felt. I am so happy he waited to go through with us here in Utah. It really meant a lot to share that experience with him.

It seriously feels just like yesterday that Chris and I went through. How in the world is it possible for us to be taking our oldest son through? My mind has had a hard time wrapping itself around that little reality! Time seriously seems to be flying at light speed. I feel like I'm going to miss something if I blink.

It was a hard good-bye for me this time. Not that it hasn't been hard all the other times we've had to put them on an airplane back to Florida, but this time seemed especially hard. I just wanted them to stay forever. They both have such special spirits and I didn't want them to leave. I look forward to seeing CC again in a month when he comes to the MTC, and we'll see Chelsea again in May when she graduates from High School. It's not like it's going to be forever - but I know it will feel that way.

Fire Pit in the Backyard

Ahhhhhhh.....the cool air of fall is here. It was stormy and rainy today, but we weren't about to let a few rain drops stop us from using the fire pit tonight. The kids love to roast weenies over the fire and this is the PERFECT time of year to do it. There's something so cozy about being able to do it in your own backyard. It kinda feels like you're camping only you get to go inside if you get too cold, take a shower and sleep in your own bed! It's the best of both worlds ;)

Road trip to Moab

First of all, next time I decide to take a vacation, PLEASE remind me to make sure I take a day or two off to recover from the vacation itself. WOW! We had a TON of fun, but we hiked our fannies off - which in my case isn't such a bad idea - but boy am I WORN OUT!

I guess I'll just start from the beginning and chronicle each day as it happened.

DAY 1:

We packed up on Friday, met Heather and her crew at their house and began our journey to Moab. The drive there was really pretty uneventful. We heard the classic, "Are we there yet?" or "How much longer?" questions a few times, but over all, the kids were very tolerant of the drive. It probably helped that Chris rigged up the laptop in the van so they could watch movies. It's amazing how that can help the time pass so quickly. We watched Mr. Mom, Mad Monster Party, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and started Young Frankenstein. I was really worried about the long stretches between potty breaks, but there was no problem there, so that was a huge wipe-my-forehead-and-take-a-sigh-of-relief load off my shoulders. Seriously, you have no idea how worried I was. Generally, we can't travel from our house to Bountiful or American Fork without someone in tears because they have to pee so bad it hurts!!

We got into town around 5:30-ish. We decided to go see Dead Horse Point before we checked into the hotel, so that was our first destination stop.

Words cannot describe the grandeur that I saw as I looked out over the landscape, and for the first time in my life, saw Dead Horse Point with my own eyes! It was absolutely breathtaking. The sun was low, so there were harsh shadows and the color was a bit washed out, but that didn't matter. It was almost too much to take in. I have heard many people say this, but never really understood it myself until now, but pictures just don't do this area of Utah justice. You can't capture the vastness of it as a whole. You can't capture the feelings you feel when you first walk up on it - ESPECIALLY if you're a little wary of heights like I am!! But it wasn't about my fear of heights. I marveled at what my eyes were seeing. I was suddenly filled with that familiar, overwhelming emotion as I thought of our Creator and his hand in it all. It was a very unexpected spiritual experience for me.

We were having a great time and the kids loved to look over the wall to see the sheer drop off that was below them. We walked around the rest of Dead Horse Point and let the kids explore and run around for a while. Emmy gave us a huge scare as she bounced up onto some rocks that were above the guard rail and wide open to a really scary cliff. We got upset with her and she started crying. Nothing after that could console her. She said we yelled at her for no reason, so she obviously didn't realize the danger she was in. All it would've taken was one wrong step or an unexpected trip to send her thousands of feet down into the depths of the canyon. The mere thought of that was too much for both Chris and me. UGH.......I can't even think about it.

By the time we left the canyon, the sun was setting behind the mountains and it was getting dark. We were tired and hungry so we stopped to eat dinner at Wendy's in Moab.

I don't know what was going on, or if it's just peak season, but there wasn't an available room anywhere in Moab when Heather and I booked the rooms a month or two ago, so J told us to book rooms in Monticello. Little did we know that Monticello was an hour drive south of Moab. That hour was a very loooooooong hour!!!

We were all so tired and ready to fall into bed as we pulled up to the hotel. The kids slept most of the drive there, but wanted to lay down in a bed. Chris and J went inside to check in. It seemed like it was taking an awfully long time and I was getting impatient as I saw Heather get out of her van. She came to my window and told me that she had to go in because the guy said there was only one room reserved. She was absolutely livid because the day before we traveled, she called the hotel to confirm that we did indeed have TWO rooms and that it was paid in FULL. She was assured by the lady she talked to that we had two rooms and everything was good to go.

I don't know exactly what went down in the lobby because I stayed outside with the kids, but when Heather, J and Chris walked out, I knew nothing had been resolved. Heather told me she'd never seen Chris so mad! The guy behind the counter asked him to go outside, but he refused. He said it was all he could do not to jump over the counter and slug that guy in the teeth. He was so unprofessional and didn't care that we had confirmation numbers and had paid in full. He just shifted the blame to a girl that works during the day and basically said that the situation wasn't his problem. So......we stuffed 4 adults and 8 children into one room with 2 queen beds and VERY limited floor space. It was a rough night. Neither one of us slept very well - if at all. It was HOT - we're used to sleeping in a frigid room - and J was snoring! I don't know how Heather can sleep through that!

DAY 2:

We all got up, got ready and went to eat the crappy continental breakfast the hotel offered. Heather took care of business and got things straightened out with the girl who got the blame from the knuckle head we had to deal with the night before. She could not believe what she was hearing as Heather told her what happened. Her jaw kept hitting the floor and then she told us that he's not normally behind the counter - that he's just the audit guy, but was filling in for someone. Anyway.....we were assured that there would be 2 rooms when we came back for the night.

So our plans for the day were to go to Canyonlands National Park. Since we stayed in Monticello, we started with the south part of the park. It was quite a drive up the canyon before we got to the park, but it was so beautiful. We kept buzzing about Canyonlands and what there was to see there, the kids were full of anticipation! Then out of the blue, Landon piped up and said as he sighed, "Dad, when in the heck are we going to get to Candyland???" We all busted up laughing! It was so funny because he was so serious. We giggled as we discussed the imagination cloud that must've been above Landon's head as he thought about gumdrop lined pathways, lollipop signs, chocolate waterfalls and rivers and cotton candy clouds!!!!!! I think he was really disappointed when we corrected him. It was so cute though - DEFINITELY the highlight of the day!!

We stopped in at the visitor's center for a potty break and to look around for a minute. I'm so glad we did. One of the park rangers told the kids about the Jr. Ranger badges they could earn if they completed some things in a little booklet that he gave them. So they each took a booklet, eager to do what they needed to so they could bring it back for their badge. We walked around a little bit and read some interesting facts about what there was to see. Emily was especially interested because she learned that the particular area we were in was once inhabited by the Anasazi Indians, who she just happens to be learning about in school. She was able to see an ancient mug, arrow heads and a portion of a sandal that was from the Anasazi people. She was so excited to go back to school and tell her teacher all about it!!

Our first stop was Cave Springs. We saw a lot of really cool stuff. There was an old cowboy camp with some of the artifacts that they left behind. There were a lot of overhanging rocks that we had to walk under on the hike. It was kind of spooky to think that we were walking underneath a huge rock that wasn't much taller than Chris. Then we came to two ladders that we had to climb in order to continue the hike. The kids thought that was pretty cool. Once we got to the top, the view was amazing. You could see forever. We spent some time at the top playing and taking in the view before heading off to our next destination.

We took a drive further up the canyon to see the Needles. That was really cool, but thinking that there was a better viewing spot, I didn't take a picture. Turns out that viewing spot was in a completely different part of the park. Oh well. We couldn't simply drive from the south end of the park through to the north end. We had to drive out the way we came. On our way out, we stopped to look at a roadside ruin used by Ancestral Puebloans as a grain storage bin. These structures were always hidden in inconspicuous places so they couldn't be seen to prevent others from stealing their grain storage. I thought it was pretty cool.

Before we left the park, we stopped back in at the visitors center so that the kids could get their Jr. Ranger badges. The Park Ranger was so cute with them. She checked each of their books and then swore them all in as Jr. Rangers. There was a small audience of elderly people that just thought that was the cutest thing ever, and quite frankly, so did I! Todd and Austin were embarrassed and thought it was stupid, but the other kids loved it!

We had to drive another hour to get to the north side of Canyonlands, but it was well worth the drive! We went to the Island in the Sky part of Canyonlands to see Mesa Arch. WOW!! What a view. I know I keep saying that, but that's just how it was. I just don't have words to say how awesome it was....I'm not a good writer. This is an arch that we had to approach with care as there was no guard rail between us and the deep, dark parts of the canyon floor below! There was a cool breeze blowing up in our faces as we carefully tried to look over the edge. I kept getting butterflies just looking at a distance, but my heart was in my toes as I watched others sit right on the edge of the ledge to take pictures. Even the kids were feeling a bit dizzy looking out and were anxious to get to some safer feeling ground, so on we went. We saw some really cool twisted, dead trees as we completed the hike and the kids had fun pretending to sit on the cactus.

Our last stop of the day was at Upheaval Dome. This was the hardest hike of the day because of the steep incline. It was pretty much stairs the whole way. The sign at this location speculates that it was ground zero for a huge meteor. Click on the picture to read the sign. It was pretty mind boggling to think of a meteor hitting earth and leaving that kind of crater.

Again, the sun was setting as we left the park and it was dark before we got into town to eat. This time we ate at McDonald's. Not the best diet, but we had to eat as cheap as we could! The kids were so excited to get to eat out 2 nights in a row. What a treat!

The hour drive back to Monticello seemed twice as long. I was so tired from all the hiking and sun exposure that I just wanted to fall asleep. We got to the hotel at 10:30 p.m. and the kids were dying to go swimming in the pool. At first I told them no, but as I considered the amount of caffeine I had just drank, I knew I wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon. So we all went swimming. Heather and J actually got in the hot tub, but I didn't feel like showering afterwards, so I opted to stay dry!

Boy did I sleep like a rock that night! My head hit the pillow and I didn't hear a thing until about 8:30 the next morning.

Day 3:

I woke up anxious to go see Arches National Park. Knowing that we would be hiking a lot again today, I decided I should stretch out and loosen my muscles a little before we left. Surprisingly, I wasn't sore at all.....until I had some nasty charlie horses, that is. I did my stretches and got busy packing everything into the van so that we could check out of the hotel. As I sat down to put my sneakers on, both of my lower legs began to get tight. I stood up and tried to stretch it out, but the charlie horse didn't stop. It just got stronger and harder. Oh my goodness did it hurt!! All I could do was sit there and wait for it to relax. It only lasted for 15 - 20 seconds, but it seemed more like a minute. I could hardly walk and my legs were so stiff and sore after that. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to hike.

We checked out and drove the hour to Moab. I didn't think the pain in my legs was so bad until I got out of the van to walk into the visitors center. I did my best to ignore it and didn't complain. I wasn't about to let it ruin my last day at Arches.

We got our map and plotted out our visit. I honestly had no idea that there was so much to see in Arches. Our first stop was the first attraction, which happened to be what they call Park Avenue. What can I say that I haven't already said? It was simply AWESOME!! As we truly began to realize how fatigued we all really were and that the temperature was going to be harsh, and not pleasant like the two previous days, we decided to drive to the top and work our way down so that we could do the hikes we wanted to before we all fell over! We also agreed that any hike over a 1/2 mile each way was out of the question!! So with that, off we went.

We stopped really quick at Fiery Furnace for a potty break. We just walked to the look out point to see what we could. We didn't do the hike through it. Our next stop was just up the canyon a little bit to Skyline Arch. This particular arch was rather intriguing because in 1940, a HUGE boulder fell out of the arch, doubling it's size. It's amazing to think about how it takes millions of years for these arches to form and that at any given moment, something like that could happen. When you get to the base of Skyline Arch, all the rock that fell in 1940 is right there. It's so cool to look up and see how jagged some parts of the arch are, not all rounded like the rest of them that have been eroded by the elements over who knows how many millions of years. All the boulders provided a great playground for Chris, J and all the kids for a good half hour. Heather and I opted to stay behind in the cool shade!

Next we took a .2 mile hike to Sand Dune Arch. We were really liking the fact that this one was only .2 miles! Once we got through a very narrow crevice, we came upon a child's paradise full of SAND!!! It was so fine and cool to the touch. Although this was the shortest of all the hikes that we did, it seriously was one of the hardest! I quickly remembered how much I HATE walking in sand for any distance. And to get to the arch was UPhill. The sand was so fine that your feet sank as you stepped so it took so much effort to walk that short distance. I guess I'd have to say it was worth it though. Again, Chris started climbing the rocks and took the kids exploring for a little while. By the time we got back to the van, everyone had shoes full of sand and were ready for lunch.

We drove down to Wolfe Ranch, which is where the Delicate Arch trail starts to eat. It was HOT, we were sweaty and tired, so we really took our time eating. As we sat there, we realized that this trail head was the long 3 mile hike, which we all knew we'd never make, so we drove a short distance to the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint trail head. That was only a .5 mile hike. We figured we could handle another half mile and at this point figured that seeing Delicate Arch at a distance was better than not seeing it at all.

Although the distance was short, even the kids were out of gas. They were the ones asking to stop for a rest and not wanting to get back up. By this time, the heat was blistering and was really sucking the fun out of the whole experience. We made it, but nobody wanted to gather for a picture. With enough persistence from me, however, I managed to coax them over for one last pose with the most photographed landmark in Utah, with the promise that I wouldn't make them pose for anymore. The walk down was intense for me. I seriously didn't know if I was going to make it. My legs were so stiff and sore from the charlie horses that walking down all of those steep stairs was just about more than they could take. I was out of water and there was absolutely no breeze. I felt like the trail was getting longer, not shorter. But I did make it. We stopped for another potty break and then drove down to our very last stop.

Luckily, this last stop was Balanced Rock and was just a short stroll on a level sidewalk. As close to the road as it was, Emmy and Dylan didn't want to get out of the van and walk another step. J stayed in their van with Kailey because she fell asleep, so Em and Dylan sat with them while the rest of us walk the 100 yards to Balanced Rock.

You can't look at how that rock is balanced on top of it's pillar without dropping your jaw to the ground in amazement. It looks like it could topple off at any given moment. It looks like if you walked up to it and shook the base of it, or blew on it too hard it would fall. WOW!!

We drove down the canyon and were on our way home by about 5 p.m., if I remember right. We weren't 5 minutes down the road when I realized how quiet it was in the van. I looked back and every one of the kids were ZONKED! We truly wore them out. The quiet was nice as Chris and I started talking about coming back in October when CC and Chelsea come, so that we can see the rest of what we didn't get to see!

The kids slept the hour and a hlaf drive to Price where we stopped for dinner at Taco Bell. We pulled into the garage around 9:30 p.m. and were so happy to be home! As much fun as we had, there really is no place like home.