Bryce Canyon

I have only been to Bryce Canyon one time previously so I was excited to go again. It was a chilly but sunny morning so perfect for hiking. We visited the Rangers station to get an idea of where to hike. We settled on the 8 mile Fairyland Loop Trail. It was a great choice. I had not hiked it before and the views were awesome.

 I love how you feel like you are in a forest and then you walk to the end of the forest and are greeted with this view!

 After the 8 mile loop we went into town, a very loose description of the place to buy food, and had lunch. It was a nice little break. Then we headed back into the park to drive to their scenic spots. This was really fun. We just stopped and checked out most of the overlooks the park has to offer.

 It was pretty chilly when we weren't hiking

Bryce is a beautiful place. It was a fun little trip.

Angels Landing and Horshoe Bend

It's Fall Break!!! It was also the end of the term leading up to fall break, which was a little stressful. It was so nice to have a plan to get away from Provo for a couple of days. I needed to get my mind off work. The term actually went great, the last day of the term did not go great. It is always one of the more stressful days of my job. One down three more to go this year.

Hannah and I left after work and headed towards Bryce Canyon. We had a campsite reserved at Ruby's Campground right by the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. We got in late and set up a tent and went to bed.

Thursday we started the day by hiking Angels Landing. This is one of the best hikes there is. It was a gorgeous fall day in Zions National Park. It was also supposed to be one of the most crowded weekends of the year. Luckily it wasn't too bad for us. The views were awesome like always.

Looking down on Walter's Wiggles

Taking some pictures at Scouts Landing (or as some people called when we were hiking it Chickens Landing, this is the turn around spot if you don't want to do the sketchy stuff)

 The valley was so beautiful with all of the fall colors.

 I just love the shot of the valley from Scouts Landing.

 We continued to the top. The views are always so amazing.

 It is so fun to hike it with people who have never done it before because it is so breathtaking.

It was a great start to fall break.

After we finished the hike we decided we had enough time to drive to horshoe bend and see it in the daylight. That ended up being a very good decision. It wasn't a terrible drive and the view was definitely worth it. It's in Page Arizona near Lake Powell.

  I know these pictures are all basically the same but it was such a cool place.

 It was also HUGE compared to the pictures I had seen.

It made for a lot of driving but it was worth it. I have wanted to see this place for a while now. It was very cool. After we got some pictures we headed to Pizza Hut for dinner. Why is pizza so good after hiking and playing all day?

We got back to camp pretty late but it was a great start to Fall Break.

My Nephews

I had the chance to watch Andrew and Emerson last weekend while Sam and Amanda celebrated their anniversary. It was exhausting but so fun. Man I love those boys. Sariah also stopped by this same evening. My nephews and her boys played so well together. It was great because we could actually visit. It was so good to see Sariah, I wish I would have documented it with a picture!

We did a fire with smores, played with my Christmas train, drove up the canyon, walked to Bridal Veil falls, went to McDonalds (biggest waste of money), took naps, went swimming. It was jam packed and exhausting.

The boys were so excited to do s'mores. It was hard to hold them off this long.

 Pretty much they ate as many marshmallows as they wanted so it was a huge success.

 Emerson LOVED watching my wash machine in action. He got so excited as it spun and added water. It was the greatest thing ever.

 We drove up the Provo Canyon so Nancy and Katie could see the fall leaves. We stopped at Vivian park so they boys could play. It was a nice crisp fall morning.

 The river and trees were so pretty in the morning light.

They enjoyed the playground but they loved playing on the old train cars that are still on the tracks. Is that even allowed? I assured Amanda other people were doing it as well. The boys were in heaven. Emerson was such a stinker about me taking his picture.

Andrew on the other hand was being awesome about letting me take his pictures.

It was such a beautiful fall day.

Running on top of one of the trains.

Then we headed back down to Bridal Vail Falls so we could see the waterfall. We parked in the lower parking and walked up. That made it a little 1/2 mile hike to the falls. The boys did well until Emerson was just too tired and asked to be picked up. He curled up in my arms and fell asleep. We wore the poor boy out.

He did pose for a couple pictures at the falls when we bribed him with ice cream. Now I know why parents do that. It totally works!

 But he was sooooo tired!

 It was such a fun and gorgeous morning

 After we got ice cream we went home and rested before going swimming. I think everyone was exhausted when Sam and Amanda showed up. It was a fun weekend!