Sunday, Sunday...

We went to Zion National Park today to hike and enjoy a picnic lunch. The Park was so busy what with it being Memorial Day weekend.

pretty view of the mountain

It was fun though because we rode the shuttle all the way to the end of the trail (90 min ride,) and ended up walking (not hiking, too many people,) up Riverwalk. Wow, what a fun trail! The boys and Matt walked ahead of Mckenna and I because we found a really friendly squirel and Mckenna wanted to take a picture of it! We also saw a caterpillar and weeping rocks. We felt the moss on the canyon walls from the weeping rocks I told Mckenna about how we would sing when I was little and exploring while she and I were walking up the trail and so she wanted to sing "Give said the Little Stream," it was a fun thing to pass down to her. Maybe she will sing with her kids when they are hiking like we all have. We also skipped along while we were singing.


look how high the Virgin River is and how swift!

The Virgin river is so high and swift that the Narrows are closed indefinitely which is sad, because I wanted to see and try atleast the first part of the hike. We are planning on another hike through the Narrows when they allow hikers in.
On the way back down, I wanted to take some pictures of the boys since I had taken so many of Mckenna on the way up, but they didn't want to. I ended up talking Kyler into walking back down with just me and we had the funnest time. We took great pictures, saw a deer (which the others were so busy just walking down that they missed all the good stuff,) eating in the trees near the pool. Kyler was fascinated with this squirel that we ran into. It was right next to his shoe and then a man gave him a cracker that the squirel was trying to pick up and it ate the cracker with the man holding it for the squirel. Yes, it is against the park rules to feed the animals, but I guess the guy figuared that since the squirel was trying to pick it up himself from some one else dropping it that it was okay. He asked if Kyler wanted to hold the cracker but he said, "No". Kyler could have sat watching that squirel forever. He loves wildlife so much.


Mr. Squirel with his cracker

Kyler sitting in a tree



While we were wandering and eating lunch at the top of the trail, I realized that for the 20 thousandth time that I always want to bring a sketch pad and pastels to the mountains and never do, so I told the kids that we were going to drive back up Zion's sometime this week or next week and spend time drawing, coloring and painting (if I can find my oils or watercolors,) and just melding with nature. Kyler told me that he didn't want to do that because the only ones that would be able to do a great job is Devin and me. I told him that it wasn't about doing a great job it was trying something new and being in a nice quiet spot to try your hand at it. I also think that it would be fun to do alot of stuff like this during the summer because all the kids are getting older and I want them to be able to remember their summers with a smile and a loving feeling in their heart. Devin won't be with me for as long as I have had him so far, and so I especially want to do things that he can look back on with a great feeling. He may not think that he wants to do this now, but he will when he get there and starts drawing. I mean, you can hang out with your buddies, but you also need to do things with your family too. I guess, that is something that i should have known when I was younger and with my own family. But I do have fond memories of the Sunday drives to the mountains, actually to all the fun places that Dad use to drive us too and have a picnic, ride the Heber Creeper and just walk and talk, sing and hold hands with mom.

Enjoy the pictures!



Me with my cheezy grin


Kyler, Devin, Matt and Mckenna sitting at the end of River walk near the entrance to the Narrows.