The Great Red Rock Tour of 2008

Sorry to be gone so long, but life's been a little crazy here with moving and all. Plus, we managed to squeeze in a family reunion to St. George, Utah right in the middle of all the chaos! It was great to see family; how we miss living close enough to visit more often...

Anyway, we took a fun family trip, giving our kids the grand tour of the amazing canyons of Utah and Arizona. If you've never been able to do this, you gotta try it sometime! We wore out our new National Parks pass, seeing the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, Zion's Canyon, Kolob Canyons, Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon, all in one week. I think the littlest ones got a little tired of looking at rocks, but we had a great time overall. Thank heavens for kids who travel well, not to mention in-car dvd players and mp3 players.

After the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest, we went on to St. George for some family fun, but managed to sneak away one afternoon to hit Zion's and Cedar Breaks. Cedar Breaks ended up being one of our family's favorite spots; it's not too busy, and the views are incredible. Abby and Josh worked very hard to get their Junior Ranger pins there; one photo is of them being sworn in by the park ranger there. Also, make sure you check out that elevation sign!

After the days in the pool, and evenings of great singing, eating, and card games at the reunion, we were off to Bryce Canyon, with a quick run through Kolob Canyons-the other end of Zion's Canyon. Kolob was another stop that was not as crowded, but gave some fabulous views. It was a beautiful day, and I am glad we stopped for a few minutes.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip, probably because I took it all by myself, and the light was great, and they were both looking at me, and no one was holding up bunny ears... You get the idea. Yeah Abby and Josh!! Bryce Canyon does figure into the mix as well, I guess.

We also took a family hike at Bryce, and enjoyed being out of the car and stretching our legs for a mile or so. Even Dallin seemed to have fun, though I'm not sure Dad's back was too happy after lugging him around for that long.

Then it was on to the Grand Canyon, the granddaddy of them all!! We had been there before, but that was eight years ago (can you believe that, Tucson family?!), so it was definitely time to go again. We hit the park toward the end of the day, the perfect time for photos, but it made for a very late night.

Silly Abby and Joshua!

Did we mention that it was windy?? Really windy.

So, that's all from our family. Hope you are all well, and that you get the chance to get out and do something this summer. Our kids are now looking forward to some serious indoor activities, like Wii, computers, and maybe the occasional book... Just nothing that involves rocks.

Happy summer!