Arches Adventures- Days 1-2

Arches Adventures - Days 1-2

September 1st and 2nd

Happy Birthday Heidi! In Honor of you, we traveled South and went camping!

We decided in the afternoon on September 1st, we better go on a cool trip before Dave gets a job and may have a more complicated process to get time off.

So at 7:00 p.m. we made up our minds to leave right away. We threw everything in the car as fast as we could and were on the road by 7:30 p.m. Dave and I are just like that sometimes. Neither one of us really likes to plan very far in advance.

Since we left so late we stopped at Green River to camp. This was Lucy's first time sleeping in a tent so of course we documented it with a picture. She really loved the tent, although she didn't display that by sleeping very well in it.


Outside Arches National Park Visitor center Lucy found a friend that also had two ponies.


Our first stop along the trek, Park Avenue.

At this point, I looked at some map and thought we could hike to "Balanced Rock" from here. So we went on a hike, and luckily after only one mile we came to the road again and realized that "Balanced Rock" was miles away. I guess what they say about women reading maps might be true, at least for me. Dave hiked back and got the car for us. I was extremely impressed with Lucy, because she hiked the whole mile and absolutely refused to be carried. Even when we stopped to wait for Dave to get the car, she wanted to keep hiking.

Here are some pictures of our very awesome, short hike to the road that we drove on to get to "Balanced Rock":

Lucy going under a Lucy sized arch that we found



Dave and Lucy, with "The Three Gossips" in the Background



Here is the cool rock Lucy and I ate lunch underneath, while Dave fetched the car.

After getting in the car and driving 9 miles, we finally reached "Balanced Rock." I am sure glad we didn't try to keep hiking there!

Here is Dave and Lucy trying to blow "Balanced Rock" over

Pretty cool, huh?


And we don't look like we have been sweating out here or anything

Here is Lucy trying to balance her own rocks. These interested her much more than the random huge balanced rock above her head.


Ah, and here is the artist in me, capturing the real "Balanced Rock" with Lucy trying to balance her rock. I thought it was sweet.


Do you think Dave is strong enough to push it over?


Maybe with the help of Lucy he can. Lucy didn't understand what we were doing of course, but she really wanted to pretend to do whatever Daddy was doing too. I couldn't get her to line up perfectly, but she sure tried hard.


Here is one of the Window Arches. I thought it was pretty cool and worth a picture.


Here is the other Window Arch (I think).


Double Arches (This was one of my favorites!)



Dave asked some ladies, while video taping, "Where's the arches? Are they up here somewhere?" while we were standing underneath them. They were foreign and tried to explain to us that we were already there. We pretended to react as though we had no idea we were right underneath it. It was funny. Maybe if I get highly motivated sometime I will post the video.



Here is the view from up at the arch



Who's that hot silhouette?


It's me!


Here is the most famous "Delicate Arch"which is also on our license plate. We didn't hike to it because Lucy was asleep and it was supposedly a somewhat hard, 3 hour hike. Maybe next trip. It's not too bad of a shot, zoomed completely in with my camera.

After a long hot Day, we set up camp at Slide Rock campground in Moab. The campsites were pretty small and shabby, but they had a pool and that was all that mattered to Lucy. Even the freezing temperature didn't stop her. Here she is jumping in (one of her favorite pool pastimes).


Look at the love on those faces, even through chattering teeth.


What a perfect ending to a perfect day! We celebrated the evening by going to the grocery store and buying Green Machine Naked Juice, which we also discovered was one of Lucy's favorite things (as well as mine). The adventures aren't over yet! Stay tuned for Day 3 of our Arches Adventures tomorrow.

A Very Tired Little One

August 30 - Sunday

Lucy refused her nap. We got home from church past nap time and she was just too worked up to relax when I laid her down. Oh well, we'll just skip the nap today and put her to bed early. Around 5:30 p.m. I went to make her dinner in the kitchen. She climbed into her high chair anticipating food and began to squawk for food. I quickly graced the table with some grapes to tide her over. She went very quiet. I assumed the grapes were just occupying her mouth, while I continued preparing her a meal. It only took me 5 minutes to whip something up, but she was fast asleep at the table when I came in with her dinner. Not much of her head was even on the table, I don't know how it was balancing. Not very many grapes were eaten. Poor sleep deprived child!
I remember probably over a year ago now, seeing a picture like this of Blake McCoy, sleeping in his high chair. I thought to myself "Wow! That is so amazing that he can sleep anywhere when he is tired. Lucy would never do that. She always has to have everything perfect." I am happy to report that when Lucy is tired enough, even she will sleep.



Since this day, 2 weeks ago, we have discovered the wonders of putting Lucy to sleep in her stroller. She was really fighting naps and having a hard time relaxing. Now we just take her on a 5 minute stroller walk at nap time and she is out in no time. We walked home from church today and she went out without a fight, something that was rare for a Sunday after her schedule has been thrown off (we also had a breakthrough today as far as Nursery goes! She has struggled to go by herself ever since we moved, but she went in and was fine all two hours today. Woo Hoo!)

I only wished we had discovered this stroller trick earlier. I have spent hours with her reading stories and trying anything at nap time to get her to sleep. It usually took me anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half to get her to sleep. Bedtime was usually quick, but naps were really ridiculous. Thank you stroller and thank you David for figuring out that this worked while I was gone at Education Week!

Hiking Gals

August 29

Monica invited me to go hiking up at Snowbird. I don't know why I never thought about the fact that ski resorts would be the perfect place to hike in the summer. It was incredibly beautiful!

My camera was out of commission for the hike, but I remembered that I had a camera on the video camera and experimented with it. Not too bad!

I love this picture because it shows what awesome hiking Mom's we are!



Lucy loves to hike! She won't stay in the back pack for long anymore. She wants to do it all herself! What a little mountain girl.

I loved that for once she actually wanted to wear her hat (I think trying to let baby Issac borrow it had something to do with her wanting to wear it more than usual!)


Lucy insisted that I have 2 ponies, just like her (and it has gone on like this for many days now!)


Oh, I love my little hiking family!

We played around in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Issac was sooooo cute. He was tired and had started to cry, but as soon as Monica put him in the pool he was very happy and smiley! (I didn't get any pictures because the camera ran out of battery).

After we left, Lucy kept asking "Monica, Baby Issac Back" Even a few days later she was still asking about them. She must have had as much fun as we did.

Thanks so much for inviting us Monica! What an awesome day!

Dryer

Lucy has finally discovered the wonders of the dryer!

2 year Temple Square Photo Shoot

Today I shot Lucy's 2 year old Photo Shoot at Temple Square. I had soooooo much fun! And she did too, for about the first 20 pictures. Dave even hung in their without complaining!Then I tortured her and bribed her and managed to squeeze a few more ridiculously cute shots! I put up my very favorites.









Ahhhhh, I just still can't believe my little baby is all grown up and 2 years old and everything!

Here's the slideshow for the die hard Lucy Fans, who just can't get enough:

Speaking at Girl's Camp with Lucy

July 14

I absolutely adored Girl's Camp while I was growing up. It always inspired me to become something great. I wanted to inspire girls like I had been at girls camp and sometime around the age of a Laurel, I made a goal to be a Girl's Camp Speaker...someday in the far away future. Well, I am happy to announce that "someday" came true. My Mom was called to be the Stake Girl's Camp Director this year, so after subtly mentioning that I could speak if she wanted me to, and then continuing to hint for months, my Mom finally asked me to speak at Girl's camp.

I was thrilled. The theme for their camp was "The Hero Within" and was all about Superhero's. My talk was entitled "The Faith to Fly." I dressed like a "Super Sister" and spoke about Faith and that it implies action, not just a belief and that all superhero's have it. I even ventured to say that anything extraordinary that has ever come to be, started with Faith; someone who believed in something and acted on those beliefs. I told the story about the Wright Brothers and their dream to make an airplane fly and how they achieved their dream with Faith. I told about Spiderman and his first attempts to climb up walls and swing from his web and how he used Faith.

To illustrate how important the action part of Faith is, I told the story of Nephi and explained that he didn't just say "The Lord will provide a way," and then sit around and wait for the plates to land in his lap. He moved his feet. He went to Jerusalem. He did all he could and then the Lord provided a way. The Lord will provide a way for us to use our individual talents and strengths to promote the Gospel, if we are taking action and striving to. Prayer and Scripture study, supported with courage to take action about what you know is right is how we exercise our Faith. With Faith in the Lord, He can make our weaknesses turn into strengths, and our Strengths turn into Superpowers. I even pulled out some of my pre-baby gymnastics moves to illustrate the Faith I demonstrated when learning to perform an Ariel. It left me very sore for days to come, but I have never been able to resist showing off (as you probably know if you regularly read my blog!).

Overall, what I learned in my heart was that it takes Faith to be a disciple of Christ. It is good to believe, but we must go beyond just believing or our beliefs will dwindle. Believing is just a step to gaining Faith. If you don't first have belief you will never gain Faith, but if you want a strong testimony and to be a tool in the Lord's hand, you have to take action, and by doing so, you will be blessed with more Faith. You can't just believe in Christ from afar. You must follow his example and do as he did. Remember to do those simple things that we learn in primary. Faith is not a noun, it's a verb! We don't just have faith, we exercise it! Faith is a muscle that grows when we use it. If you want more, use whatever amount you have to do something and you will be given more. I always thought that Faith was just believing in things we don't see. Now I realize it is precisely that, when we add "and acting according to those beliefs." Speakers always learn more than those being spoken to. I hope the spirit was able to touch a few hearts out there, even if it was only a fraction of the way the Lord touched me.

I stayed the night and brought Lucy with me. Dave was in Utah and we all know I have separation anxiety, so you do what you have to. We squished onto a small cot on the bottom of a bunk. I forgot to bring a sleeping bag or pillow. I guess I was thinking about my talk too much and just rushed out the door, plus we usually camped in tents and so I didn't think about needing bedding, knowing that we would be in cabins. Luckily, someone brought an extra sleeping bag (Melanie, bless your heart for following that prompting!), and my sweatshirt sufficed for a pillow. We endured to the end, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor the next day!

July 15

We spent the next day canoeing, feeding the ducks and swimming at the pool. Lucy had a ball!
I didn't think we would get to go canoeing, since it was for the girls, but Lucy kept asking the guy in charge "boat please," so he invited us to go after all the girls had a turn. We were both thrilled!

Here are some shots of Lucy's first canoe experience:





There was also a Mommy duck and her babies at the lake, and Lucy couldn't resist wading with them.



Someone offered Lucy some bread to feed them and I got a sweet picture of the bread in motion!


And Salute! Looks like a little gymnast after a great performance in this shot!

Yay for Girl's Camp! We had sooooo much fun and were so blessed to go embark in the spirit of the Lord and the spirit of young girls! Oh, and the Director couldn't have been any better!
(Good Job! I love you Mom!)