Kanarraville Falls

I love hiking as a family. I love friends. I love little road trips. I love Utah. Wrap these things all up in one box and you get a trip to Kanarraville! 

Kanarraville is a town just south of Cedar City. You hike through Kanarra Creek to get to Kanaraville falls. The hike was much easier than I thought it would be! This link has everything you need to know to DIY!  

August 27th

For the past 3 years, our little family has been living in the basement of the cutest, sweetest, retired couple. On Thursday, Harold- one of our landlords- unexpectedly passed away while gardening. A lot of the details are too tender to blog about but there are some things I need to remember, many of which I'd like to share. And I know this post is a lot of words, but I promise you'll benefit from reading it. 

• Gavin was a big part of the events of that day. We have heard multiple times, from multiple people, that Gavin was supposed to be there, and that the family is so thankful for the way Gavin handled things. Even though it was hard on him, we too are glad Gavin was able to be a support to Harold's wife and family through the very sad experience. 
• (This is the part that makes me cry) Wednesday night our power went out. It was about 7:00 pm. Harold and his wife were finishing up some yard work, and Gavin had run to the store to grab a forgotten dinner ingredient. It was too dark downstairs to hang out, so Owen and I went outside and sat in the yard until we got an update on the power situation. Gavin came home soon after the power went out. We didn't have electricity for a long time, so for about 30 minutes, Gavin, Owen, Harold, his wife, and I shot the breeze in their driveway. Such a tender mercy that we were able to spend time talking to him on his last day in this life. 
• His funeral was so inspiring!  Harold's life was gospel and family focused! He was always trying to improve himself in the gospel. The soles of his temple shoes were worn out (and there are very few places, even in the temple, that you can wear your shoes). He took notes during every sacrament meeting and general conference. He apologized to the priests quorum for not living up to expectations of a high priest, and said he would try harder. A few years ago, Harold read a talk from and LDS apostle encouraging saints to keep a journal of things they are grateful for. Harold took this to heard and had only missed two nights of writing in this journal since reading the talk, up until his last day on earth! One of his daughters read from this journal over the pulpit. Some of his counted blessings were silly, others serious or thoughtful.
• One night he wrote in his journal that he wishes he could afford to give everyone a Christmas gift, but since that wasn't possible, he would just have to give the gift of a smile and friendly "Hello" to everyone who crossed his path. He succeeded in giving this gift to us all!
• He has 5 daughters. Every one of his daughters (and son-in-laws, and a few more family members) wore homemade necklaces to his viewing. These necklaces were the cutest, most sentimental thing I have every seen. They were ugly! They were chains full of representations of things. There were charms and pictures and beads all over these dad-made necklaces. And I'm sure he made them with things he found around the garage! That's right- Harold made all these necklaces for his family members and added something to them every year! 
• When the casket was brought into the chapel and the congregation rose to honor the family, the family walked into the chapel and the line of people kept going and going. 5 daughters who all have families of their own! One speaker talked about Harold being rich. I loved being able to look around the chapel and see how rich he really was. His perspective on what really matters was incredible! 

Events like this make you REALLY REALLY THINK. Thanks for reading this post, if you've gotten this far. I know it wasn't well-written, I just put everything out there for my own future reading and references. We have been so blessed to know this man and we are thankful for the lessons he taught us! And you can't mention death without recognizing that the Savior has given all of us power to overcome the grave. So grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ! 

Straight Outta August

(The events I skipped blogging about that I want to remember)

Lacrosse games that kept me sane! 

A baby triathlon with my dad

 Gavin came home from a 10 week internship in Dallas- and was offered a full time job once he completes his master's degree

 A trip to Tibble Fork

 A 13 inch haircut!

 Owen at the Cabin

 A stroll around Mirror Lake

 A pit stop at Provo River Falls

 Xanni came home from a faithful 18 month mission in Boston, MA

Owen's 9 mo appointment!

Fish Lake 2015

Fish Lake, UT wouldn't be my #1 choice for a weekend getaway because it isn't a place that is full of adventure. All there is to do there is fish, and I don't fish. However, it's in Gavin's blood to camp there every summer with his family, so we go. Things that I do love about Fish Lake are that we get to be outside all day, no cell phone service, quality time with family, and falling in love with Gavin every time we go. Here's a picture overload!

Big thanks to Gavin's parents for all the work they put into this family getaway! And thanks Tanner & Shay for making the t-shirts and helping with O!

New Mexico

On our road trip to Dallas a couple weeks ago, we took the longest route possible through New Mexico. Let's be honest... New Mexico has very little to do and see! I think the only things we didn't do were visit Native American ruins, and the White Sand Dunes. I'm sure I will get to see these on some other trip so I wasn't too heart broken about it. 

We booked a hotel in Santa Fe for two nights. While we were there, we saw Walter White's house (for you Breaking Bad fans), hiked around some petroglyphs, toured the Turquoise Trail, ate at Rebel Donuts, and swam at the hotel.

On our way out of New Mexico we stopped in Roswell and at Carlsbad Caverns. These were by far the best things in the state! 

Roswell was hilarious. There were alien signs on every. single. building. Little known fact about me: my best friend and I were voted "most likely to be abducted by aliens class of 2008," so I had to capitalize on the photo ops!

Then the Carlsbad Caverns were as cool as every travel blog says! Holy smokes those caves are huge! Glad we finally checked that off our travel list!

New Mexico was about giving Wyoming a run for it's money in the "worst state to drive through" competition, until we stopped in Carlsbad! Totally worth the detour!

Let's end this post with a sad, short story: I filmed our trip through New Mexico on my action cam. I always put my footage together on my parent's Mac because I can't afford my own. Well, the past couple weeks I have been trying to make a little movie on New Mexico but the Mac at my parents house hasn't been very compliant... so pictures are sufficient for now... sigh...

Olympic Park

A past student of mine came to town and invited me to go with her to the Olympic Park in Park City, UT. Who knew this was so cool?! I'm so glad she invited me! Her mom pushed O around in the stroller while we did the ropes courses and zip lines. I'm still amazed that this was my first time up there. I am going to start recommending this to everyone! Go! unless you are scared of heights...

^^one of the ziplines^^

^^the slide^^

^^one of the obstacles on the ropes course^^

P.S. does this post look a little conceded and all about pictures of myself?! Sorry! I'm legally not allowed to post any of the girl I went with, which is too bad, because I got some fantastic shots of her! You'll just have to go see for yourself what it's all about! 

8 Months!

• Splashing is one of his top 5 favorite things to do.
• He is constantly making noise. He says "mama" "dada" "baba" but I don't know if he knows what any of them mean.
• He loves showing off that he can clap his hands and click his tongue.
• He FINALLY has started moving when you set him down. I wouldn't say 'crawling', but at least he doesn't just roll to his back and stay there when you set him down. He uses one leg and one hand to scoot to the nearest toy.
• He weighs 20 lbs... He hasn't gained any weight the last couple of weeks!
• I love watching him discover things. He is so interested in anything you hand to him. His favorite things to learn about are jewelry, plastic cups, anything with buttons like a garage door opener or a cell phone, and other babies. 
• He has more stranger danger than he ever has before but is still generally pretty friendly.
• He still cracks up when you play peek-a-boo or pretend to eat him.
• I just love him so much my heart could burst.