Traveling Day

We left Moab this morning after a nice run and breakfast. We drove to our camp spot outside of Bryce Canyon. We are here until Sunday morning then we will return to our home base after 26 days of traveling. We stopped in Richfield for fuel and a lunch break. We even waved at the town where our dear friend Josh was raised. He was raised in one of those small towns along the interstate in Utah. I understand and feel for his teasings from Darin since I was raised in a small town along the interstate in Wyoming. Darin is forever teasing me about where I grew up. Oh well, not all of us could be raised in large communities like Vegas, Delta or Roosevelt! Well our campground is in Cannonville, Utah. It is about 20 minutes from Bryce Canyon and near the end of the race for the Bryce Half Marathon we will be running on Saturday. We have lots of friends coming from Hurricane to run the race, so it will be a fun weekend. After getting here and getting things set up, we went swimming. Darin's parents showed up about 3:30. We had made plans to meet them at this point of our trip. After dinner, Grandpa and Matt challenged Darin and I in horseshoes. I thought they would give us more of a challenge than they did. Actually I think Darin could take on all three of us, give us a 10 point lead and still beat us! I was given about a 10 foot advantage and was proud that I scored a few points, including two ringers! Matt does pretty good, and Earl taught Darin how to play, but we don't really have a chance against him. The kids had fun playing at the playground and bugging grandma.
Seven years ago a few of you may remember I was not as calm and relaxed as I am most of the time. This was about the time reality hits that you are pregnant with triplets and they are about to be born! Tomorrow is their birthday. This will be birthday number two for them this year and we will have one more with friends when we get home. How time flies! It has been a fun 7 years and we look forward to many more summer trips to add to the fun. Well I better get to bed, they will be waking soon to ask me again what I got them for their birthday!

We ventured into the Arches area today. The temperature here has a high of 98 degrees, so we left the trailer at 8 AM to start some hikes. There were some interesting places to see and all of them required some hiking. We saw Balanced Rock, North and South Windows, Double Arch, Delicate Arch, and Sand Dune Arch. Delicate Arch is the arch on the Utah license plate. Double Arch is where we took the picture above. It was a fun area to walk around and climb. Our paperwork said Sand Dune Arch is loved by the kids, so we knew we had to go there. That was our last stop in the park. They were right, the kids really liked it. You walk in a ways and there is a lot of sand. There is also an arch in an area where you can stop and rest. The kids took off their shoes and socks and ran wild for a little bit. It was also in a shaded area, so it cooled us all off. We stopped by the visitor's center and the kids did the workbook to become a Junior Ranger at this park too. This park had lots of lizards, so they enjoyed watching them. We came back to the camper and had a relaxing afternoon. We went swimming for a bit too. Matt has met two kids from Amsterdam that he has been able to do a little with. They are 15 and 18. It gives him some teenage conversation and fun. We leave for Bryce tomorrow. Our Bryce is excited for that. We tell him they named the Canyon after him! : ) It has been a fun trip. We have seen lots, but I think most of us are ready to get home to our own beds, showers and friends.

Back in Utah

Well we left Utah on June 25th and entered back into the state today. We still have more places to go, but it was nice to think we were back in our home state. We are in Moab for two nights now. We want to go to the arches tomorrow. There are a couple of things I have forgotten to write about so I wanted to add those in now. The little kids have their birthday on July 16th. We decided to do a birthday party with grandpa, grandma and Carol. Each of the kids made their own birthday cake with the help of grandma. They turned out beautiful and tasty. They are excited because we have decided to have three birthday parties. One in Rifle that we just had, then one on the 16th in Bryce Canyon, then one in Hurricane with friends when we return. Matt's ankle is doing lots better. He is walking around almost normal. It will be a week or more before we think he should run again, but he is taking good care to ice it lots. One more crazy thing we did - you know Darin and Bryce like to have real short hair. Bryce keeps asking me to shave his head. Well I was decided yesterday was a good day to try it. He likes it, but I did not really care for the shave cream and razor idea. It scared me and I thought I was going to cut him. Everyone likes to give his head a rub and he is a good sport about it. Now he really looks like Lance, Jess!

Saturday and Sunday - Just relaxing!

Saturday we just hung out in Rifle and then went to the movie. The kids had all wanted to see Ice Age 3, so we went to that one. It was a cute movie. Sunday we went to church with Grandma and Carol. It was nice being a visitor again. Not many more of those though before we get put back to work in our home ward. It has been nice relaxing at with my parents and not being on the go. We leave tomorrow for Moab. A week from today we will be home. So any of you that may miss us, not much time left before you see us! The kids have not seen the Arches, and I think they will like them.

Broken or Just Sprained?

Friday we went on a hike to a local cave/waterfall area called Rifle Falls. It was a great hike. We went just before lunch and the weather was great. We knew it was just a short hike, but the kids have a lot of fun exploring some of the caves. Matt was being a boy and was running and jumping over rocks when he completely misjudged a rock and came down hard. He grabbed his ankle and started rolling around just nearing the crying point. Darin went to pull the car closer to us and found someone to help him carry Matt to the car. Side note, the guy he found was a young man going to UVU in Orem on a javelin scholarship. They carried him back to the car and we called the insurance so we could decide what we were allowed to do for him and not be charged an arm and an ankle. : ) Well, we went to the Instacare that evening for an x-ray. It came back with a little chip and we were told the snap that we all heard could have been his ligament. They said he would be off it for a while and it may be two weeks before he can run. He is glad it is not broken since Cross-Country starts in about four weeks. That pretty much was our day. Rifle Falls and the doctor took up most of it.

Rifle, Colorado and Our Truck

After the long day yesterday, we decided to sleep in a bit. We are at my parents' home now and plan on staying here until Monday when we leave for Moab. First thing this morning we got a call from the Ford Dealer. They can't find anything wrong with our truck. They tested it over and over, drove it a bit and still nothing. I guess it really did just need a rest. Going so long and trying to climb such a high mountain was not in it's plans yesterday! Darin and Matthew went the 120 miles back to get the truck. It was pretty much a relaxing day. Time to catch up on the blogs, play with grasshoppers, and take a nap. Tomorrow we have a plan of going on a run and going to a waterfall/cave area grandma and the kids like to go to. Hope all of you are having a great summer!

Wednesday's Travels

We left Douglas this morning for a 400 mile long day. We figured we could make it to Rifle, Colorado to my parents' home by about 4:00 that afternoon. We were doing great and making good time. We cruised through Wyoming. It was good to see all the antelope and rabbits. Time for reminiscing since I grew up there. We continued south until we got to Denver then went west for Rifle. Denver is about 5280 feet, thus the name Mile High City, and we had to go over a mountain pass that was almost 11,000 feet. I guess the truck was getting pretty tired because it made some serious clanking noise and then lost power. We pulled over to the side of the road. If any of you know the road we were about a mile from the top just about to go through Eisenhower Tunnel. Our check engine light came on so we called the tow truck. They gave us an estimated arrival time of one hour. Well about two hours and a bit more later he pulled up. He towed us about 20 minutes away to a Ford Dealer. My mom picked us up there about 8:30 and we were to her house by 10:30 that night. So much for a early arrival to grandpa and grandma's!