What's been going on?

Its been awhile since I've posted anything.  I thought I'd catch you up on a few things.  I'm actually doing pretty good with my scrapbooking and am totally current, at least with the family book.  The children's books are a different story.  You get to see some of the pages from our family book.

So from the most recent happenings to the past:

We enjoyed  General Conference.  Megan enjoyed giving Taylor tortilla chips and Taylor gladly accepted.  What a great sister moment.

Soapstone Again.....

Bryan and I enjoyed Soapstone so much that we decided to bring the kids to it  two weeks later.  We even got the same campsite.  We weren't planning on staying in the same spot, but both Bryan and I forgot the maps and so we couldn't remember the couple of areas that we were going to scout out for a site.  We were also starting to lose light.  So we decided to see if we could get the same spot we had a couple of weeks ago.  We were lucky and it was available so we took it.

Our first day it rained for the majority of the day.  We did a bit of driving to explore the area.  However, we wanted to get out and walk or do something more than just drive.  There was a moment that the rain stopped and so we drove to Mirror Lake to walk around it.  By the time we got there and started walking around it, it started raining again.  We didn't get very far before we decided to go back.  The temperatures were a lot cooler than we had expected for July and we didn't feel like we were very prepared for that, especially with Taylor.  So we went back to the trailer and warmed up and had lunch.

A little later in the day, it did stop raining and it cleared up enough that we had blue skies.  So we tried to get out and do something again.  We stopped and looked at Slate Gorge.

Then headed back up to Mirror Lake.  And this time.....we made it around the lake.

Our second day we took a hike a long the Fehr Lake trail.  This trail led to three different lakes.  The first lake was Fehr Lake.  

The second lake was Shepard Lake.  We stopped and had our lunch here.

And the third lake, (not pictured) was Hoover Lake.  It was about a 3.25 mile hike into the third lake.  It was a nice hike not difficult...until we headed back.  This trail is pretty much all down hill so when we were getting tired, we had to head all up hill.  We lost the trail for a bit when we got back to the second lake, so that added a little bit onto the overall miles walked.

This was  a nice trip, however, it was the one with the most problems.  Starting off with us not remembering the maps and so we didn't know where we had originally planned to try to camp.  It rained for most of the first day.  The second day in the evening, we ran out of gas for the trailer.  Bryan had planned on checking on it before we left, but things got a little crazy and it slipped through the cracks.   So we drove into Kamas to purchase another tank so that we could not have to come home early.  On the way down the canyon we passed an accident.  We didn't think it was that bad, however, as we kept driving down the canyon we passed several emergency vehicles.  It was apparently a larger accident than it appeared.  As we were at the store picking up the tank we saw life flight heading up the canyon.  We headed back up the canyon and ended up have to wait for one hour for them to clear the accident.  What was supposed to be a 40 minute drive was now an hour and twenty minute drive. We got back to the site at about 11:00 p.m.  We hooked up the tank and went to bed.  In the morning, we realized the tank was not working properly as we were not able to keep the stove lit.  We found out that a safety switch had been tripped and required pressure in both tanks to reset.  We didn't just take our tanks from the trailer the night before because we didn't think we would be able to find a place to fill them. However, we found a couple of places that would fill them.  So Saturday morning, we took the two empty tanks and headed back into town to fill them.  By now we had decided that if we had to go back to town for any reason, we would be pulling the trailer and heading home.  However, after that last time of filling the tanks, we were able to have a successful and enjoyable time.

Soapstone Basin

Bryan and I were able to have a nice get away just the two of us for our anniversary this year.  We haven't taken a trip without the kids for a few years and thought now was a good time.  We didn't want to go too far, so we chose Soapstone Basin in the Uintas.

Our first night had had a few rain clouds and when it cleared up we had this beautiful sunset.

Our campsite was nice and secluded, except for when people passed on the road, but that was mostly during the day when we weren't around anyway.  We had a spot that the closest campsite next to us was down and around the bend.  The second night we could hear them, but barely so it wasn't a bother to us.

On Saturday we took the Soapstone Ponds Trail on our bikes.  This was a new experience for me.  I've never ridden a bike on dirt and rocks before.  We estimate we went in about five miles before the trail ended.  Going in wasn't bad. We did this in about 30 minutes.  Coming back took a bit longer.  My leg muscles aren't what they need to be and so I had to walk the majority of the way back.  It was a nice trail and a lot of fun.

At our campsite we found a tree that had birds living in it so we sat and watched them fly in and out for awhile.

Our final day we decided to take one more drive.  We wanted to get out and above to see Soapstone Mountain.  On our way we passed some beautiful mountain meadows.  We could hear several birds singing and these flowers went on forever.

We got to a part of the road that had this branch laying over the road, a little too low for us to just drive under.  After Bryan broke off all the side branches (in doing so he poked a hole in his wrist) he decided to just push the branch up out of the way while I drove under it.  Not long after this, the road was completely impassable and we had to turn around, and once again Bryan had to hold the branch up so I could drive under.

This mud puddle was right at the beginning of the trail.  Bryan immediately got excited, but I did not want him going through it.  There was a small side road off to the right of this picture that we took on the way in.  But after getting a hole in his wrist and having to hold that branch up twice, Bryan decided he could have a little fun with the mud puddles on the way out.  I still didn't like the idea of it.  I told him to let me out so I could go poke a stick in it to see how deep it was.  It wasn't very deep, however, it was very soft.  I got back in the truck and let Bryan have his fun.  His fun ended very quickly when in the middle of the puddle we got stuck.  We were stuck enough that we thought we would have to hike a bit to go find some help to get us out.  After a minute, Bryan tried again and we were able to slowly move out of the mud.

After getting out of the puddle, Bryan had to admire his work.

Devil's Canyon

We just returned home from Devil's Canyon.  This is a nice laid back camping excursion.  It was very isolated.  I think Bryan said out of the four days we were there, we saw maybe 20 people.  At night the skies were clear and the moon was mostly full, which cast shadows and made the nights fairly bright.

Miss Cutie....and she knows it.

Our camping location.

Out hiking.  Not quite sure where we are going, but getting out and enjoying what is there.

On our hike we found this rock which we thought looked like a turtle.

On our last morning, while mom, dad, and baby continued to sleep, Daniel and Megan were out and about hunting lizards.  They finally caught one and put it in this bag.  They even added some water in case it got thirsty.  They thought they would be able to bring it home and have a pet.  I'm not quite sure how long they had this lizard in a bag. The kids say it wasn't very long, but by the looks of the lizard.....I think it was a bit longer than they thought.  Megan was very sad when we said we wouldn't be bringing it home.  But she was okay with it after we said we'd take a picture.  So we took the picture and watched it run away.

Fremont Indian State Park

Our first camping trip for this year was to the Fremont Indian State Park and Museum.  It's always nice to get out and away from the daily busy routine of life.  The first two pictures are of us at the museum.  We watched a video about the history of the place and then they had a little hands on exploration type exhibit for the kids to play and explore.

 Our campsite.

 Some scenery that we enjoyed each time we left our campsite and went on a daily excursions.

On Sunday we went to Historic Cove Fort.  I've been here many times, but never really understood it's purpose until this trip.  It's interesting what age will do to change your outlook on some things.  

Our missionary that took us on our tour was a very sweet man.  It was very enjoyable.  The kids enjoyed talking to him.  At the end of the tour he gave them some pass along cards.  He also told the kids about a game that was often played, and taught them how to play this game.

 Taylor enjoyed the stairs.

We also took some of the self guided hikes that started around the museum.  It was interesting to see the archeological features.

The kids were able to go into a replica of a home that the Fremont Indians lived in.

Enjoying dinner by the campfire.

The kids found this shelter on a hike.

Catch up time!

It's been awhile since I lasted posted something.  A lot has happened and life just keeps getting busier.   

Happy New Year!  It's amazing how time is going faster and faster.  I can't seem to keep up with all that I would like to.  This is Taylor's first time sledding.  She's so easy going and don't think I would know whether she liked it or not.  She didn't cry, so I suppose that's a good thing.

Christmas was of course a success.  This holiday season was probably by far one of the most enjoyable holiday seasons I've had in a long time.  I'm not quite sure what made the difference, possibly Taylor.  Her presence has been quite a blessing in our lives.  

Happy Birthday Taylor!  She turned 1!  What a year it's been.  It's been lots of fun watching you learn new things and grow!

I got to observe Megan's dance class and participate in their holiday party.  Megan really enjoys going to ballet.