Finding Balance at Balanced Rock

Arches With Friends

The day after Scarlet and Dorothy left our neck of the woods was the first day of Fall Break for our school kids.  So we made the drive down to Moab, met up with Scarlet and Dorothy, and all went to Arches National Park together.  We didn't make our annual trip this Summer because Jeremy was doing the balloon wonders so this was a fun treat for us.

Our family at Balanced Rock and their family at Double Arch

 They were still so good with our kids.

 Kids with arches

Hey, kids.  Pose like elephants with the elephant in the background.  (Elephant Butte)

We made it to a lot of places in the park this trip.  At times we separated so we could explore different places and hike at different speeds.

Looking up we could see so much beauty.  Lucky only wanted to look down and play with the rocks and sand on the ground.

At one point, Nichole started making whistling sounds... and something responded.  We're thinking it was a bird, but it happened a few times in the same spot.

Jeremy and the older boys saw several bunnies as the sun started to set.  Nichole, Lucky, and I saw one.  Scarlet and Dorothy didn't see any, but they did see a group of deer.

It was a great trip and I'm so glad we were able to share it with friends.

Busy Celebrating

We have been so busy lately.  We've had so many reasons to celebrate that we haven't been turning much to our Calendar of Celebration, even for some of the holidays we've celebrated in the past.  Sorry, National Taco Day on October 4, National Cake Decorating Day on October 10, and National Chocolate Covered Insect Day on October 14.
It's been good being busy but at times it's been overwhelming.

Aaaaagh!  Don't eat me!

 Aaaaagh!  Don't fall on me!

So please bear with me as I try to share some of how we've been celebrating lately.  And please forgive me if we don't get around to celebrating some of your favorite holidays from the Calendar of Celebration.

One of my favorites is coming up (National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day on November 12) and I hope we don't miss it this year.

Out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite holidays coming up? 

And pizza toppings.  What are some of your favorite pizza toppings?

National Old Rock Day 2013

National Old Rock Day, January 7th.  We spent some time reminiscing about our annual trip to Arches National Park last August.  I asked Jr. if he wanted to type about it on the blog.  He did.

Jr.::A:
 
It    wasFun     AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA                 
Itwassofun 

Kristin here again.  I decided maybe I better type out what he wanted to say about our trip (we already erased some of his random letter typing that took up as much as his "scream" from earlier):

It was so (giggle) (full out chuckle) (Tee Hee) (laugh, laugh, laugh)
It was so (all of the above).
Sigh, laugh, giggle, tee hee, hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.
This is what I want to say. "I love you, Mom."  It was so fun at Arches.
Then Jeremy chimed in:  This blog post "rocks."
More laughter from Jr.

It was so fun.  It was so so so so so (etc.) fun.
Labels?  Schedule? (now he's just reading the post settings on the side of the screen).

Jr:  How did I balance that long?
Mommy:  Maybe the same way balanced rock has been balancing so long. 

 Mommy:  Jr., do you want to type anything else about our trip to Arches?
Jr.:  Yes, I do.  I want to type something silly.
Mommy:  About our trip.
Jr.:  I know.  About our trip.

Itwassososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososofun.
 I loveYou.
Joshua
momomomommomomomomomomomomomomomomomomommomomomomomomomomomomomomomommmomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomomommmomomomomomomomomomomomommomomomomomomomomomomomomomommomommomomommoomomomoommomomommoomomoooomomomomomomoooomoomomomomomoomomomoomomomoommimmoomomommomomomomooMOMOMOOMMOMOMMOOMOMMOMOMOMOMOOMOMMOMOOMOOMOMOMOMOMOOOMOOOMOMOOOMMOOMMMMOMOMOOMMMMOMOOMOOMOOMOMOMOMOOOMOMMOOMMOOMOMOMOOMOOMMOOMOMMMMOOMOMMOMOOMOMMMOMOMOMMOMMMMMOMOMMOMMMMOOMMOMOMMMOMOMMOMMMMOOMOMMOOMOMMOOMMMOMOOMMOMMOMMOMMOMOMOOMMMOOOMMOMOMOMOMOMOOMMOMOMOOMOMOMMOOMOMOMY   

Kristin, again.  At Arches National Park, there are piles of rocks all over the place to mark the trails.  These are called cairns.  And speaking of piles of rocks, National Old Rock Day is a great time to put up a link to a youtube video my brother made of his Tidal Art.  I mentioned his Tidal Art before on Collect Rocks Day. 
          
 Now Nichole wants to type something about our trip to Arches:
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Arches.
Arches who?
Arches National Park is fun.                                               

License Plate Game II

I wanted to put this post up, even though it doesn't have to do with our vacation to the Pacific Northwest. Recently (since we've been back from the Pacific Northwest), we went down to Monticello, Utah, and like last year we spent some time at Arches National Park on the way. Unlike last year, we had no misfortune with hats flying away. Thank goodness.
We played the license plate game again so I thought it appropriate to share the license plates we saw on this trip. We didn't travel through 4 states this time, but stayed in Utah the whole time. I'll tell you. If you're looking for a lot of different state license plates, just drive around the parking lot at Arches a few times. This is what we got:
Alberta
and states:
Alaska
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming

That's 32 states, compared to 34 from our trip to the Pacific Northwest. Crazy, huh? I just wanted to share.

Catch of the Day

Mommy: What are you doing?
Jr.: I'm riding a zebra.
Nichole: Vrrm Vrrm.
Jr.: Push the button.

Catch of the Day- Prayer Works

As we sat down to take pictures at the North Window Arch in Arches National Park, a gust of wind blew Nichole's hat right off her head and over the edge of a dropoff. So sad. Jeremy went down to see if he could get it or if it was gone for good. The kids and I stayed sitting right where we were and said a prayer to ask for help for Jeremy to be able to get the hat if it was possible. If not, we would try to get Nichole a new hat, but this was her special hat. I saw Jeremy coming back up with empty hands, but he gave me a thumb's up so the kids and I immediately said a prayer of thanks. Apparently after the dropoff it became a more gentle slope, so Jeremy was able to go around on a bit of a switchback to where Nichole's hat fell. If it had been blown just a few feet more in one direction, it would have ended up in some crevices where Jeremy could not have gotten it. After that Jeremy kept Nichole's hat in his pocket. We were very grateful for the blessing of getting Nichole's hat back and for the reminder once again that prayer works.

Arches

Jeremy had a show in Monticello, Utah, this last weekend, so we all headed down for a few days. We got a good start, hoping to leave at 9 or 10am, we actually left at 11. Not too bad with 2 toddlers.

At the rest area on the way, the kids had some cool down time with the misty mates (pump 'em up, turn 'em on, mist away). Jeremy took time to photograph lizards.

On the way to Monticello, we stopped at Arches National Park to see a bunch of rocks. I'd never been there before so I didn't know what to take pictures of so Jeremy turned off at every viewpoint and I jumped out of the car to take pictures. At Balanced Rock we decided to let everyone out, and of course it started raining. Lightning in the distance and thunder rumbling. At least it wasn't too hot for August. It was also quite windy and the kids' hats kept blowing off. At one point, Nichole's hat blew off and almost blew off the trail. I said I would have sent Jeremy off the trail to get it if it had, even though they had signs saying, "Please, stay on the trail."

We went across the street from Balanced Rock to picnic. It was fun to watch the ants with food we accidentally dropped. Man, those pincers on the ants are huge when zoomed in with the camcorder. I know it says don't feed the wildlife, but I didn't mean for the chips to fall.
We drove on looking at more formations until we got to a nice walking/hiking area. Actual arches. In the Windows Section of the Park- North and South Windows and Turret Arch.
As we were walking up to the North Window, some of the people walking down were cheering Jr. on for doing such a good job walking up. Some others saw his baby cougar BYU shirt and showed their approval.

We spent some time at North Window where there was a beautiful arch of a rainbow through and above the rock arch. It was a bit of a dropoff through the arch, so I made the kids sit down by me while Jeremy took pictures of us with the rainbow.

After the windows section, we headed out of the park by way of the Visitor's Center, which was closed by then but the bathrooms and drinking fountains were open. That and they had some animal statues that the kids played with. My hair got totally windblown while we were in the park. It was pretty fun.

Before we got to Monticello, Jeremy mentioned that he'd been thinking about how there was the construction on the road in front of the motel last year, but there wouldn't be this year. So as drove into town, guess what? Construction on the road outside the motel. It made us laugh. Also as we pulled into town, we saw a building not too far away that looked like it had a gold statue on top. I didn't realize there was a little temple in this area. Cool. Saturday before we left we took the kids by it so they could see it and Nichole could sing, "I Love To See The Temple."

Good family trip.