STORY TIME

Josh's parents came for a visit for a few weeks at the end of August. During that time we took a trip down to several national parks. Our first stop was Bryce Canyon.

Josh was very interested in the whereabouts of cougars during our trip...

...but who knew he would sacrifice his only child to save himself!

Of course Maya was much more interested in the animals than the scenery and walking trails. There were a couple of fearless chipmunks near the place we ate lunch. Maya took this shot of the chipmunk coming up to Jack and Maureen's feet looking for food.

I love the uniqueness of Bryce Canyon. It is an awe-inspiring place. Unfortunately the rock spires are called hoodoos, so for much of my time there I had the song from the movie Labyrinth going through my mind (and Maya and I often sang it):

You remind me of the babe.

What babe?

The babe with the power.

What power?

The power of voodoo.

Who do?

You do.

Do what?

Remind me of the babe.

Zion National Park
It's amazing how different each of the parks we visited are considering their relative proximity. I enjoyed them all, but Zion was my favourite (and Josh's). It is truly magnificent.

You can't drive your car through most of the park but we decided that is a good thing since the shuttle bus drivers tell you information about the park as you go through it.

I don't have any photos of squirrels, but on one walk Maya counted 16 or so of them that she spotted by the path. There are also many signs warning you not to touch or feed the wild animals, so she was good and kept her distance.

Josh loved this place called the Court of the Patriarchs. Individually, they are named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Peaks and Mount Moroni.

The next few photos are on two of the three Emerald Pool trails that we walked. In the photo below you can just make out small waterfalls coming over the rock edge. The path goes right below those and if the wind picks up at just the right time - which it did for us - you get very wet. It was a hot day, though, so we didn't mind.

If there's water, Maya's shoes will be off and she'll be in it.

Weeping Rock - the park map/guide describes this as "dripping springs create hanging gardens". Beautiful. I couldn't get a good camera angle to show this well, but in this photo Jack and Maureen are sitting on a ledge under it and you can see drips of water falling behind them.

At the end of the Riverside Walk. Yep, we got our feet wet here too.

St. George

We were in St. George for Josh's birthday which not only meant he got to have dinner at the Olive Garden (one of his favourite places) but the hotel we stayed in there was the nicest out of the whole trip. He's looking for reasons to go back to St. George just so we can stay at that hotel again!

We went through the visitor's center at the St. George Temple. It's a really pretty temple but you should never be caught there without your sunglasses! We also went to a few other church history sites including the tabernacle (interesting enough building, but our tour guide was way too long winded), and Brigham Young's winter house.

Maureen's favourite thing to do in St. George was to shop. She spent several hours there while the rest of us relaxed at the hotel. Maya loved the hotel pools and went swimming at all but one of the places we stayed.

Grand Canyon
We spent two nights at the Grand Canyon. We did several walks around the rim.

Josh, Maya and I also did a horse ride. We rode in the bush area around the Canyon. Maya loves horses so she was excited to be able to do this ride.

The roadside jewelry stands were a place of interest for Maureen and Maya. This one picked up a good amount of business from our visit. It's just outside the Grand Canyon and has a great backdrop.

Monument Valley

This is in the Navajo reservation and crosses the border of Utah and Arizona. It's not a big area to drive around but it is a dirt road and I was driving the SUV. I have to admit is was pretty fun! I've never been a fan of off road 4-wheel driving but maybe that's because I've only ever been a passenger before. I doubt it was so much fun for the other 4 in the car, but I enjoyed it! I think that description makes it sound more rugged than it actually is...it's really just a dirt road with a few potholes and hills.

The sandstone structures here are called buttes. The tallest is 300 m above the valley floor.

The name of these two buttes is the Mittens. Josh, I think they fit! I'll get them for you for Christmas.

The Germans' Mustang

We saw a lot of mustangs on the trip. Jack would love to drive a mustang and at one point he was admiring a red convertible. He approached the cowboy-hat-wearing couple in the car to ask for a photo. He explained that we don't have mustangs in Australia. They replied in their German accents that they don't have them in Germany either! They were happy for him to take a photo. I think most of the mustangs we saw were rentals. It must be a part of the experience for people who come to the American West.

Arches National Park

Our last park before coming home again. I admit, I was a little over the parks by this one, but I'm glad we stopped there because we probably won't visit this area again with Jack and Maureen. I know the place is called "Arches" but I was still amazed by how many arches there are here! We'd like to go back when we have more time and do the longer hikes to some of the arches that aren't so accessible by car.

Balanced Rock

There are lots and lots of little piles of balanced rocks around this site. Maya decided to add her own structure to the group.

We don't call her monkey for nothing...

North and South Window

Turret Arch

Delicate Arch

This summer Josh and I took on the task of redecorating the upstairs and our downstairs guest room. We thought that we'd have the upstairs finished in June, take a rest for the month of July, then finish up the guest room in August. Well, we did get it finished in August but there was no rest. We painted everything - ceilings, doors etc - and it was definitely more time consuming that we expected, especially since we usually only had a chance to work on Saturdays. We also had a really hard time deciding on colours. We ended up with about 20 different tester paints before choosing our final colours. We even painted the whole entry and then decided that we hated the colour (I swear it didn't look pink in the store!), so we repainted it. In the end we are happy with how it all looks and are very happy to be finished!

One of the biggest challenges was finding entertainment for Maya while we painted. She spent a lot of time playing with cousins and friends but when she was home she always wanted to help paint. One day I told her she could paint her own picture on one of the walls in the kitchen. We called it the Great Wall of Maya. The lesson I learned is that big, sloppy handprints on the wall don't get covered up when you repaint. Next time I'll have Maya use a paint brush only.