Utah and our Hike

In between California and Canada we spent a week in Utah with my dad's side of the family. We went to a local park to celebrate my Grandpa's birthday. The family is so big that we don't fit anyone's house. :) Do you see us?? :) I think this is really only a 1/4 of the family... I'm still learning their names. :)




While in Utah we went hiking... in REAL mountains! :) Hiking here makes all other mountains seem like tiny hills. REAL mountains are HUGE. I will admit that hiking to a cave was my dad's idea and with the 100 degree weather I would have been happy to stay on the couch, but I remember going into a cave when I was Michaela's age and I figured that if I can still remember it then we should do it too.

Side Note: This is my new philosophy on doing things with the kids... I want to make sure my kids do what I can remember doing when I was little because if I remember it then it must mean that it was worthwhile, or at least memorable, which is, in turn, worthwhile. :) - That is my amazing parenting plan now. :) I have several super-favorite times I can remember when I was little and I can remember being SO happy: being first in line at Disneyland and running with my mom to Space Mountain, the first couple days of our week long vacations at Myrtle Beach in SC, bouncing up and down on a tube in a giant wavepool in the sun, speeding through a lightening storm in a boat in the rain trying to get to shore quickly, and eating warm chocolate pudding. :) Now that I've wrote my list out I realize all my "super-favorite" times involved my family so I hope that the girls missing out on soccer teams and girl scouts won't ruin their lives. I guess they will have their own happy times... I'm sure I can think of something else to do to ruin their lives. :)

Anyways....
We hiked all the way up Mount Timpanogos.... while carrying Andrea. :) Even little Scotty walked most of the way and it was a long way - 1.5 hours up and then 1.5 hours down. Once you were at the top you entered the cave and then crawled though it on an hour tour. Then out you popped on the other side of the mountain. Inside we saw all the stalactites and stalagmites and other cave-y things. Andrea didn't see anything because she slept the whole time. I think was happy to finally get a nap in a cool and dark place. (P.S. This means I carried her the whole time.) It was a good little cave. I'm glad we did it.