This was a very depressing post to write. First off because it happened last APRIL and I am just now getting around to doing it (sad) and because it made me miss some of my favorite people in the world and one of my most favorite places!!! In April before we left Utah, Dana and Liz (and Chris and Silas) came out to visit us. It was such a great time, always is with them! I love how our friendship started in middle school and has just continued to grow and change over the years. It is always so refreshing to be with them and get to really be myself and know that they love me and understand me like no others.
They flew in and we hit the road (after they helped me finish packing of course!) and headed to Arches National Park. When we lived in Utah we went there 4 times and I will rank it as one of my top 5 favorite places on earth. It is incredible. The views, the rocks, the sky, everything! We had to take 2 cars because we can't all fit in one and the guys were so nice as to take one of the 4 kids in their car! Finley screamed almost the entire 4 hour drive and Liz quickly jumped ship and rode in the guys car because "she missed Silas" (my a**, she didn't want to hear anymore screaming!). We had an awesome condo about 5 minutes from the park with great views and a great area for us all to hang out.
Our first day at Arches we did the Delicate Arch hike, Quinn has now done that hike 4 times and has refused a carrier each time. She is a trooper! We had so much fun doing this hike and spending time together. I laughed so hard the whole time.
The gang ready to go.
Quinn is not in this picture because she was loving having Liz, Dana and Chris there that we didn't see her much on this trip because she was always with one of them.
This is a part of the hike that always scares me! The drop off on the side is pretty drastic and when we get to this point I am a wreck making sure the kids are being watched closely. It was super windy when we got to the top but we were able to enjoy a little snack and get some great pictures.
I loved all of these pictures so I couldn't pick just one to add.
One of my all time favorite family pictures.
There was a lot of baby wearing on this trip.
We had a great hike, I love that hike so much! We spent the rest of the day going to check out other parts of the park and enjoying the great weather.
At one point, Leo was sleeping and Quinn was tired so everybody else went to see the Landscape arch and I stayed in the car with my kiddos. Which was fine because of our trio, I am by far in the worst shape! They can do all the hiking they want.
To finish our day, we caught the sunset at the Windows section of the park. I love the views from this part and the sunset here is beautiful. We got to see a lot of photographers setting up to get the sunset and see some Chinese tourists walking out on a ledge that they should not have been on, we thought for sure somebody was going to fall off!
Love my girls and all of the adventures we have been on together!
The next day we went to Arches again to do another small hike before we had to leave. I don't remember the name of the hike but it was one that I had not been on before and it was really fun.
Quinn got a little bit of sand in her shoes on that hike.
This is the one area where I don't fit in. These crazies climbed out onto the roof of our condo and did a little yoga before starting their day. I was probably downstairs eating cereal.
On our way home we stopped by Canyonlands National Park which is only about 20 minutes from Arches. It is beautiful. The views are incredible and the pictures really do not do it justice at all! Dave had to take Chris to the airport since he was only staying for the weekend so we didn't get to spend a lot of time here but we were able to check it out and get a few pictures. We had the best weekend and I am so glad we were able to do this trip together.
We had a photo shoot while the babies were sleeping and the others were walking the trail.
After Chris left we still had a few days of the trip. We spent the rest of the trip hanging out and doing things around my house. We visited Antelope Island and Temple Square. One day, Dana and Liz went to Park City to do yoga on stand up paddle boards. We were able to get pedicures and spend a lot of time together. It was an amazing trip and I am so glad they came to visit me!!!
Dana put the wrong soap in the dishwasher and Quinn didn't know what to think about it.
One evening they went with me to watch Leo and Quinn do their ice skating classes.
These little babies have grown up so much since this trip!
We had to take them to Burger Bar to get some of the best burgers in Utah. We realized my battery was dead because I left the lights on while we were eating and had to call Dave back to help us jump it. Before Dave was able to come back, a guy next to us saw that the battery was dead and was walking back to his car with a huge ice cream. He looked at us and then at his ice cream and got back into his car to eat his ice cream! We were cracking up, luckily Dave was able to come back and help!
It was a great trip and even though Dana and Leo got off to a rough start, by the end of the week Leo loved her! :)
These pictures are from around the time of the trip and since I have sucked so bad at blogging this year I wanted to add them while I was actually doing a post!
Charlie is THE BEST dog and I loved these pictures of him and Finley.
Leo got into Quinn's play make up and had a little bit of fun. He used to love wearing that shirt because it had a jeep on it "just like daddy's!"
Lifelong friends are good, Arches is good, Life is so good!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment