Moab

Our family decided we better get around to a family vacation this year. It's been full of fun and playing and lots of youth activities, but it's always good to get away together. We decided to head to Moab to visit Charlotte, Marty's younger sister, and enjoy some of the sites. We drove down on Friday, August 20th. It was fun to visit with their family and let them go out for a little date while their 6 month old, Kade, was already down for the night.
On Saturday, we decided to visit Arches National Park. We chose a few short hikes since we have two little hikers that like to hike instead of ride in backpacks. We also learned that these girls think Camelbak's are the best thing. They may or may not be getting these for an upcoming birthday or Christmas gift. Shhh, don't tell!
Eliza loves to feel big no matter what we are doing.
Here's a picture that includes Charlotte and Kade. Jordan was out enjoying the Elk Hunt.
The girls found a resting spot on these rocks.
I don't remember all the spots we stopped at, but I'm sure Marty would. I believe we stopped at four places. I didn't realize that Arches was so BIG! You could spend days there.
The girls enjoyed this spot because of the sand.
This was my favorite stopping spot, Double Arch. I love that the hike wasn't long at all and you could go right up by the arch.
It was incredible!
Eliza enjoyed hiking this rock.
Marty and Brooklyn went up to the top.
I wasn't sure I wanted to try it with Eliza, but it didn't look to hard so I decided to go up. Eliza cried the whole way up. It was a bit scary so I'm sure she was scared to death that she might fall.
Brooklyn loves to hike. I need to take her more often!
It's just so beautiful!
All done for the day and ready to go home for naps.
Sunday we relaxed. Marty remembered what "normal" Sundays were like. We enjoyed the cooler weather outside. It was the night a huge storm went through Salt Lake and knocked down power lines. We didn't have anything, but wind. We played and played outside and had the best time. We tried to get a picture of Eliza with the cool clouds and got this picture. It looks as if she is coming straight from heaven.
Highlight of the evening: We were about ready to go inside and go to bed so I took off Eliza's dress, but left her onesie one. Brooklyn walks over and looks at Eliza and takes off her skirt. There she is standing in her shirt and underwear. Everyone started laughing. She likes to do everything exactly like Eliza so we all joked about how we should follow too. :)
On Monday, we drove a little out of Moab to visit Newspaper Rock. Marty thought Brooklyn would enjoy seeing the petroglyphs, but she wasn't too interested and wanted to leave right after we got there. We stayed for about 20 minutes and we thought it was pretty interesting. These are at least 2000 years old. Amazing!
The girls enjoyed posing for pictures and playing with rocks.
They have fields and fields of sunflowers on the way to Newspaper Rock. I thought it would make for an awesome picture spot for Bridals. Well, we weren't brides, but we stopped for the photo op.
I love this panoramic shot!
Next we drove into Monticello to see the LDS Temple. It's a smaller temple and it was closed for the day, but we were able to walk around the temple grounds. Eliza was ornery and hungry so we didn't stay too long.
Brooklyn enjoyed the visit though.
Then we decided to get some food at the local grocery store and eat lunch at the park. They have a huge park that the kid's enjoyed. Brooklyn learned the fun of hanging and swinging on bars. Eliza had to try too!
Brooklyn wanted a picture of her new monkey skill.
I was feeling nostalgic because I used to love the bars at Elementary school so I thought it might be fun to do what I used to do. Nope! It wasn't quite the same, but Marty made me hold still for a picture. I actually flipped around on the bar so I was dizzy and my hands hurt.
Highlight of the day: Brooklyn peeing behind a tree at the park because she "had to go" and we couldn't find the bathrooms. Come to find out, they were only a short drive away. We could have walked there.
Later that night, we visited our friends, Jim and Pat, from our bike team that live in Moab. We had a good visit, but Brooklyn picked a fight with a cactus in their backyard and lost! She was so hysterical about it that she ended up falling asleep on their couch. She's all better now, but she was traumatized by it. She keeps drawing pictures of it and when I ask what she drew she says "it's that thing with the pokies".
On Tuesday, we drove home. Moab is beautiful!