Kayaking at Washington Lake

We are so blessed to have family that loves us. Uncle K invited us to go kayaking. He took a day off work, rounded up 9 kayaks, oars, life vests, trailer, etc. The kayaks were ones that he had made with his scout group a few years ago. Homemade kayaks--very cool. Aunt M put a bunch of food together and away we went headed to the Uintas.

Washington Lake is high up in the Uintas at 10,000 ft. elevation. It is awesomely beautiful. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth--I'm sure of that.

We were up so high the only peaks above us were above the timberline.

First, lunch. Roasted hot dogs on a stick. Perfect campfire food. We also had lots of other good stuff including toasted marshmallows.

After eating, we found a bit of beach and unloaded the kayaks.

Cousin I giving B a push off.

S and her cousin A. They were the first ones to tip over and they loved it. The water was cold but they got used to it real fast.

C in her stripey kayak.

J taking a break--I love this picture.

Chris in the "parking lot."

B and his cousin, J, thoroughly enjoyed the day. By the end of the day they were kayaking pros.
Beautiful scenery.

It was just an awesomely amazing, exhausting day. We loved everything about it!

Downtown Salt Lake City

One of the best things we do when we come to Salt Lake City is to spend a day downtown. The last few times we have gone downtown, we have taken TRAX. It's a good thing. The kids think it's an awesome adventure and they learn how to use public transportation. We don't have to worry about driving or parking. Everyone's happy.

On this day trip, we brought along cousins, Amy and Betsy. In this picture, my kids are doing their typical crazy poses and Amy and Betsy are wondering what's going on.

The reflecting pool in front of the temple. B's walking around the far edge.

Every time I see the Salt Lake Temple it amazes me that it took the Pioneers 40 years to build it. Every block of granite had to be carved by hand and brought down by wagon (until the railroad went in about halfway through construction) from the granite quarry. It is a beautiful, amazing building that will be standing strong and secure for all time.
I have always loved the gardens around Temple Square.

I think I took more pictures of flowers than I did of the kids.
The beautiful Salt Lake Tabernacle where the famous choir sings every Sunday morning. The pioneers built this also--without one nail. Beautiful downtown!
Merrell family tradition dictates that we have lunch at The Lion House Pantry everytime we're in town. Every time. And we get dessert and rolls. Every time. Love that tradition. One of the dining rooms in the Lion House.
This next picture is of the Beehive House. The Beehive House and the Lion House were both residences of Brigham Young. They are situated next door to each other. In the Beehive House he not only lived there with some of his very large family but it was also his office as he served as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Governor of the territory of Utah, and he was also in charge of Indian Affairs. Behind the Beehive House you can see the tall Church Office Building as it stands now.
We took a tour the Beehive House and saw all of the rooms and the antique furnishings. It's been taken care of very well. I love seeing how people used to live before refrigerators and electricity and running water and plumbing. Brigham Young was a carpenter and the house is amazing.
Above is one of the many bedrooms and below is a picture of the school room that was upstairs in the house. President Young believed education was very important.

We also saw wonderful things in the visitor's centers that are on Temple Square and spent lots of time in the Church History Museum. Lots to do and see downtown!

Slot Canyon Adventure

Just south of Cedar City, there's a cool secret. A hidden slot canyon. Actually, it's not really that secret--everyone seems to already know about it and has been there. But, they do agree that it is very cool. I first heard about it on my cousin's blog. When I read it and saw the pictures, I thought--"We got to go there!" It made our road trip a bit longer, but it was so worth it. Hearing the kids say things like, "This is the best vacation!--and it just started!" or "Wow! This place is amazing!" made it all worth it!

Most of the hike took place in the water. The first couple of crossings, the girls were taking off their shoes, walking through the water, and then putting them back on. After doing that twice, they realized it was a lost cause and kept their shoes on. It took us an hour or more from the parking area to the waterfall. I'm sure others do it faster, but we took our time and took lots of pictures. When we started seeing cool rock formations, we knew we were getting close.

Soon the walls started closing in on us, there was a constant shade and the temperature dropped. It was awesome.

Yes, I even climbed the tree ladder to get to the top of the waterfall. Going up was easy--it was the coming down that was a bit tricky--but we all did it! This is the waterfall at the top of the first waterfall. The kids quickly scaled that rock and wanted to keep going. Maybe they wanted to walk all the way to SLC. We promised them Taco Bell for dinner and they came back down.

Vacations are fun!!!

Dam Road Trip!

We love road trips. I don't know why. We're stuck with each other in the car for days, dirty restrooms (Buc-ee's excluded), food from the cooler or fast food, sleeping all over each other, or not sleeping at all. I guess we like that kind of bonding.

Our road trip this summer is awesome. We are loving it!

We love seeing America and all there is out there! We all have a bit of adventurer in us and curiousity. We enjoy stopping at little out of the way places and build extra time into trip for that.

We drove through Navajo and Hopi country and saw lots of beautiful things.

After 20 hours in the car we arrived at Page, AZ, on the south side of Lake Powell. We took a short hike to the Horseshoe Bend overlook.

It was a breathtaking view! We were a little nervous about that edge, but nobody fell off. :)

Cute adventurous kids!

We also took a short hike to the Glen Canyon Dam overlook. Another amazing view!

And because we enjoy each other's company so much and we just couldn't help it, we started the dam jokes. We had to take advantage of the situation--when else can you say dam so many times and not get your mouth washed out with soap?

Can we go to the dam outlet mall? Look at that dam bar and grill. What about this dam postcard? Look at that dam view! Can we go to the dam souvenir shop? It went on and on for two days--lots of laughing!

The next morning we ate a great breakfast, including Navajo blue corn mush, which was actually pretty good, but I can eat just about anything with a little bit of honey on top. Then we took a tour of the dam. Very interesting!

This is a picture of the Lake Powell side from the top of the dam. The markings on the wall show that it's 60 feet low--it's been in a drought state for 9 years.


This is a picture of one of the generators inside the dam. We could take pictures of anything except the security guards and there were many of them.

This is a view from the bototm of the dam. In making this dam, it took continuous cement pouring 24/7 for 3 years and 3 months. It contains enough cement to build a road 5" thick from Flagstaff to Chicago.

So far, it's been a dam good trip! More pics and adventures to come!

Celebrating---brown.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my blogging cousins, did a pink-fest on her blog. She has an awesome blog to start with, and when she took an entire week to celebrate pink, it was over the top awesome! Her blog is definitely eye candy--lots of great pictures. She's definitely got a pink kink in her think!

I've always loved all colors. I even took a college class called Color Composition (back in the day). It was one of those classes that stays with you--it involved everything from mixing paint to get the right shade, to using construction paper to make a color look like a different color, to finding out your color personality.

If you ask me what my favorite color is, I'll always say red, but brown has definitely snuck in there--a very close second. In fact, the more I look around, the more brown I see. So, here are some of my favorite brown things. Enjoy! (Sorry some of the pics are blurry, I'm going to blame the camera and not the photographer.)

Pecans. Yum.

I love black with brown. A lot.

My mom bought me this assortment a few years ago.

My favorite shirt.

My favorite watch--a Mother's Day gift.

Checkerboard painted on a bread board.

Brown on brown stitching.

Grizz, my watch-bear.

Mantle clock.

The plate on the left is from Target, the one on the right is from Peru.

The very best brown there is--Chocolate Chip-Pecan cookies.

Our tree man in the front yard. Love him!

We found this nest on the way to school one morning. It had fallen out of a tree. The egg didn't hatch, but it sure was pretty. I love brown with robin's-egg blue, too.

I love brown and red together!

I love finding these brown things on my porch.

And I love the brown truck they come in.

I love this brown wicker in my backyard

($6 at a garage sale)

and I love B and Gracie and Ray, too!