HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We started off the year right with homemade PIZZA a la Braden! All 3 turned out really yummy!
Scott and I left the next day for a little trip down to the Moab area and ARCHES NATIONAL PARK.
This shot shows delicate arch way in the background from a trail below. It was one of the few sunny moments of that trip, and it passed a minute after this photo.
This was one of our first hikes
Windows Arch
This photo shows what it was mostly like.
We are out at Broken Arch I think...and you can see that we had to dress warm and use our poles and spike attachments on our shoes called "crampons" They saved our lives!
Double Arch
We are standing by Landscape Arch.
It is so thin, it looks like it could break at any time.
OK, here we are after the longer, more treacherous hike up to Delicate Arch over the slick rock. We had to put our spikes on and off the whole time, but it worked out so well and we felt safe the entire hike! We are still very far away from the arch here, but did not want to cross the huge slick rock bowl to get underneath it.
We were so glad we came on this trip. The parks are so beautiful in winter!
Another evening of our trip we went over to Monticello to the little temple there. Lovely place.
Park Place hike was beautiful the next AM
We made a stop at CANYONLANDS National Park as well. It was SO FOGGY that we could hardly see anything, but found one spot we could see the floor of the canyon. It was pretty!
This little arch in the park was creepy...this was a sheer drop off to the canyon floor under the arch. With the fog you could hardly tell how dangerous it was.
We have really enjoyed going to some more BYU Volleyball. This season is Men's and that is more powerful than Women's. Both are fast paced and fun to watch.
Thanks Braden for getting us in! He does Sport's Information for these games.
We still host occasional RM dinner groups. You can see here that the dynamic has changed...we now have more little kids and it is much more crazy! This is 5 RMs represented in this 15 people.
Budges, Halligans, Bushes, Mitch Peterson and Murphys.
Some Pre-K pics...our new yard was fun for a snow play day...
...and the kids thought the window wells were so fun! They are so shallow, they are perfect hide-and-seek spots.
We have had some good walks on the river trails lately...several bald eagles up close.
More Preschool stuff...my little puppy dogs on Dog Day...
Yes, I have them on leashes and they are begging for snacks. HA!
And pet bird day is one of my favorite days. The kids get their own cages to take home.
Scott spent a week in Mexico doing a story about the Missionary Training Center there that was converted from an old school. It is huge.
He met up with some good friends of ours from mission days. The Pingrees were Mission President and Wife the same time as us.
Scott got to visit Teotihuacan and explore there too and really enjoyed that.
While he was gone, I got to have over Laura's sister Emily (cream sweater in recliner) and her roommates for dinner. They had lost a good friend to suicide and needed a place to get away and just talk.
