Fall break

Last weekend, we took a little trip to Bryce and Zion National Parks.  Because Josh has some other long vacations planned, he couldn't take off work, so we brought his boys along.  I'm so glad he let us.  One of Alisa's requests for me was to take her boys on adventures.  I know her ideas of "adventures" are probably way more exciting than mine, but I think she mostly wanted her boys enjoying nature as much as possible.

I often think about how fortunate we were to have our families so close together.  Between the two of us, we had 7 kids in 8 years.  So while Rob and I got a few looks and comments about our large "family,"  cousins make things much more fun.  The boys cracked jokes and kept a good attitude the whole time.  We had a fun trip.  I missed Alisa, but I also loved being around her boys.  I don't get to see them as much in the school year because we are just far enough away and have just enough activities that make it hard.  The kids could hang out all day and all night and still get along.  What a lucky thing to have close cousins.

Steven is doing great, by the way.  I know I've blogged more about Alisa lately than anything, but I wanted to make sure any followers know how Steven is really thriving.  He led the way on most of our hikes and I truly had to push myself to keep up.  He has always had a thing about being first, from the time he was little.  It was annoying to Andrew when they were little.  Then cancer hit and Steven was on crutches and was dead last.  It wasn't long until he was the first in the walking queue again, and he works hard to stay there.  

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.  I realized that my kids had my camera most of the time, so while I have a ton of pictures from our trip, not as many are blog worthy as I thought :).  

Bryce Canyon.  Photo credit: Addie

All the kids in Bryce Canyon.  As one person passing our gang put it to her friend, "Everyone here has like a thousand kids."  I smiled and (sort of) wished it were true.  Who wouldn't want a thousand of these cuties?

An example of this first in line thing Steven has going.

Wall Street at Bryce

Hiking at Zions.  This was my view most of the weekend. Lovely.

We rounded a bend and found this tarantula on our hike.  Just a Halloween touch.

One of my favorite hikes was the Narrows.  We didn't make it very far, especially the younger kids.  But the older boys and I went on a bit.  This is on my list for our next trip.

But a water hike for Steven means some extra water.  Whenever we'd get to a bank,
he'd lift up his foot and pour out a cup of water.  

I just can't get enough of these cliffs.