First tooth lost

Whitney was so excited to lose her first tooth. She came home from school today and told me it was really loose. I checked it and it was just barely hanging on so I asked if she wanted me to pull it out and surprisingly she said "Yes!". I wiggled it a bit and then with one quick pull it popped right out.

Butterfly in the apple tree

Sometimes you just need a beautiful butterfly to help you pick apples.



We made some yummy cinnamon applesauce from the apples on this tree in our yard.

Girls climbing adventure

There were a few ladies in our ward that expressed interest in going climbing so I set up a day to take them climbing up the nearby canyon. We went to Dogwood crag and set up two routes on some 5.4-5.6 terrain. Most of them had little to no experience climbing but all had a blast. It was a gorgeous autumn day with the canyon stream and beautiful fall leaves serving as a backdrop to our adventure. Below are Mindi and Sarah pulling over the top of the route. We didn't get a picture of Kristen climbing but she took some great pictures for us. Looking to more adventures in the spring!

Purple Fairies

Whitney played in the fall city soccer league this year. They have enough girls that play that they have a girls league and the teams are formed based on the school you go to and the grade you're in. She loved every practice and game getting to play with her friends. Maren also loved going to practices because there were a few friends her age there with their siblings so they would run and play during that time.

They got to pick their own team name so they chose the Purple Fairies. They had a little cheer that went, "Purple fairies, purple fairies, purple fairies, FLY!" Playing soccer with this team really helped her transition to her new school since soccer started the week before school so she knew a handful of the girls in her grade. She's really becoming a good little soccer player and scored a few goals this year. We're hoping to continue playing with the same team in the seasons to come!

Hawk enjoying it's lunch

We had a hawk land in the tree behind our house one day with some small animal it had caught. We were able to watch it for awhile as it enjoyed it's lunch. It was gross yet fascinating at the same time.

I hope they call me on a mission...

...when I have grown a foot or two.

Lake Powell

Now that we were seasoned boat campers (with one trip to Flaming Gorge under our belt) we decided to go check out Lake Powell with the long weekend Whitney had from school. It was about a 6 hour drive to Bullfrog Marina. Once we got everything packed in the boat and got it launched we only had a few hours left of daylight. We headed about 10 miles down river to the Rincon to set up camp the first night. We found a reasonable spot but could've done without the mud and sticker bushes. The next morning we packed everything up and headed further down river to find a nice sandy camping spot in Cottonwood Canyon.

After setting up camp we headed over to Hole in the Rock which is where some of the Mormon pioneers built a road to bring wagons down to cross the Colorado river on their way to forming a settlement on the San Juan river near the Four Corners area. The Colorado river is surrounded by shear cliffs so there a few places you can cross it with wagons. After hiking to the top and back down it is absolutely amazing to think they brought wagons down that cleft. They spent many days blasting, carving, and building a trail down that cleft. You can see it behind the girls at the bottom of the "V" on the horizon. The other three pictures show evidence of where they blasted and carved the trail out of the rock. In some places they drilled holes down in the rock where wooden poles where placed to help build more support for the road.

We enjoyed the afternoon spent tubing, wakeboarding, waterskiing, and exploring other side canyons. Jim was finally able to get up on one ski. The next morning we headed further down river to Rainbow Bridge National Monument with some exploration of some narrow side canyons coming and going.

The Rainbow Bridge is stunning to behold! It stands 290 feet high and has a span of 234 feet and is one of the largest natural bridges in the world. The ranger also showed us a dinosaur track believed to be from a dilophosaurus in the rock.

We stopped at Dangling Rope Marina for a few gallons of gas and some ice cream and then headed back to our campsite. We enjoyed a beautiful view up Cottonwood Canyon from our site but you better watch out because when the sun goes down the Wild Things come out to dance!

The next morning we packed up and headed back to Bullfrog. The water was nice and smooth so I enjoyed a wakeboard ride for a few miles as we headed back up river. A great way to cap a fun weekend spent camping, boating, and hiking. We figured we did over 150 miles in our boat that weekend!