On the Hunt

When I was in Utah,

Justin, Halley and Chancy and I decided to find a piece of property

that my husband's father had purchased years ago.

If you've ever seen the show Doomsday Preppers,

I can tell you that Lincoln's dad could have had an episode on that show.

This was his spot for us all to bug-out to in case of emergency.

He spent years preparing for a disaster,

spent tons of money,

and many years preparing.

He did this over 20 years ago, 

he passed away over 20 years ago.

My two sons have always wanted to find this place 

and explore, or even possibly live there.

(mountain man style)

(crazy kids).

We got a map from Lincoln's mom,

and after going down a few dirt roads we finally found the place.

Good thing Lincoln's dad had erected this "gate"

or we may not have found it.

Justin and Chancy are pictured below with the gate.

"The Broken Arrow"

A trailer that they were going to use for shelter.

They leave it open for anyone who may come across it.

It was cleaner than I expected.

Maybe someone has been using it?

A note from Lincoln's father . . . . . . . 

He was really INTO this prep stuff!!!!

People have been digging up his supply caches.

One that surprisingly hasn't been dug up.

Some other things that have been disturbed.

I'd been driving by all these wildflowers.

Some patches of flowers on the roadside were quite dense and really pretty.

I had to get pictures.

A nice view.

It was fun to go exploring with the kids.

Spring Break

 We had a HUGE spring break.

Meaning that a lot happened during spring break.

Chancy had called to tell us he was thinking about getting married.

So we had them both come out to go on vacation with us.

Before we left for our "planned" vacation.

We went to DC to do the tourist thing.

For most people DC IS the vacation!

Unbeknownst to me, Chancy had planned on asking his girlfriend

to marry him.

At the Lincoln Monument.

(I had to make them reenact the asking, because someone stepped in front of me the first time)

:)

He even had a ring . . . . . . . 

Congrats Chancy and Malorie!

We also went to North Carolina

so McKay could take Emily his "friend that is a girl" to her Senior Prom.

I have so many fun pictures . . . . . 

This is at the Roosevelt Memorial.

At the Lincoln Monument.

5 inch heels!!!!!
Yikes.  (but pretty!!)

She wouldn't put this on for her mom.

But I convinced her.  Tee hee.

A Masquerade Ball.

This was the best of the pics I took of Lincoln.

Tongue and all.

He and McKay are so hard to capture being serious.

At Kitty Hawk.

We visited this last year

BUT

Malorie and Chancy hadn't been 

so we did a repeat.

This is a fun little park to play in . . . 

even as a BIG kid!

As we were leaving McKay's

"friend that is a girl's" house  :)

her mom gave us a sled and told us we 

NEEDED to go to the sand dunes on the Outer Banks.

So we did . . . . 

Lincoln plowed us a path to sled down.

There were people going a lot faster on Boogie boards.

Something to remember.

As kids we used to spend a lot of time at the sand dunes.

Usually on Easter.

This was Easter.

I was having flashbacks of all our good-ole-times at the dunes.

Chancy running up the dune. 

I did it too!

The beach had Sooooooo many shells on it.

And they were big!

I loved this one with the barnacles growing on it.

It was so cold we couldn't really enjoy the beach.

We walked on it one morning, but it was too cold the other mornings.

I broke away and spent a couple hours by myself 

sitting, listening, watching, reading and enjoying.

LOVE IT!

Miniature golf.

Lincoln teaching Malorie to golf.

(Like it really mattered!!!!) 

I think we all got at least 1 hole-in-one that day.

FUN!

I had to take a picture of the place we stayed at.

It reminded me of what the house looked like in the

Lemony Snicket's movie

A Series of Unfortunate Events.

What do you think????

Touchstone Tuesday

I love where we live right now because it is so beautifully green.

We are from Utah.

Utah has it's beauty,

You just need to look at the beauty of Utah with a different kind of "eye"

to find it.

There are certain areas of Utah
where the beauty

just smacks you in the face with all it's majesty.

Our fridge Magnet.  The hike known
as Walter's Wiggles.

When Halley got married back in 2007,
and we traveled to Utah for her reception,

we decided that we needed to take a trip down to southern Utah,

and show our boys The Canyon Lands.
(Why do you wait to do the things you should-a done
while you actually live in a place?!)

The Canyon Lands are
unbelievably BEAUTIFUL!

and in June they are

HOT!
(Unbelievably)

We dealt with temperatures up into the hundreds.

118 degrees Fahrenheit was the highest temp I remember. 

In Vegas (nearby) they were registering temps in the high 120's 

that week. CrAzY hOt!

We all had camelbacks filled with Gaterade

which became warm very fast.  

Warm Gaterade . . . . . 

JOY!
NOT!

Let's just say I was NOT a happy camper!

And YES, we were c.a.m.p.i.n.g  in that heat!
In tents (no a.c.)

The desert is a funny place.

You fry in the daytime and freeze at night . . . . 

seriously!

We have sooooooo many memories of this.

Some good, some bad.

This is the trip where my son broke his back

and I felt responsible . . . . I still feel responsible.

This is the trip where we conquered amazing things.
We hiked amazing trails and reached new heights.

Isn't that the way most things are in life?

We feel more joy because we feel more pain?

the pain makes the joy possible?

I'm just glad the pictures don't show (much)

my complete discomfort with the heat and distress I felt.

It really was a trip to remember!

Forgive all the pictures . . . . there are just too many good ones!

A kind soul (there are lots of kind souls in Utah) took our picture.
It was morning, the beginning of our hike, and heating up fast!

My hubby and sons were so kind to take m.a.n.y breaks for me.  I'm a horrible hiker.  My heart beats so fast
and my head feels like it wants to split open and let the heat out the top of it . . . . . . . .
See?  I'm  still whining after all these years!

Looking down at what we had hiked, and this was JUST the beginning of this hike!

Chancy. at the bottom of  Walter's Wiggles (the one on the fridge magnet)

Looking down on Walter's Wiggles.

Justin and Chancy at the top of Angel's Landing.

Justin, Looking down from Angel's Landing.

At the bottom of a slot Canyon.   Where did  Justin get the energy to continue to act like a billy goat?

I found a good rock to sit on and cool off a bit . . . . . it was nicer at the bottom of this canyon.
(Chancy joined me for a while)

Down another slot canyon.  I didn't go on this hike.  I found a shade tree and took
a much needed rest!

We used Zion's shuttle service.  There was a family on the bus talking about how many states they had visited.
They came up with 9 and were so proud.  Lincoln and I started talking about it, and it would have been easier
for us to list the states we HADN'T visited!!!!!  We just let the family bask in their glory!!

I love this picture . . . . it is now the background of my laptop computer.  Me and my boys!
Bryce Canyon.

So gorgeous!  (no not me!!!)  

Yes, he is gorgeous!!!  This shows the trail we had hiked so far!

It was so hot, that I convinced Lincoln that we needed to take the horse tour around Bryce instead of hiking it all.
A fateful decision.  I can finally look at these pictures and not feel queasy.  See the caps we had on?  We
were warned not to wear them because they spooked the horses when they blow off of your head.  There was not
a breath of a breeze and so we kept them on.

Happy as a clam! (hmmm are clams happy?)

You wouldn't believe it from this "capless" picture than a mini cloud burst stormed through the canyon,
flipped our caps off and spooked the horse that Justin was on which caused the horse to gallop off on the
opposite direction and successfully get rid of its rider.  Poor Justin.  It was the first time he had been on a horse
since he was a toddler and didn't know what to do.

Me handing out the caps . . . . an ambulance ride, an emergency room visit and an x-ray showed that
Justin had broken a small bone in his back.
YIKES . . . . what a journey that started.  He still feels pain from that accident.

Just a picture I like . . . . . I think those were the storm clouds that violently blew in and out of the canyon.

The desolate beauty of Utah. and the beginning of our 35 plus hour trip home.  We were going to visit the
Grand Canyon on this trip, but because of the accident decided to just go home.

 The Joy . . . . . The pain . . . . .

LIFE.