Vacation Pics As Promised

I've already told you that vacation was wonderful, restful, and a splendid time with my family. Now I'm going to show you. Funny thing is that all the pictures I'm posting today are posed which I think is super cheesy, but I didn't get any good candid shots, so you are stuck with the cheddar.  Bon appetit! 

Awesome picnic with my happy kids

This photo demonstrates how tall my kids are getting. More than likely Kyle will pass me this summer. People sometimes ask me if I miss my kids being little. Heck no! I am sometimes nostalgic about the past with them, but I absolutely love who they are becoming, the conversations we have, and that they can give themselves a bath! 

We hiked to the base of the big shooting up rock on the left. Two hours and forty-five minutes round trip and no one whined...another reason I love parenting big kids. 

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I like this guy. A lot. He led us up the trail. He is an awesome leader to our family in more ways than I could ever tell you. 

 Ok. So here are the kids sitting on what looks like a nice little rest area. We are actually waiting on Chad as he hiked up a bit further to see if it was safe for our family to continue. Looks like no big deal, right? 

But, this is the view from where we are sitting. Look closely and you will see three tiny people down the steep mountain where loose rocks seek to trip you up and throw you down to your doom! Oh yeah. The mom in me was nervous for sure. My heart beat pretty hard a few times and not because of the work-out. I think I said, "Oh, Jesus" (in prayer form) a few times under my breath. I didn't want to scare the kids so I tried to be somewhat discreet. A few times I might have said, "Uh, Chad? I don't know about this! I might be freaking out a little bit!" 

We made it down safely and some nice man offered to take our picture. Good times. 

Transition to the Grand Canyon

I almost didn't post this one because I'm not so great a photos 

by myself, but hey, I was on this vacation, too. 

So thankful Kyle was willing to take this picture right next to the edge with me! He was so protective of his sisters on this trip. They may not appreciate his protectiveness right now, but I'm positive they will cherish it in their future. 

The whole fam in front of the awesome canyon.

One more of just my great kids because I just love them so much. 

This vacation was exactly what our family needed. Our agenda was to see the beautiful creation around us and to be together. It was incredibly beautiful. Pictures cannot do either place justice. Many times on our hike the kids exclaimed how much fun they were having. And at night, we played Catch Phrase, Taboo, and/or Skipbo, so we had plenty of time for laughter and vocabulary strengthening. Needless to say we came back rested, refreshed, and loving each other more deeply than ever.