Ugh!  Again with the snow.  So we took Chase to see Tangled, which happened to be our first 3D movie in theaters.  Unfortunately it was too lovey-dovey for him and he just wanted to leave the whole time :)

The lesser of two evils.

This year our circumstances left us with two less than ideal choices for a Christmas tree.  1- We could go get our own tree as tradition would have it, but it would have to be a juniper (gasp) or 2- We could go and BUY a tree (double gasp)!

We decided the memories of cutting down the tree would make it worth having a juniper and I think we chose the right idea.  Besides as Daniel put it " a juniper tree is no worse than a pinyon (the kind I grew up with)." And I felt the same about the Charlie Brown tree (or Blue Spruce as he calls them :) that he grew up with.  (Love you babe :)

We forgot Chase's gloves and he just couldn't resist playing in the snow, so we had to make do.

 It was an incredibly muddy road out the the area.  There were huge puddles of water to drive through and we slid off to the side of the road more times than I can count, but this ole' truck just gets us wherever we need to go.

 In front of the tree we picked.

Yep, we definitely made the right choice.

Snow Day

 After 5 years of living in the snow during the winter you might think I would be used to it by now, but every year I'm still surprised how long the snow can just sit there without melting away immediately like it did when I was younger.

I guess if the snow won't go away, we have no choice but to take advantage of it.

 And there just happens to be one perfect hill in Stansbury Park for sledding.

San Juan Hill

Thanksgiving weekend


I finally read Undaunted, all 802 pages in half a week, and now I have to do it all over again.  I have to go back the craziest 4-wheeling trail to the Hole in the Rock.  I have to see it all again now that I know a little better what really happened there.  I need to go back to the top of Slick Rock hill and look down at amazement that they were able to follow a mountain sheep to the one spot that could lead them down.  I want to see San Juan hill again and just stare and marvel at the miracle they went through.  I plan on reading this book to my kids and taking them to all these amazing places that so few get to see.  This book immediately made it's way to my favorite books list.

                                                     (Just a part of San Juan Hill)
Over Thanksgiving weekend we made our way down just past Bluff to San Juan Hill.  This was the final push the Hole in the Rock pioneers made before finally reaching their destination.

We love adventures like this.  It creates many picture taking opportunities for me, and lots of outdoor adventure for each of my boys.

 A little cave along the path.

Plenty of dirt to keep a 3 year old boy happy.

 

 

 If you look really hard in this picture you can see the words, "WE THANK THEE OH GOD"  It isn't known for sure who carved these words, but is believed that the pioneers did it as they reached the top of the hill.

Family picture under "WE THANK THEE OH GOD"  Can you see it?

Grandma has these boys wrapped around her finger.

 Porter and Chase finding the perfect rocks the throw.  This is the best picture I got before rocks came flying my way.

 A group shot (minus my dad who headed off to find the highway).

 Once again, hard to tell, but we believe these are markings where the wagon wheels dug into the rock.   One things for sure.  This place definitely had a neat spirit there.

 Can't help but share some of our family pictures.  We haven't gotten all of them back, so more will be coming.

Hole in the Rock

 I had the opportunity to journey the Hole in the Rock trail as a child, and when the opportunity popped up again we had to jump on it.  There is something so spiritual and neat about seeing the remote (and when I say remote I mean R-E-M-O-T-E) areas where the pioneers traveled, prayed, struggled and showed incredible faith.  I only wish I had read the book Undaunted before going, but reading it is at the top of my to do list now.

I'm also really annoyed at bloggers set-up when I try to move my pictures around.  They end up bouncing around like their on crack, so I'm just leaving them in the order they are in.  If you know a secret that I don't, please share.

According to Daniel, this was the trickiest spot of the trail.  What you can't really see is the huge cliff off to the right side there and that part of the road was a few rocks sitting on the edge of that cliff.  (Right behind that weed there.)  Apparently while I was busy snapping pictures my husband about went off that cliff when the back wheels of the truck went into the air and the back almost flipped over the top.  I'm so grateful I didn't see that!

This is my mom and Aiden driving.  She drove the whole trip last time and was "just along for the ride" this time.  HAHA!

The beautiful view so few get to see.

This is going up the "tricky spot" on the way back out.  This is the spot we thought we would have the most trouble with, but everyone made it up just fine.

You don't have to tell us that we're dorks.....  we already know.

The wheels came off the ground a little more than I usually like them to on this trip.

We were so lucky to leave our kids with Grandma and Grandpa Torgerson and enjoy the camping weekend to ourselves.  I'm not nearly as brave as my siblings who brought their kids.  I would have stayed home. 

Guess what?!?!  When your vehicle isn't running, the power breaks don't work.  Oh the things they forgot to teach my in drivers ed.  I'm a little new at the whole driving with a stick shift.  I thought I would drive as far as I dared on the way in and on the first minimally difficult hill I goofed up, and killed the truck near the top.  I had to back down to get another go at it and didn't restart the truck.  Well I was no match for those power breaks and we flew backwards down the hill until we came to a slamming stop when the wheel hit a huge rock.  That cured me of wanting to drive for a while.

I gave it a shot at the end of the last day after watching how it was done.

Out on the trail with the beautiful scenery.

It was fun having some time away from the kiddos, but we sure missed them.  Unbelievably, we got cell phone service and got to check up on the kids and talk to Chase.

Coming down the "tricky spot".

The road  we were following.... what?  you don't see it out there?  A lot of the time the road was marked by a short white line painted on the rocks.

Coming down....




Unfortunately we didn't make it to the end, but we did get to see this:

The neatest part of the trip for me was a short hike my mom and I got to go on up the mountain.

This is one section of the steep mountain where you could see markings of where the pioneers had made trail to get down.  You could see ruts chipped out of the rock to slow the wagons down, and holes for dynamite.

Another incredible view rarely seen.

It's probably pretty hard to tell what this picture is showing.  It's hard for me to see even though I saw it in real life.  If you look hard at the rock you can see lines running down it.  These lines were markings from the wagon wheels.  It was pretty incredible to see.

This trip is not for the unadventurous, but if you even get the opportunity..... GO!!