Adam's Canyon (hike 2)

I will have to say hiking is fast becoming one of our families favorite things to do together. Last night we went on the Adam's Canyon Hike. I have lived by this hike since I was 16 years old and this is the first time I have made it to the waterfall. The first time I went was actually with Jeron's brother Jeff. He set me up with one of his mission companions. I am embarrassed to say that I couldn't make it up due to the fact that I had not eaten a thing that day. That will always go down as one of my most embarrassing moments. The second time I went on this hike was with Jeron. We took the wrong trail and found a waterfall in a different place. This hike is fairly easy. The next time I went up Jeron took me on that same hike and proposed to me. The last time we went up we took JJ to "our waterfall".

We thought it would be fun to go show the kids where we got engaged. We knew the hike was fairly easy so we didn't bother with jackets at flashlights. We arrived at the base of the hike at 6:00pm. This was plenty of time to take "our" hike. We let JJ be the scout. He takes off and then runs back to tell us what he sees. (great for burning of 9yr old energy)

JJ ran past the place where you turn off to go to "our" waterfall. When we finally caught up with him we were well on the way of the real hike. We decided that we would go to the "real" waterfall.

Can I just tell you how much better hiking is with Papa Bear!
Daddy and his little bug.

Mommy and Miss Happy Pants

Fast beoming BFF's but only in hikers land

This pic sums up how she feels about hiking.

I was really glad that we decided to go to the real waterfall. The trail is beautiful. I wanted to take a million pictures and wished I had my good camera the whole time.

This is the actual spot I made it to on my embarrassing "can't make it to the top" time.

Crossing the bridge

See they love each other

We made it to the top at about 9:10pm. We did not think it would take that long to get to the top. We knew we had to book it to get down the canyon before day light was gone. So we took a pic, dropped the camera which is now ruined and head back down.

Jeron and I really started to get nervous because we did not have the flashlight and it was getting dark fast. We were the LAST ones to the top so we knew there would be no one behind us if we came into a problem, which is easy to have happen with four kids. We actually did pass a large group on our way down that were at a camp fire. I happened to notice that they had flashlights. I told the kids that they needed to stay ahead of these people so that if we needed light they would be coming. So we took off. We moved quickly down the trail and we stayed ahead of them until we came out of the thick trees. By this time it was full on night and you could see the city lights and the last bit of the sun set. IT was BEAUTIFUL We no longer needed to worry and just enjoyed the end of our hike.

This is what the pictures look like once you drop your camera on rocks.
I still like the pic though.
In case you can't see that is Jeron and I kissing.

JJ is minus a shirt because Elsie started to get really cold. I said that i was about to take off my shirt and JJ immediately took his off and gave his to Elsie.
Seriously could that sunset be any prettier?

Cute of Daddy with his little ladies.

We did get one injury on the hike. I had been hiking behind Emma almost the whole way. We came to this tree that had fallen in the path. She went around it while I went over it. This put me ahead of her. Next thing I know I hear a thud and there is Emma sliding down a short bank. I get to her and she is crying. She was scraped up pretty bad. She got right up though and hiked the rest of the way up and all the way back down. What a trooper!

Both pics are of her legs

When we arrived at the bottom of the hike Ellie threw down the water bottle she was holding and yelled "YEAH". I thought it was the cutest thing. Then that group that had the flashlight was still at the bottom of the trail. She had to go and individual say goodbye to each of them. It really was adorable. When we got to the car it was 10:15pm. When we got home we ate dinner. The kids were playing and getting along so nicely. JJ turned to me and said "Mom, if we keep hiking I think Emma and I could be the best of friends. It really makes me care about her." That was all Jeron and I needed. We will continue hiking just for that reason if nothing else.

Side note: If we had known we were not going to "our" waterfall we would have taken Jackets and a flashlight. We really are good parents. Please don't think that we are irresponsible just because the last two hikes we have been on seemed to have a little parent neglect and lack of good sense.

Five Words...

HOW

DOES

SHE

DO

THIS?!?

Bee's Game with Grandpa

We got to go to the Bees game with Grandpa John. It was a lot of fun. If you minus the car ride there and the car ride home. For some reason JJ and Emma decided that they MUST fight. They both ended up grounded to their rooms and cleaning the dreaded play room. Other than that minor glitch in the system all went great. We had AWESOME seats on the first base line. I don't know why we always forget to bring a pen but we do. They handed out baseball cards at the start of the game and the kids loved that. They ate pizza. Of course Jeron and I ate a hot dog. You have to have a hot dog at a game. The Bees lost which was a bummer but the game was still fun.

The man behind us had a yummo looking ice cream cone that Ellie physical turned around in her chair so she could watch him eat it. I kept trying to get her to stop but she just had to watch. We decided that she needed one of her own. It kept her quite the rest of the game. She loved it.

Thanks Grandpa for taking us to the game. It was a lot of fun. Maybe next time ants in his pants won't make us leave early. Best part of the whole night it was Thirsty Thursday. That is cheap beer night. Oh ya, we liked that. And to think we didn't see one mullet!

Happy Birthday Daddy

Jeron is now the big 33. He is not to sure about how he feels being 33, but he does think the number is cool. I think it is an athlete thing. This year it was really hard to decide what he wanted to do. In fact it wasn't until the day of that we finally nailed down what we were doing. We ended up having Mandarin at our house. This is one of our favorite places to eat and we haven't been there is so long. He really wanted to go out somewhere we love but wanted to be with the kids but wanted to go out, but wanted to be with the kids, but wanted to go out, you get the picture. So we had the best of both worlds. We don't love to take the kids out to nice places and so you see the dilemma. It was nice we had family over and enjoyed dinner together.

We love you Daddy, honey. We are so glad that you are in our lives. You work so hard for us. You make our world a better place. You do a lot for us and we love you. We hope you have a wonderful 33rd year. We always want the best for you. Happy birthday.

Jeron's Mom and Step Dad Gene

Jeron's Dad

The Meads Clan. Notice it just keeps getting smaller and smaller. Everyone is moving away.
Don't look to close there is some weird neck drama going on.

Jeron's Big bro Jeff and Jeron's new sister in law Tara.

Poor Uncle Jeff had a face cleaning given by the girls. (they used wipes) He was a great sport about it.

Jeron is so grateful for all the birthday wishes and gifts that he received. It really is nice to feel loved especially on your big day. Jeron will be getting a new golf bag soon. We will post pictures of it when he get it. We love you Snowman.

Our First Hike of the Summer

I told the kids after swim lessons we would start hiking every morning. We went to Waterfall Canyon in Ogden. After seeing it on my cousins blog I thought it looked like a fun hike for kids. At the beginning of the hike JJ found a cactus. Emma had never seen one before. They were pretty excited.

I had to pack water and snacks. I knew I would not be able to carry it so I packed the littlest backpack that we had which happened to be Ellies. I figured that Emma could carry it. Well, Ellie had to do it for about 20 minutes after all it was her backpack. Cute little bug.
JJ enjoying the cool water in his hat.
Boo and Mommy
Emma standing on the bridge crossing the creek.

Well, I was a bit wrong about this being a easy hike. Don't get me wrong, the older kids loved it but Ellie was a bit to little for it. We hiked up this really easy path making me think it was a great hike. We were told by this man that you come to a bridge and then it isn't to much from there.
He said the terrain is a bit steep but you should be okay. He forgot to mention ROCKY.
I am thinking this can only be for a little while. Well we kept going and going and the rocks kept coming.

I decided we probably needed to head back. We had to wait for JJ because he had gone on ahead to see if he could see anything. As we are waiting some people coming back down came by. They said "Oh it is beautiful you have to keep going". So we pushed on. Then we stopped again with the same thoughts of heading back down. Same thing happened again only this time the couple told us "it wasn't to much further". I figured we had made it this far it would be a shame to miss the waterfall. We continued on. As we were approaching the top of the mountain I finally see JJ. He comes to tell us that we need to cross the creek in order to see the waterfall. He tried to go the way we were going but had to climb a really steep mountain to get there and he thinks it would be too hard for Ellie. So we find a place to cross and make it up to the waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful. The only problem was that you are basically standing on a steep slope so you have to sit with your legs in front of you to stop you from falling down. This was not that relaxing with two scared out of their minds little kids. It was finally peaceful when the two little ones stopped crying. We sat and enjoyed our snacks and the cool wet breeze.

Remember that steep mountain that JJ mentioned, well it is the one behind him. He pretty much was rock climbing without a rope. I would say he was a good 100 feet up. We are lucky nothing happened to our little dare devil.

Then it was time to head back down. I knew that I was pretty much spent. I had carried Elsie all the way and Ellie part of the way. My poor little muscles were not all to happy with me. I said a little prayer that we would be okay going back down and I asked Heavenly Father to give me the strength I needed to get us back down safely. I put Elsie on my back just in case I had to carry Ellie. We start on our way and Ellie completely freaks out. I think she was looking down the mountain instead of just in front of her. So I pick her up and we are off. I kept getting passed by other hikers saying things like "what a woman" or "you sure have your hands full" or my favorite "you are super Mom" My response to that was "or insane Mom"
JJ and Emma are helping me by telling me where to put my feet and JJ would lift Ellie down the big rocks. We are doing good but I was getting tired. It was a lot of weight to carry. That is when we see this guy going up the mountain. He was nice and said hi and asked us the easiest path. We crossed the river and headed down some more. Then again that same guy came by us only going back down. This time he asked if he could help us out. I said "No we are fine." He then tells me he normally hikes with his kids and would love to carry one of mine on his shoulders. So I tell him if he would just take Ellie to the end of the rocks I think she would be able to do the rest. He grabs her and off we go. I was SHOCKED at how much rock there was. It took us a good twenty minutes at a fast pace to get down those rocks. I realized that there is no way I could have carried both of the girls through all of the rock. The man who helped us get down the mountain was the answer to my prayer. I am so grateful that he came and helped us down the mountain. It just shows that Heavenly Father listens even to my little prayers. It was a great thing to tell the kids about. They had seen it all happen. They could see the prayer being answered.

We said our goodbyes to our angel, and proceeded down. Ellie was walking and doing great. Then she was done. She no longer would walk a single step.

I then had to carry her again. This time it was easy terrain so I was okay. We sang songs and walked down the rest of the way. JJ agian had ran on ahead. As we are walking we see JJ's hat on the trail. I got scared to death. he would not just leave his hat and not notice. So with a lot of panic Emma and I run to see if we can see him. We get to the bottom and there is JJ waiting for us. I was so relieved to see him. He was crying though. he had fallen down the trail and got banged up. He didn't notice he had lost his hat because he was wearing Elsie's hat underneith his own. Imagine this boy standing at the bottom of the trail crying with a little baby girl hat on. He was a site. Poor kid.
Once we got home I checked out the info about this hike. Just to see if I am a huge wimp or if it really was as difficult as I thought. It was a 3-4 mile hike, "Description: This short but strenuous hike includes a rugged scramble over steep, rocky terrain, yet it has long been one of Ogden’s most popular hikes thanks to the spectacular 200-foot waterfall at the upper end of the canyon. Please don’t be tempted to climb the cliffs around the waterfall. It’s illegal and several hikers have fallen to their deaths from the treacherous rocks." How do you like that discription. The picture doesn't do it justice on how steep of a cliff JJ was on. Scares me to death. He was a t least 100 feet up. I will have to have a talk with that boy. I will have to say it was an adventure that is full of memories. And Yes, we will be going on more hikes. I learned that I am a lot stronger than I thought. I learned JJ and Emma can handle anything. I learned to check out a hike before I go on it. I learned that Ellie is a trooper. When we got to the car and took off our shoes Ellie's poor little feet were smashed. Maybe that is why she wouldn't walk anymore. Poor bug. Most important thing that I learned is that Heavenly Father answered my little prayer, and the gratitude that I feel from that is overwhelming.

Happy Daddy's Day

We LOVE that you love us.

Daddy we LOVE you.

We LOVE when you play with us.

We LOVE when you wrestle with us.

We LOVE to play soccer with you.

We LOVE that you are strong.

We LOVE that you tease us. (sometimes)

We LOVE when you give us father's blessings.

We LOVE that you work so hard for us.

We LOVE Utah and wish you did too.

Thanks for for being our daddy.

While the big kids are away the little kids will play

On Thursday Grandma Jan came and picked JJ and Emma up to spend a few days with her. They were so excited. They were going to go to a water park and see a movie and have a good time with Grandma and Grandpa.

I started to get nervous that I would have the little ones without my helpers. It actually turned out really nice. Jeron and I were able to focus our attention on the little ones and do the things that they like.

One of the nights we took them to Layton Park. They loved it. Ellie acted as if she knew just where to go. She led us right to the playground. They loved all the old school stuff like the swing and the spinny thing. I can't remember what it is called.

Ellie getting ready to go down the big slide.

Elsie climbing around

This is the spinny thing

Ellie loves to swing. Elsie does not.

Daddy and Boo

Ellie trying to sneak up on the swan

Sitting quietly.

Elsie couldn't figure out that she had to be quiet. She kept saying "Ahheee" just like Monica Seles. She gets so excited around any animal. She thinks they all want to be her best friend.

After scaring all the ducks away she looked pretty smug. She really is too stinkin cute.

I don't have any pictures of JJ and Emma with Grandma and Grandpa but they had a great time. They got to make JJ's cake, eat out all the time, drink carbonation (a no no at home), sleep in, play hard, and enjoy being with there Grandparents.

We loved just having the little two. It was so fun to just play. I will have to say I missed JJ and Emma and was glad to have them back.