The Great Outdoors

With the weather cooling down we have ventured out into the great outdoors. Two weekends ago Lew and Sherrill came down for the girls cheerleading event and we decided to go for a drive. We have been talking about going camping for a long time now but I didn't feel comfortable taking my kids into the wilderness without first finding a suitable spot.

On our quest to find a good camp site we decided to take advantage of Grandpa Cranney's park pass and check out Kolob canyon. It was beautiful! I was amazed that such beauty could be so well hidden.

Next we decided to go to Cedar Canyon and check out Duck Creek Pond. We went to the visitors center and they told us about an ice cave that was close by.

Here is my adventurous little Emma going into the depths of the cave without even so much as a flashlight. Lila and I also went down. It was cold!

It felt sooo good!

Our next stop was Duck Creek Pond. We found the water and just had to be apart of it. Once we saw the campground and the pond we just knew we had to come back and go camping.

This weekend we took the opportunity to go camping. We gathered all our gear, grabbed our neighbors, McKenna, Jake, Brandon, Emma Kate, and Cole, then headed out into the wilderness.

The first thing the kids did was take off running. Apartment living just doesn't afford us the opportunity to just run wild. This was awesome!

Having the tent set up lent a lot of material for play.

Here is Lydia in her play pen. This lasted about 30 seconds. She was way too busy to be set on the sidelines.

After exploring the campground, taking a potty break, and set up our tents, we went about finding firewood to help the daddies. We were very good scavengers.

Here we are at the visitors center waiting for our Dad's to get information. We are just so happy to be here!

We made it into the ice cave again. This time we all got down in there at the same time. Turns out, this is about as far as the cave goes. You wouldn't know it by looking down into it from the top.

Next on our agenda we went to Mammoth Cave. While our Daddy was checking it out to see how safe it was we just had to take a moment to pose.

We decided it was even safe enough for all of us, even Lydia to go down into the cave. Nate, Jake, and Emma Kate tried to crawl through the cave to the other side. The only thing they managed to find was a LOT of mud. The rest of us smarties decided to hang back.

When we got back from the caves we set about finding pine cones.

Emma was having such a good time that she was whistling.

Then we had to run again!

After a yummy dinner we got to roast (or fry as Emma kept calling it) marshmallows. Emma said it was her favorite part. That was ironic because the second she put the roasted marshmallow in her mouth she spit it right out!

Lila had no patience for roasting. She just ate the marshmallow right of the pole and then forgoed the pole all together and just ate the marshmallow. She ate as many as she could get her hands on.

When asked what her favorite part was, she said it was the sleepover. That was understandable because she was the only one who slept through the night. The rest of us had a very cold and uncomfortable night. Emma even got sick and threw up on my pillow. Despite that, it has been all they could talk about since we left and definitely want to do it again!

Go Warriors!!

We got the opportunity to join the Snow Canyon High School Junior Cheer clinic this week. We had two days of practice and then we got to do the dance we learned for half time at the football game on Friday night. We had sooo much fun! It was hard at times, our attention span is very limited but in the end it was a BLAST!!

Go Warriors!!

Below is video of the girls practicing and also their actual performance. It is hard to see them dancing so the practice gives you a chance to see them up close. Emma Dawn had so much fun. She was enthralled from the second it started right until the very end. Lila struggled a bit more. But she has forgotten all the trouble of being cooped up for hours at a time and are just thrilled to have made through the experience. I have a feeling that we will be pretending to be cheerleaders for a long time to come! :)

Here is Emma Dawn and Emma Kate practicing






Here is video of Lila practicing. If you notice she is about a second away from falling asleep.

Here is Emma Dawn, Emma Kate, and Lila ready for the big show! They're so cute!!

Here is the actual performance. Emma is on the far left, next to a cheerleader and Lila is the smallest cheerleader in the front row.




After the big performance, they handed out pom-poms to all the girls. We just had to pose!