A New Hiking Adventure!

We finally took the kids to a different hiking spot today. It is still in the Redrock Loop and it is one Rachel and I have done in the past. (Although it has been awhile, but let's not talk about that!) Instead of our trusty stand-by we headed out to Ice Box Canyon. The entire hike is quite a bit longer than the Children's Trail so we knew off the bat we would most likely not make it to the end. Plus Rachel had not brought any coats for the kids and it did not get it's name for nothing!
Overall, I think the hike went quite well. I did end up carrying Lincoln most of the time, as this hike is much rockier and not as well worn. My arms were definitely a little tired by the time we were back at the car. I would love to be able to find a backpack for Lincoln, but I don;t want to pay for one when I know he won't need to be in it for very much longer! For now I guess I will just continue to get my exercise!

Beautiful Weather

The kids and I were out of school today, so Rachel and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head up to Redrock Canyon with the kids. We took them to the Children's Discovery trail, our trusty standby hike, that is pretty easy for all ages. Even Lincoln walked most of the way. There were a few times I carried him, but he did really well for such a little guy. There was a little bit of water at the end, but nothing like the ice scuplptures we found here at about the same time last year!


Here is Lincoln climbing the rock stairs all by himself. You can not keep this kid down! He loves to be outside and tries to keep up with the big kids no matter what!

Family Overnighter

The Elders Quorum hosted an activity up at Worthen's Cabin this weekend. It was open to anyone interested in coming up, so we decided to take Lincoln up to see and play in the snow. We did not plan on staying overnight, but we took our things just in case.
All I can say is it was freezing. At least comparatively to the valley! But I am always cold so I am probably not the best judge of temperature. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground but it was not anything recent. Which meant it was very hard and icey. Lincoln wasn't too sure about it. He wanted to be outside with the big kids, put he did not want to be put down. Mainly because his gloves would not stay on and he kept falling, which meant his hands were getting cold. So Mom got to stand out in the snow holding the little man as he observed the kids playing around him!
Luckily, everyone got hungry so we were able to coax him back inside where we stayed for the rest of the evening. He was quite enthralled with the fire and the two little Dixon boys kept him entertained so Mom and Dad were able to socialize and play games. I was even able to maintain my title as Leg Wrestling champion against my sister. As you can somewhat see in this picture Rachel is on her way over!!
We did not end up staying the night, but it was fun nonetheless. I think it was best for everyone that Lincoln did not stay. Who knows if he every would have gone to bed with so much excitement going on around him!

New Year, New Calling

Justin and I have a new calling. We are now CubScout Den Leaders. We are over the Bears, so Rydman is actually a part of our Den. I must say I was a little hesitant to take this calling. But I figure someday I am going to want Lincoln to have someone who is willing to serve in the same capacity, so I better do the same. This month's theme is A"maze"ing games so we figure we will just enjoy gettign to knwo the boys, and having a good time together. There are only there boys in our Den, and we basically already know them all, so it should not be anything too difficult.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. I remember when I was a kid thinking how long a year took to go by, now I can't hardly keep track of the actual date. Oh well, at least we still now how to ring in the new year!
We had a bunch of family and friends over last night to help us celebrate the passing of another year. It was nothing too extravagant-just food and fun. Everyone brought an appetizer to share and a few of their favorite games. For the most part the kids entertained themselves (it's hard to be bored when you have a Wii and a few Nintendo DS's laying around!) and the adults enjoyed a few rousing games of Hokie 5 and a new game I got for Christmas called Backseat Drawing.
I think the part of the evening the kids were looking forward to the most was when they got to climb to on our roof and literally "bang" in the new year! (We give them all wooden spoons and metal pans which we let them bang to their hearts content!)
Believe it or not, Lincoln was right there with us, ringing in the new year. He did not go down until almost 1 am-after everyone else had gone home. And it was s till a fight at that point to get him to settle down for the night! He of course did not sleep in any later this morning either, so that was loads of fun!