They Make Me Smile!!

Today has been one of those days!!  Crazy busy and not enough energy to get it all done!!  I was in the middle of changing the wash when I got a phone call and wondered to the office...when I came back this is what I found...

Little Bit of Randomness

We traveled to Wyoming to do the Memorial Day Trek with my mom's family.  We drove to Casper Friday night and not too far into the ride, our dvd player stopped working!  So I gave the girls some books and hoped for the best!!  Looking at these pictures you'd think we had hit the jackpot...too bad it only kept them content for about 10 minutes!!

Well, we've joined most families in the fact that we had a sibling haircut the other day!!  I'm not even sure what Rob and I were up to at the time, but Tay got the scissors and decided that Jordie needed a new look. Chopped the pony tail right off!  We were lucky that she didn't do it closer to the head.  

As you can see, Jordie was having a great time and probably stood very still for her makeover! 

Still smiling!  And actually not too bad...some new bangs and one happy girl!

Solar Eclipse with Grandpa and Grandma Jorgensen

I am glad that Rob's parents are on top of things or we would have totally missed the eclipse!!!  Right after church on Sunday, we headed over to Rob's parents and headed as far south as we could stomach to drive and still come back home that night!!  We ended up on top of a mountain above Fairview, UT.  

Jordie's #1 concern was dinner!   No surprise there!! 

Grandma had to finish up an assignment for her master's class.

We had an awesome view of this little valley!

Dinner!!

Definitely the highlight of dinner....

CHEETOS!!!

Contemplating the universe!!

And more eating...

The girls where nice enough to pose for me today!!  They were playing peek-a-boo with Tay's blanket!

I love that they totally think that they are hiding!!

Tay got new shoes today and she informed me on the way home that she can now exercise and play basketball like mommy!  I asked why and she informed me that she now had exercising shoes!! :)

Coyote Gulch - A Little Bit of Paradise

Rob's family has been backpacking this canyon for years, and I finally convinced him to take a couple of days of and take me!!  Jenna was wonderful enough to take a couple of days off work to watch the girls, so we headed for Coyote Gulch with our friends Devin and Marissa and Rob's uncle Brian.

We got to the trail head about 1 am, so we threw up the tents and tried to get a little sleep before we headed out bright and early!!  These crickets were everywhere on our way in and nowhere to be found in the heat as we came out!

This picture in no way does the canyon justice!!  This is the view from the cliffs above.

We had to lower our packs down the side of the cliff because it would have been really awkward trying to get them down the "crack in the rock" to the bottom of the wall!!  The trail head where we started is called "crack in the wall."

Here's Brian making his way down the crack.

Pic from the bottom.

Just about to descend the sand hill....that inevitably we would have to come up!!

We got to the bottom of the canyon fairly quickly and then it was time to enjoy the water!  About 2" of water runs through the whole canyon, making it a nice cool walk.  Perfect for a hot day.

Brian found some shade.

Beautiful waterfalls...

Natural Springs...

Had to get one of the kid-less couple!

I love the desert with the green!

Here's our first meal in the canyon.  About a month before we went, I was online looking for cheap backpacking meals...well...they don't exist!  I did find a blog that had some recipes that you could do on your home if you have a dehydrator.  Well, I'm lucky because Rob's mom had one, and so for weeks I worked on different recipes and dehydrated them myself!  This is chicken and rice, which actually turned out to be my least favorite meal...maybe it's just because we hadn't been hiking all that long!

Jacob Hamblin Arch

It's amazing what water can do!

Rob filling up in a spring!

I couldn't get my sandles adjusted correctly and it was a long walk back to camp that night!

Dinner...lasagna!!  By far the group favorite!

Brian, Devin, and Marissa ran us through the whole canyon on day one, so day two we headed out!!  Next time I want to take it a little slower and enjoy the scenery!

Last chance to fill up before the sand hill!

Almost up it!!

Up the hill to the cliff...too bad it's still a couple miles out after the cliff!!

Up, up, and away!!

MMMmmmmm  Chili!!  

All in all...an amazing trip that I really can't wait to do again!!  A beautify little oasis in the middle of the desert!

My Little Princess Turns 3!!

Taylor turned 3 years old on the 6th!! Man, does time fly or what?!?!?! She definitely milked it all day long and Rob told me to quit playing into it!! Here she is wearing the crown that came with her card from Grandma Jo.

Taylor was so excited for her party!! She was even excited to eat her dinner...
She ordered french fries and cheetos!! We added the hamburgers to give a little more nutrition to the meal! :)
Then came her favorite part of the day...PRESENTS!! (and she didn't even have to wait for anyone else to open theirs!!)
Utter excitement...
Excited again....
Wow....could it get any better?!?!

Oh wait...there's more!!!!

Loving every moment!
Of course when asked what kind of cake she wanted, my little princess said "I want a princess cake!!!"
Oh...and Jordie was loving having all the family there too!
Posing for Grandpa for pictures!
I wish...
Jordie enjoyed Tay's cake a little more than she did her own birthday cake. She cried when we gave her cake on her 1st bday!! ( I just realized I didn't blog on her bday!! oops)

Taylor actually used her fork!! That is a rare thing.
Here is a pic of the girls on Easter. This is the best picture that we could get. Jordan wasn't really cooperating!! Aunt Jenna did her best to help!