Moab

We just returned from a fun filled weekend in Moab. We had such a good time with amazing friends and are so glad we went! Yes, it was HOT . . . but we survived. I'm so glad Jennilyn had the wonderful idea and invited us along! We planned this months ago - probably February-ish and it seemed like it would never come. It gave me something warm to look forward to as we froze through the cold months.

 

I must add the fact that this is the FIRST time I've really been to Moab. We drove through when we were moving to Texas, but I didn't get to stop and see anything. So after all the years of living in Utah and now Colorado, I finally made it there. Next time I'll need to try 4-wheeling or Jeeping in Moab, but for now this was perfect!

 

We camped for two nights in Arches National Park, and went on some pretty amazing hikes - luckily they were doable for the little kids and pregnant me.

 

Before we even made it to camp on the first day, we stopped for the "Negro Bill" hike. I'm told they just recently changed the name from "Nigger Bill" - really?!? I guess we don't want to offend anyone. Haha. It was the PERFECT hike for a super hot day. Not sure how hot it got, but the high all weekend there was supposed to be high 90's to 100. YIKES! This hike criss-crossed over a little steam for the majority of the hike. Needless to say, we had many distractions!

 

This is a view from the parking lot in the direction we were headed:

 
Did I mention we had EIGHT little boys between the three families? They were all so great together and loved trekking through the stream! They preferred the detour through the stream, so it was always tough to get them back on the dirt trail.

Cade and Gavin loved this little spot along the way. They would lay down in the little waterfall and let the water wash around them.

 
Dylan came prepared to catch any critter he could find. He had a backpack full of crazy stuff, but the most used were his little butterfly net and his three plastic mayonnaise jars. He was hoping to catch lizards, but they were much too speedy. On this hike they caught tons of crawdads, and some tiny fish. This is the biggest they caught and then nicely released it back into the river:

While the boys played and caught whatever they could find in the river, the rest of us relaxed in the shade. Shad, Ben, Tim, Sierra, Addi, Jennilyn, and Chris. Addi and Sierra are 12 and were sweet with ALL the boys. I so appreciated their help the whole time!

 
I was bringing up the rear for most of the hike and wanted to catch a picture of everyone headed up the trail. Bad move. After this pic I moved to the side to let a few people come down the trail and didn't pay attention to where I stepped. I brushed my foot along a cactus with teeny tiny little needles that were so willing to catch a ride on my foot. Talk about annoying!! It was tough to get all the little pokies first out of my foot and then out of my Keens.

The deepest spot in the stream. We took yet another break to enjoy the water.

 
Our destination is in here behind Tim and Gavin. I guess it was an arch. Haha - it provided shade which was fabulous!

The water trickled out of this little crack in the rock. It was so nice and freezing cold. It definitely warmed up considerably as it got down the trail.

 
After we made it back down the hike - which was much faster than the trek up (we didn't stop to play so much), we went to Arches to find our camp. I did my best at getting a pic of the sunset the first night. It was gorgeous!

Most of the little boys hanging out around the fire:

 
The next day we planned to hike to the Delicate Arch. It is 3 miles round trip with no shade and no water. We were sure spoiled on our first day so I was a little scared for this hike. Chris had to head into Moab to pick up a few things so she offered to take Gavin with her. That was probably a good move otherwise Tim may have been carrying him a lot. Who knows though, he may have surprised us. He did so good the first day and rarely had Tim carry him - usually on the parts with deep loose sand that was hard to walk in.

A few minutes into the hike Easton was complaining that his legs were tired which is annoying when it is tough to motivate him to hike in the heat. He didn't get near enough sleep the night before so I'm sure that didn't help. He made it to the top though and was finally a happy kid running around with all the boys. It was a tough hike - at least for me! I don't know that it would have been any easier if I wasn't pregnant though. I need to get in shape!!

Here is all the group that went on the hike (minus me) that climbed up a steep part next to the trail. I was happy to be the photographer. :) They could see the Delicate Arch through that 'hole', but I was willing to wait the few more minutes to see it.

 
The view of the arch from that 'hole'. Here's Dylan and Easton:

Sierra and Addi - these girls are AWESOME! I was so glad they were with us! Addi is Jenni and Shad's daughter and she brought Sierra so that she would have a friend on the trip.

 
The beautiful view that I waited to see. Loved it! It was seriously pretty amazing!

Look really close - that's our little family under the arch. That's me in the red shirt.

Our whole group that went on this hike:

The boys didn't hold still. They had to keep hiking and exploring. I was so proud of Dylan - I never once heard a complaint from him and he loved it! Here's all the boys that went on the hike:

 
Me and Tim:

Don't you just love Easton's very unnatural smile?!? Our little family picture - minus Gavin.

 
Ben was feeling left out - so he took matters into his own hands and got his own picture!

Easton, Tim and Dylan on the way back down the trail:

 
I loved that Easton was copying Ash in this picture! They all climbed up to this ledge and needed proof with a photo. TJ, Addi, Sierra, Dylan, Easton and Ash:

At the bottom of the trail we took the detour to see the petroglyphs. Pretty neat!

 
Then it was time for lunch! We drove to Sandstone Arch to meet up with the few that went into Moab. We hiked the short .3 miles in, found a tiny bit of shade and ate lunch. Then the boys had a blast playing in the sand, climbing and exploring! Here's Dylan, Javi and Ash with Ben (Javi and Ash's dad) on top of Sandstone Arch:

Striking some manly poses! TJ's up there with the crew now too:

Making some sand angels - fun until the wind would kick up the sand into their faces!

 
The adults hanging out at the camp fire (Tim, Ben, Chris, Jenni and Shad):

Tim and his view from the campfire. Awesome campsite!

 
My sister, Michelle, and her family taught us about "Woofums". I made the sticks last year but never got to use them since we couldn't have campfires when we went camping. We finally put them to good use and they were a hit! Tim isn't a huge fan, but that didn't stop anyone else from digging in. Ben was probably the most patient and made the perfect Woofum, although he kept trying to rename them. I think the final name was "Jimmy Woof", but they are still "Woofums" to me!

The boys trying to settle down for the night. Night two did go much better than night one! The first night was so hot, but the second night cooled a bit. I definitely slept much better!

 
Tim's shot of the sunset on night two. Beautiful! I love that you can see a few stars peeking through.

As we packed up to leave, the boys kept busy climbing and exploring some more. They LOVED exploring around our camp and surprisingly there weren't any injuries to speak of. They all got along so well! The only casualty were their shorts. Quite a few of them wore the seats out of their shorts from sliding down the sandstone. So worth it! As we were ready to load them into the car, we found them in the middle of a water fight at the bathrooms:

 
We went into Moab for a bit of wandering around and some lunch. The boys all picked out matching shirts, and surprisingly they had all the sizes we needed. Gavin wasn't very interested in it so he isn't in the first picture, but then when we realized he was missing out we had to go get him a shirt too:

Javi, TJ, Dylan, Easton, Ash, Cade and Tre:

Easton, Cade, Gavin, TJ, Dylan, Javi, Ash and Tre:

 
One BIG SWEET HUG to say goodbye. Yes, all the boys are there, but a few little ones (like Gavin) are buried in the middle of the hug:

It was really such a fun little vacation! It is always a lot of work to get there, but so worth it in the end. Us girls kind of planned the majority of it, and then gave the guys a shopping list. They all met up one night and did the grocery shopping together. That was so great! Then Shad was the master of cooking and Tim was his sous chef. I happily let them take over that job and just helped where they needed me. Thanks, GUYS!

I hope we do it again!! We are already talking about next year - although things will be a bit different with a new member of our family! We are up for the challenge though!