Wednesday morning we were blessed to be at my parents house for my dad's birthday. I am always grateful to see them, but especially when we get to celebrate a birthday with them. It hasn't happened very many times in the last 20 years. We left after breakfast (by the way, thanks for making breakfast on your birthday dad) to head to Bryce National Park. We did lots of hiking and loved seeing the beautiful canyon. Matthew carried Lydia on his shoulders for the second half the the 3 mile Navajo Loop trail. She was so tired she fell asleep riding on his shoulders. Lots of people were taking pictures of this good big brother carrying his little sister. Unfortunately, even carrying Lydia, Matthew was well ahead of the rest of us and I didn't get any pictures. We enjoyed our day in Bryce and then drove to Great Grandma Sharp's house in Hurricane. We drove through Zion National park on our way. The tunnels there are so amazing!!! They used to be my favorite part of going to Zion when I was younger. Driving to Hurricane sparked the memory that my dad used to like Bumbleberry pie from a small town near Zion. I found the pie shop and bought him a pie.
Thursday we went to the Grand Canyon. It is so amazing there!! We hadn't been there in about 20 years. It brought back so many memories. When I was 15 I went with some of the girls from our ward and hiked from the South Rim to the North Rim. It was a wonderful, but hard adventure. It took us three days of hiking in the heat carrying everything we needed on our back. There were times I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I did. Those are fun memories. Neil and I took Rebecca to the Grand Canyon when she was about a year old (Karan, Candice and Molly went with us) . I have some really cute pictures of her sitting in a log rocking chair. I wanted to take a picture of Lydia in the same rocking chair, but we couldn't find it. We didn't hike too much, we just enjoyed seeing the beautiful canyon. It was really windy while we were there. I was glad I had attached a ribbon to Lydia's hat and pinned it to her shirt. I am sure we would have lost her hat if I hadn't. Did there used to be buffalo on the way to the Grand Canyon? There was a herd there when we drove in. If they were there before I forget about them. On our way home we stopped to see Pipe Spring National Monument. I remember going there when we lived in Kanab, but I didn't remember it being such a nice museum. It was almost closing time when we got there so we didn't walk out to see the spring we just enjoyed the museum for a few minutes. We got back to Grandma's house in time to enjoy dinner with her.
Friday we spent the day at Zion National Park. We did lots of hiking and took lots of pictures. I loved going to Zion when we lived in the area. Hiking up to Emerald pools was about as hard as I thought it got. It was always so refreshing to swim in the upper pool before hiking back down the trail. I was sad to learn that you can't even get your feet wet in the pools now. It was a hot day in Zion so a dip in the pool would have felt great!! We only hiked Emerald pools, Weeping Rock and the Narrows. Matthew really wanted to give Angel's Landing a try, but it wasn't possible with all of us. There is a reason they call it Angel's Landing. It will have to be an adventure for another time. It wasn't easy doing all the hikes carrying Joshua and Lydia, but we made it. Neil, Matthew, Emma and David really enjoyed hiking up the Narrows. Bethany, Julia, MaryAnne, Dallin, Joshua, Lydia and I stayed back and played in the river without hiking up it. We all had a fun time. The squirrels in that area were so aggressive!! We watched one steal a can of nuts from someone's backpack. It was kind of funny until I realized another squirrel was trying to get in our backpack. We had to defend our oreos with rocks. Those squirrels didn't give up very easily. When we got back to Hurricane we ate at Grandma's house and then took some of the children to the splash park. It was a good day!! Thank you, Grandma, for letting us use your house as home base. We loved spending time with you. Thanks for sharing your family history stories and information. We love you!!
Saturday we went to Nephi to the Sharp reunion. It was great to see so many of my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and of course Grandma. Aunt Kathleen did a fantastic job putting the fiesta together. She had mexican food, a pinata and games. It was a fun day!! When we got back to Herriman we attempted to take family pictures. Everyone was a little tired and fussy. I haven't looked at the pictures yet to see how they turned out. Hopefully there is a good one in the bunch. Thanks, Dad for being the photographer and for having the perfect yard to take pictures in. It isn't easy to get 12 people to look at you at the same moment, at least the roses in the background will look good.
Sunday, Father's Day, we had the privilege to listen mom and dad speak in Sacrament meeting before leaving on their mission to Scotland/Ireland. They each did a terrific job. I am going to miss them so much, but I am glad they are serving a mission. I was so glad to see Uncle Bruce and Peggy and to get to be there to hear them speak. We made sandwiches at their house after Sacrament meeting and then gave them tearful hugs before heading down the road to Powell. It isn't fair to have to say goodbye to my parents and Rebecca at the same time, but we did it anyway. We got home about 10:00 Sunday night. It was a great road trip!! Lots of time in the van together, memories and beautiful scenery. Thanks, Neil for doing so much of the driving and for making memories as a family.
Here is a slideshow of some of our pictures. Hope you enjoy the show!!
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