Memorial weekend

You'll forgive the lateness of this post I hope...

Clint & I are determined to be quite the adventurers this summer & I must concede that we have had a promising beginning.

We went down to Zion National Park over Memorial weekend, which was made possible by the generous offer of Clint's brother Brian to stay with him and his family and some in-laws in St George over the weekend. So we made the road trip Friday after work and had fun gaming late into the night with Brian & Annie and Annie's sister Mandi and her husband Bryce.

Saturday we spend in Zions:

It was a perfect day. Not too cold, not too hot. We had nice cloud cover throughout the day but against all forecasts: no rain. It was AWESOME.

First hike: Angels Landing.

I can't resist these shots. But I couldn't get Clint to sit anywhere near the edge with me:

Again, I was on my own here:

Here I am leading the way to Emerald Pools. Near the trailhead for Angels Landing, it branches off toward Emerald Pools which I thought was nice & convenient. Plus, we didn't have to worry abut where our car was parked because of the handy shuttle system in the park.

Here we are at the Lower Emerald Pool. Although I have to admit the coolest part of this attraction was the waterfall. The pool was lame-o.

We headed to Zion lodge after the Pool to get some lunch and I just had to take a seat. Time for Sammy to get in better hiking shape for the rest of the summer, methinks.

We had a yummy lunch at Zion lodge restaurant.

And then we hit up the Weeping Rock. You can kinda see the droplets falling behind us, if you look against the dark backdrop of the cliff face to the right.

Here we are at the River Walk. This was our last event of the day.

And of course at the end of the River Walk, we just had to continue another mile or 2 up the Narrows. Perhaps one day we will do a camping trip up the Narrows and hike the entire 20ish-mile distance.

All of the Children of Israel were in exodus this day, apparently.

Got a few pebbles in our hiking boots after that adventure.

Sunday morning we attended sacrament meeting in which my niece Avie was only too willing to indulge in letting her aunt help her color - among other things - Bambi and Mickey, and then Clint & I hit up the St George temple before heading back north.

Clint loves his nieces and I'm pretty sure he loves the excuse the toss someone around like a sack of potatoes.

For Monday, Memorial Day, Clint was serious about helping me get in hiking shape for the summer, so we decided to hike Bells Canyon in the morning. My fam came along, even thought some of my sibs slept in and had to catch up to us on the trail. Rain had been forecasted in the afternoon and we were hoping to beat the storm, but happily, for the first Memorial Day in about 3 or 4 years, we had a nice, sunny day all day!!! Hooray! My family joined us at the condo for some swimming afterwards and had a yummy barbecue with Clint's dad that night since he was home alone. It was the funnest Memorial Day we've had for a few years. And lucky for you - I know you're excited about this - I have pictures of Bells Canyon. You're welcome!

You can't really tell from this picture because of all the trees being in the way, which is a shame because it was so scarily cool, but the falls were raging. Think Niagara.

Me & my baby sister, Jenni posing triumphantly from an angle that makes us look like we're on top of the mountain.

Me and The Clinters. Yay for summer!

Stay tuned for following adventures!