ZIONS! again!!

i know-i know! everyone is probably sick of seeing Zions pictures, and I"m sure they're starting to look the same, but we just love this place! we have an annual pass and have been 5 times in the last 9 months. we've been lucky enough to see the canyons in all seasons! and when this pass expires, we're getting an annual to the Grand Canyons or Bryce Canyons...one of the two! and we'll keep on keeping on until we've done it with all the national parks in Utah! for fun huh!? the thought of it makes me soo excited!

this was our hike to the Emerald Pools. there's 3 of them! this was the middle pool. thanks to the lady who took our picture!! she got down in the mud, hands and knees to make sure she coudl capture the waterfall at the top of the canyon! thank you thank you! then kirk did the same thing for her and her 2 sisters. they were from michigan! i told them about my brother serving there and i wish i could remember where they're from! but they said its very close to Lansing! smalllll world!

you have to look a little closer at this picture to see the pool...but this was the very first one! it was sooooo pretty! kirk and i made our own trail and hiked off the path... we followed the little spring that was feeding into the pool. boy oh boy...we found so much more beauty hidden up the canyon! i'm so glad we ventured off! there were a bunch of waterfalls trickling into pools everywhere! and it was fun to jump from rock to rock, tip-tow across floating logs, and climb big boulders bare footed to keep a good grip. at one point on our way down, we got to a spot that made us think "how the HECK did we get up this?" getting down was so much worse! there was a huge boulder that was straight up and down...surrounded by a deep pool of water... off in the distance a few feet was another little boulder that stood alone. the trick to getting across was to run down the big slick rock-knowing you were going to slide and have no grip-then just as you come to where the end of the rock meeets the water, jump and pray!...kirk went first. like a champ. i was sooo scared i was going to land in the water! hahaha i don't jump very far hahaha after pacing back and forth for 5 minutes and probably driving kirk nuts, i just jumped to his hands and as we gripped palms we swung me across. it was so fun! but yes, i would have totally gone swimming if he didn't pull me through the air! thanks hun

this is us at the start of the trail! we had to cross the bridge over the Virgin River to get to the trailhead. we learned so much about that howling river! it's the reason why the canyon is sooo deep! it travels so fast that it picks up the sand, rocks and goo at the bottom of the water and moves it down the canyon...carving deeper and deeper into the ground. makes perfect sense, but still amazing that a river combined with wind can dig thousands of feet into the ground to make a canyon! at one time (thousands of years ago) it was flat land with a river running through it. and now the river has turned that land into HIGH MOUNTAINS! crazy huh!? i think Heavenly Father planned that...!

resting against my hubby!

hiking the Grotto. not the best picture...but just behing us is a drop off! kirk spotted a fat lizard way down there, so we stood throwing rocks at him to see who could hit him first. kinda feel bad about it now! but...kirk won! of course!

the way we do! find a long desolate dirt road, park the truck, and sleep in the bed under the stars.... ahh. i've learned to love desert nights so much! the night is beautiful, the morning is beautiful, the sounds are beautiful, my company is beautiful...everything is BEAUTIFUL!

okay, i know this is disgusting... but because it's so gross it was picture worthy!! some old lady left her gray hairs on the stall of a public bathroom! who knows what else is in those things!! #1 reason why women hate public restrooms.... they are sick sick SICK! eww!

Cactus jelly!!! the locals make this from the pink and purple Cactus berries! it's not very often that you get to see the berries on this desert plant b/c birds and animals eat them so fast, but they make a good jelly! the natural colors give it a cute, hot pink look! it's sweet to the taste, but really unique! it makes a great treat!

hey! another restroom picture! wow...they were popular this trip!

this was at the darn cutest cafe in Springdale (the town just before Zions). we had breakfast here before we headed out for another day of hiking! it was sooo yummy!



CRITTERS
and lots of em!


hahaha i love the way frogs just hang when they're suspended in air! it's so funny!

oh.my.heck. these things freaked the living day-lights out of me!! we were just treckin along our merry way when.... BAM! SNAKES! on MY side of the trail! it was so unexpected, i about wet my pants and screamed louder than i knew i could! ... but they were nice snakes :) they let us pet them! there's two! can y ou see them!? one is only poking his head out, the other is showing off his bod!

our cute fuzzy wuzzy!

gobble gobble!!!

i was so mad! we saw so many of these big thanksgiving turkeys, but i never had the camera in time to take a picture! and when i finally did...the color was programed to sepia! so you can't even see the blues, reds and blacks! he was sooo stinkin awesome

the deer up the canyon aren't afrain of anything! we could walk right up to this little guy and he just ignored us!