A Belated Birthday Blog

On May 10th we celebrated Josie's 3rd birthday! She is officially a "big girl" now, in her words, and in our eyes too. We can't believe it has been 3 years! Here are some fun things that we did at her party. We did sidewalk chalk, freeze dance and of course, had cake and presents. She had lots of aunts and uncles as well as cousins and grandma - even her newest little 2 week old cousin came!





























Here is Josie blowing out her candles! Enjoy!

Arches National Park and Canyonlands Trip

Steve and I just got back from a remarkable trip to Arches National Park, Canyonlands and Goblin Valley. We went with Laurie (Candi's sister) and her husband Andy. We camped along the Colorado River and saw as many things as we could in 3 1/2 days. So here are the highlights! This is a long blog, so the pics are going to be hard to format. Sorry!


















The pictures above and below are some sites from the Devil's Garden Loop. There is landscape arch that is 306 feet long, and some other ones. Steve is laying in what we call "the crypt" because it is just long enough from a body to lay inside. Balanced rock is a few pics down.



























Here is the famous delicate arch. At Sandune arch, Steve and Andy are standing on the top. I am not sure how they got to the top, nor do I want to know. It was way too nerve racking for me.









































These next pictures below are from the guided tour hike of the Fiery Furnace. We were meandering through caverns and very tight spots where, as you can see, made for some interesting hiking poses. But you do what you gotta do to not fall 15 feet down!! It was an exhilarating hike!


















Our most favorite hike was in Canyonlands. It was a beautiful place. We found out about this hike from Steve's boss. You can't find it unless you ask a ranger and call it by it's real name. It is supposed to remain a bit of a secret to preserve the grounds, but if you get a chance to go, you will be able to find out more. Here are some pictures from this strenuous hike. We hiked into this huge alcove of rock! It was truly amazing!! You can see a video at the end of the blog.





























Below are some pictures of other places in Canyonlands. There is upheaval dome, where theory states it may be a site of meteor impact. Others find geological explanations for it. Dead horse point is on the right. There we are at Mesa Arch where we were sitting on a ledge with a 500 foot drop off behind us!




























We ended our trip with Goblin Valley. Steve and Andy are off in the distance climbing on just about anything they could! Steve and I drove through Manti on our way back to see the temple. It was a beautiful trip and we feel blessed to live so close to God's beautiful and wondrous creations!

After 9 years of constant headaches, and countless trips to various doctors, we finally disovered the cause of Steve's headaches...his hair! I know it sounds ridiculous, but he's really been studying the Old Testament recently, the story of Sampson in particular, and he kept feeling that he had some sort of connection with this ancient prophet...besides just his incredible strength. It turns out that Steve's hair was "cursed" so to speak...it gave him headaches. We were suspicious of this after several recent short haircuts where he went an entire week, sometimes two feeling almost no pain at all. Laugh if you must, but we're overjoyed! So...introducing the new Steve! Check out our poll and vote to see who Steve looks most like!

OK - the part about the headaches being connected to the hair was an April Fool's Day joke! Unfortunately they're still my constant companion. The part about the new hairstyle, as well as the Sampsonesque strength, however, are very real indeed.

Another Birthday Celebration

I know, I know, we already celebrated right?? Well, we had to do it this time around with my family and friends on this end of the valley. As you can see, Jackson's smile indicates that he remembers what cake is, and now has a new fascination for fire. What started out as a little finger poking around in the frosting turned into huge handfuls being stuffed into his mouth! I think by the end he felt a little sick. . . Needless to say he didn't have much room for his real dinner after that. All the kids took turns playing outside and playing with toys inside. Although it was fun to BBQ, it was a little chilly so we spent most of the time inside. It was as wonderful birthday!

Here to present the newly one,

handsome little stinker,

Jackson Mark Mumford!

Hogle Zoo

Steve had Monday off so we went to the zoo. It was very frigid, and we were some of the only people in the park. It was great because we could take the forbidden stroller into the exhibits and nobody was there to care! These pics explain themselves. That pic of the tortoise was taken 6" away from his face, no glass. Probably not the smartest thing to do. . . The animals were very active that day! Even the Python took a special interest in Josie.