Belated 4th of July

Ok, so we never posted these photos from the 4th of July...so here they are! We went to the annual Huntsville Mumford family 4th of July party.

Parade watching - Josie & cousin Ben, and Jackson & cousin Josh

The kids playing with their loot from the fair/carnival

It was a beautiful day...and so much fun that Jackson didn't want to stop playing even for a second!

Mount Timpanogos

A few weeks ago Steve decided to hike Mt. Timpanogos with his brother, Ryan, and his brother-in-law, Joe. They got up early and started the hike at about 6:30.

Ryan, Joe, and Steve along the trail. We started at the Aspen Grove trail (Sundance), which is a beatiful trail, full of waterfalls and wildflowers. Not to give away the ending, but we went down the Timpanooke Trail to get the full Timpanogos experience.

The scenery along the trail is incredible.

The hillsides were full of mountain goats. I think they were pretty domesticated, because you could get pretty close and they wouldn't run away. This is the first time I had ever seen mountain goats in their "natural" habitat.

Emerald Lake - beautiful, and fed by glaciers! And yes...we hiked in the snow too!

At the top! 11,749 feet high - the second highest peak in Utah's Wasatch range. Second only to Mt. Nebo, which I conquered back in 2004! This was about a 9 hour hike, including an hour on top for lunch. It's not quite Everest, but it's definitely a satisfying hike.

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.