Happy Valley 2009

The last leg of our vacation was spent in Provo/Orem. Since we only had a few days to spend there, we filled it with all of our very favorite things.

The one restaurant that can't be missed is Tucanos for the meat lovers that we are!

On Pioneer Day, we actually got to LEGALLY use fireworks! The kids loved taking turns lighting the fountains and flowers - so much fun!

We were lucky enough to be in town for the last day of the Oguirrh Mountain Temple open house.

On the way back from the open house, Rick just HAD to stop at the ultimate man store - Cabella's, where the boys visited the shooting range- in their dress clothes!

Our annual visit to BYU - GO COUGARS!

On Sunday, we went to our favorite picnic spot, South Fork Park in Provo Canyon. We invited our longtime friends, the Weinheimers, to join us. Sue made sure to get the best steaks and side dishes to make our dinner unforgettable (Rick said that his steak was in the top 10 of all steaks he's ever had). The kids had fun playing in the stream, making up games, going on walks, and finding creatures to play with. The adults mostly sat around enjoying each other's company.

Thank goodness for easy-ups! Without it, we would have roasted in the sun!

Erin and Brayden were inseparable. They've been friends pretty much since birth.

Rick was the grill master

Erin and Brayden spent most of their time walking up and down the stream

Bryant taking a break from playing

Some of the boys found this.........

Bryant couldn't resist introducing the snake to Erin

When Erin realized that it was "just a snake" she felt much better - she thought that it was a worm..........

Everyone took turns holding the snake. I wonder if the snake had been larger if the reaction would have been the same.........

The Chase boys

As we were loading our stuff to go home, we found out that there was a major accident in the canyon and the traffic was backed up almost to where we were. We unloaded the chairs, the boys made a fire, most of the kids went on a no-so-smart night hike, and we just hung out until the traffic subsided. There are definitely worse things that could happen then being stuck in a canyon with good friends.

Monday morning we were able to get Erin checked into Especially For Youth at BYU before heading home.

Erin in her dorm room

After we checked Erin into her room, we went across the street to the Wilkinson Center to have lunch. While we were there, Emmett was dropped off to ride home with us - so much fun for the boys!

We loved our time in Utah and are sure to return soon. Thanks to all our friends and family that made our vacation great!

Hiking Angel's Landing

As we were visiting at Uncle Dave's house on Sunday, Erin mentioned her desire to hike Angel's Landing. That was all it took to get a family hiking trip started. We planned to get up early Wednesday morning and hike with whomever decided to come along - and this is the group we got:

Kathy, Jolene, Shania, Parker, Rick, Erin, Maren, Aunt Loretta, Logan, Brad, Bryant, Uncle Dave, and Aunt Chris

Rick has a healthy fear of heights - they make him worried that he'll do this:

Uncle Dave and all the kids start uphill

Aunt Loretta, Brad, and I hiked slower than the kids and as we hiked, we looked down to see Rick, Kathy, and Aunt Chris who decided to head back to the lodge (Rick never had any intention of going to the top - heights, steep cliffs, and Rick do NOT mix!).

The canyon view from part-way up

I love the red rock!

The bottom of Walter's Wiggles - a set of switchbacks that I found harder to go down than up with my bum knee.

Aunt Loretta and Brad climbing up with the help of chains. Brad was a wonderful son and stayed behind his mom the whole way to make sure that she was safe.

The scariest part of the hike - cliffs on both sides with not much room to walk up the edge

More chains on the edge of the cliffs

I was pretty nervous because I hadn't seen the kids in a LONG time and wondered if they were safe on such a dangerous hike. We finally spotted them as they were on their way back down the mountain. They were shocked to see us - they thought we had wimped out - NOT!! I convinced Erin to hike with us while the rest of the group finished hiking down.

I made it to the top!!! When you're at the bottom of the canyon, you can see this rock way up high.

Erin at the top with a view of the narrows at the back of the canyon.

Me and Erin

BEAUTIFUL!!!

On the way down, we had to stop and wait for Aunt Loretta and Brad who went a bit slower

Erin in a cut out we found on our way down

I was so proud of all my kids, myself, and especially Aunt Loretta (who made it to the top for the first time at the young age of 66!). I'm also grateful to Uncle Dave for keeping all the kids safe as they hiked this rather dangerous hike.

Southern Utah family

One of the perks of planning our vacation in southern Utah was being able to see so many of my LeFevre relatives. It had been 10 years since I had seen some of them and it was so much fun getting to catch up with them.

Some extra pics not already in the other posts from our time in Hurricane and Zion:

Kathy took us to the sand dunes and Parker said that he wanted to get out and touch the sand. He immediately started making a sand angel, but realized the consequence of doing so was to eat some of the sand that blew up in his face, bummer.

Me with some of my dad's siblings: Aunt Loretta, Aunt Miriam, and Uncle Dave

Kathy and Chris were so welcoming to our family. The really rolled out the red carpet by hosting us at their house for 2 nights and feeding us amazing food! So we had them "over for dinner" at our campsite - it probably wasn't quite as good, but the company was great!

Uncle Dave and Aunt Chris got the ball rolling for our family hike to Angel's Landing

When Danny heard that we were in town, he loaded up his boys and met us at Zion's lodge as we finished our hike. What a great cousin!

Parker with my cousin's daughter, Maren. Proof that Parker has lots of LeFevre genes in him - they look like brother and sister!

Kathy dropped most of her plans while we were in southern Utah. She came up to our campground every day and spent as much time as she could with us.

As we left Zion, we drove to the little cemetery just outside the park to see my uncle Harlon's grave. We hadn't been there since the funeral 10 years ago. What an amazing view from his grave!

Our trip to southern Utah reminded me of how important eternal families are. I am grateful to have such a large, wonderful family and it was great to feel so loved by everyone during our brief visit.