Ending July With a BANG...literally!

The last week in July, I headed to Panguitch for the week with my kids. We have some awesome friends that let us stay in their house up there. Cole went up with me Monday and got us all settled and then had to be back to work all week. It was an amazing week. I went for rest, relaxation and reflection. I got plenty of all three! I remembered how much fun you can have with your imagination and the great outdoors. I really wasn't ready to leave when it was time to head to Richfield, other than that I was dying for some real food! I had taken spaghetti, Ramen noodles, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and pancake mix and made all our meals from that! I was trying to do it cheaply, and I did, but man was I hungry for potatoes and rice and bread and meat and...well, you get the idea!

CJ has a fun little bike for his son, Jaeden, that they let us borrow. It is awesome because it has training wheels welded onto it! All 3 of the kids just hopped on and were able to ride it! Kaitlin was the only one who ever figured out how to shift, but it still went plenty fast! They wanted to ride again every couple of hours which made for some long days for mom, but it was worth watching how proud of themselves they were!

You had to know Cole would have to try it out! It isn't like he doesn't have a bike of his own!

Sorry you have to listen to my voice in these videos. I can't stand that!

We did a ton of hiking in the area around Bryce Canyon. I didn't want to pay to go into the park and really, we had such a blast outside of it, I am glad I didn't. This was our favorite hike, "Mossy Cave." You can see the waterfall behind the kids. It was a lot bigger than it looks! We had fun racing things over the edge!

We hiked most of the way back down the hike right in the middle of the river. Most of it was above their knees and very COLD! The good thing was that eventually you just became numb! It was tons of fun hiking in my flip flops and holding Alli!

This was on the Butch Cassidy trail. I was telling them the story of Butch Cassidy while we were hiking and it was so cute because they kept stopping and pointing to hoof prints and saying, "Look mom, here is his horse's foot print!" They were quite the "eagle eyes" because they are also convinced they found his boot print, the place he set-up his tent and his horse's poop!

We went to Panguitch Lake twice while we were there. I love the water and could have spent most of the time just sitting in my chair on the water's edge. The kids played football and explored EVERYWHERE. We saw a few fish and found all kinds of "hidden treasures!"

The water was FREEZING and it was stormy both times we went, but those crazy kids weren't fazed at all! After what happened to our friends a few weeks ago, I was more than a little freaked out and paranoid, but just decided to get those life jackets on and let them enjoy life. They did! They waded around for hours and had a blast!

Brock found this GIGANTIC dandelion! I had never seen these in "real life!" It was beautiful and he was able to make a "really big wish!"

It did take him a few big puffs to blow it all away though!

We had a great time at Cedar Breaks National Monument, too. We saw tons of deer and drove all over the mountain side on dirt roads. Amazingly, we didn't see any buck, but it was still fun to keep spotting so many animals. Brock was definitely the prize spotter this trip. He saw stuff EVERYWHERE. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Shhhh... don't tell! Alli drove with me on the dirt roads! She loves to grab the wheel and tell us a really big story while she drives. She kept us entertained with her "story" for quite a while!

We headed up to the Rodeo at Ruby's Inn by Bryce Canyon twice. The first night we got rained out, so we went back the next night and enjoyed a very pathetic, 1 hour rodeo. It was the first one the kids had been to, so they thought it was great, but I was so mad that I had paid $31 for it! Oh well. Afterwards, we headed over to the shops and they each picked a little souvenir with their dollar! It was really a lot of fun!

He WOULD NOT take that sucker out of his mouth!

Kaitlin wanted to take her picture in this "SEXY girl" display! Yikes! I wonder how she learned the word sexy and even more, how she learned to use it in a sentence!

This is probably my favorite picture of the trip! Check out that grin on Allison's face! Kaitlin said it was like she knew she was a "SEXY" girl! Oh dear!

So here's the part where I explain the BANG! At the end of the trip, we were taking our friends' Ranger up to Richfield and then bringing it back to St. George. I was so proud of myself for packing everything up, loading the trailer, strapping the motorcycle on, etc., etc. I decided to take the kids for one last ride on the Ranger before we headed out to Richfield. (First mistake!) We rode around for about an hour and then headed back. There is a little trail that juts off the road right next to their house. I had avoided the trail the whole time because, well, I am a wimp, and it scared me. For whatever reason, I decided at the last minute that I needed to be brave and just take the dang trail (second mistake!.) I pull off the road, pull it into 4H and Brock yells, "No mom, don't go on this trail!" I reassure him that it is perfectly safe (third mistake!) and take off! What happens...well, about 3 seconds later, after a CRUNCH, we are at a dead stop, hanging on a pole and I am sincerely hoping this is all a dream! It is really hard to explain what happened, exactly, but essentially, I totally crunched our friends' Ranger's roll cage. Thankfully, Kaitlin was buckled and Allison was in her car seat, also buckled. The boys did hit their heads on the roll cage in front of them, but they were fine; no one even cried. We were all fine, except my pride. I was so mad. I had avoided that trail the whole time. Besides being angry, I was so embarrassed! It has now been 1 week since it happened and I can finally close my eyes without living the entire thing over again in my mind. I know it was an accident, but I was borrowing the thing for goodness sake. I seriously was traumatized! I couldn't even talk to Cole because I was shaking so bad and couldn't really form words to make a sentence! I still had to drive the trailer and truck clear to Richfield, too. Every time I looked in the rear-view mirror, I could see the poor, lop-sided little thing and I just kept getting angrier and angrier! I started shaking so bad, I had to pull over and call Cole. I was fine, but I felt so guilty and was just plain mad at myself. Cole called CJ and Darcee for me and they were amazing. I truly marvel still at their reaction. They could not have handled it any better. I learned a huge lesson in charity and kindness. I mean, we will get a new roll cage and make it right, but still, I think I would be mad if someone wrecked something of mine! Their main concern was that we were all okay. They really were amazing. Anyway, right away, I decided the trip was a mistake and that I shouldn't have gone. I was so mad about everything. That one incident completely erased, in my mind, the wonderful week I had had with the kids. Well, while I am driving to Richfield, still shaking, crying, dreading seeing Darcee and CJ and basically wishing I could just drop off the face of the planet and take the Ranger with me, Kaitlin says, " Mom, this is the best vacation I have ever had." I learned a big lesson. My kids didn't understand the implications of our little mishap! All they understood was that everyone was fine and so, in their minds, it was just another adventure. It didn't dampen their trip at all. I am sure one day I will read this and laugh, but right now it is still a very traumatic event and if I didn't think it would be a little therapeutic, you can bet I wouldn't ever mention it at all!

Anyway, I went on my trip for rest, relaxation and reflection and these are the things I realized:

1. Children have an amazing ability to feel the Spirit. They are wonderful examples to me.

2. When you feel like you aren't enough...brave enough, worth enough, thin enough, cool enough, etc. - it is never a thought from our Heavenly Father. We have infinite worth in His eyes.

3. I learned about and experienced true Christ-like charity.

4. To be grateful for the small things. I enjoyed the simple things like listening to my kids pray, watching them chase grasshoppers and throw stick into the streams, and enjoyed the beauty that nature had to offer.

5. Accidents happen. This is really hard for me to accept. I want to blame, erase, rewind, re-do, but I can't! I just need to move on. This applies to all areas of my life. I have a really hard time letting go of things. I realized how liberating it is to finally let go.

6. I feel my Savior's love for me in the beauty that is all around me.

7. I want my kids to live - to play, to get dirty, to laugh, to fight and to make-up, and to just enjoy each day they have to be kids.

8. I love my life.

9. I love my husband. I am pretty tough and can do okay on my own, but I realized I don't want to. It wasn't near as fun without my best friend with me. I really missed him.

10. This is the most important. I realized that my Savior and Father in Heaven are there and they love me.

Poor little crooked thing! We caught the fence right below the diamond plating on the passenger side. You can see the pretty dent. The picture really doesn't do justice to how bad it actually looked.

THE POLE

Pathetic, I know. Looking at this, you probably really think I am an idiot. I have no idea how it happened, other than the angle of the turn and the height of the Ranger. At least it didn't do a thing to the pole other than decorate it with a little paint! They must have filled it with cement, because it sure was tough. Too bad I can't say the same for the roll cage of the Ranger!