Canyonlands

We started off early the next day and headed into Canyonlands National Park to see what there was to see.  In all of my times to Moab, I had never gone there so I was excited to see what it was all about. There are several entrances from different parts of the state, but we explored the North entrance.

There was some pretty stunning scenery:

My favorite part was the short hike to another arch, Mesa Arch, where we had some fun taking some pretty cool pictures with the sun shining down on us.

The kids' favorite park was the hike to and climbing and conquering Whale Rock.

And to put it in Zaric's words once they all reached the top of it's head, "In your face Whale Rock!" And here's the amazing view from the top of Whale Rock.

It was a short-sweet drive around the to lookout spots and I'm glad we went this one time. Maybe next time, we'll go explore the South region and see what there is to see there.

Then we headed back to Price for a late lunch and a Bday party for my nephew Jaxson, then it was back in the truck to come home so we could enjoy our last day of the long weekend relaxing and getting chores done around the house to gear up for the week.

Hope you also took advantage of the long weekend to do something fun! 

Road-Trippin' to the Arches

We took advantage of the long weekend and decided to take the kids to Arches National Park in Moab.  We started super early in the morning and headed to Price. Once there we got everyone together and the whole family decided to join us. We ended up with a caravan of 5 vehicles for the remainder of the drive. 
Then it was into the Arches. Caleb has been asking us about them for a while. He doesn't remember the last time we took him. So he was excited to see them again and climb the rocks with his cousins and brothers. Here are some fun pics from the day.

Then we ventured off to Dead Horse Point.

The kids have been asking for a while to go somewhere and stay in a hotel, so we opted to take advantage of the trip and stay in town while the others returned to Price. We had dinner in town and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the hotel room. 

Early Valentine's Fun

Knowing the kids had a crazy schedule last week and that we wouldn't be home on Valentine's Day itself this year, we snuck in some Valentine fun throughout the week.  On Wednesday, I was in a meeting at work  andwhen I returned, I found these sitting on my desk.

There was no card, so I assumed they were from a secret admirer. Mike later fessed up to it though. 

Thursday the kids had their Valentine's parties at school and came home with hundreds of cards and little candies. Enough to spoil their dinner and drive their mom crazy, of course. 

The kids had Friday off from school so I started the day off with giving them their Vday presents from Mom. They each got a Valentine's cup and a matching heart-tin with a cookie inside. I was pretty light on the pics this year and didn't manage to get one. But they were super cute and the kids loved them.  And I gave Mike his Valentine gift from me. A cool new funny shirt and some Hershey Kisses for him.

Later that morning, the littler kids helped me make these heart-shaped pastries and some ready bake cookies with hearts inside for some treats.

Then we finished up the day with a heart-shaped pizza of course and packing for our Valentine's Day adventure.