We woke up to a chilly 30 degrees... which was fine... the coldest we've ever camped at night has been 28 so we weren't in complete shock... but oh man does it take forever for the coffee, hot cocoa and breakfast to heat up when your huddled around the stove!

Walker kept himself busy playing "superhero" and jumping of the big rock..

We talked to the campground host and found out that there was going to be 50 mile an hour winds that day... had to do a quick once over with the tent... pull the posts... lay it flat and re-stake it and hope for the best. We decided to do a long hike first before the weather got too bad. Here are a few photos...

Walker heading up the path...

These paths were totally different than the previous trails... I guess these arches are the more "popular" ones so the paths were all defined with rock steps.

Turret Arch...

By the time we got up into the North and South Windows Arch it was blowing so hard that we had to sit down for it felt like you'd be blown right off the rock.

It was freaky sitting under the arch and looking up to the very large cracks in it...

Across the road and onto the Double Arch... just look at the size... see how small the people are inside?

Again the wind picked up and started blowing all that sand around... thank goodness we all had glasses on and we learned to quickly put the cameras away, turn your back and close mouth.

Headed to the Visitor center at the beginning of the park... Walker fell asleep on the way and so we had our lunch in the car and watched the gusts of wind blow while Walker napped... poor Ainsley got a little scared for the whole car was shaking. I love all the National Park visitor centers... they always have little movies to watch that are just the right length for even the kiddos to enjoy.

The kiddos had enough of "eating sand" so the rest of the day was spent driving around to the rest of our "must see" arches and me hopping out to take pictures... you can tell just how much sand was in the air... look how grainy the pictures are.

The Three Gossips...

Court House Towers...

The one formation that was on Walker's list was Balanced Rock so we all did the short walk around it..

Poor family looks like they are going to blow away...

One of the arches on my list was the Delicate Arch... it was too far of a hike with the kiddos to get right up into in so I settled for a look out area... I still had to hike the half mile by myself but it was better than the 3 mile hike... definitely next time though.

We called it a day and headed back to the campground... glad to find that the tent was still secured... started setting it up and found out just how windy it was... the inside of the tent was covered with sand... imagine taking a gallon of paprika and sprinkling it around, that's exactly how it looked.

The temps started to drop and by the time we got the tent all cleaned out and back up we were starving... could not for the life of us keep the stove burning. So we snacked on stuff in the tent. About 7:30ish we were all getting cold and tired... the wind was relentless and at time collapsing part of the tent. At that time we put the kiddos in the car with sleeping bags and decided it would be best for everyone if we headed into town. So it's now dark... snowing... cold and windy and Stewart and I are taking down the tent and shoving it into the very full car... whatcha think?

We headed to Moab and checked into the first hotel... the hotel guy says, "You got skunked huh?" I'm sure we were quite the site. I think we all agreed the shower was the best part of the day... we had sand everywhere. Walker had a good 1/3 cup in his shoes alone.

Next morning we were eating hotel breakfast and listening to the news... at that time 8ish it was only 22 degrees we were glad we packed it in... that would have been just too cold for the kiddos.

Headed out for home and ran into this...

All in all we had a great first camping trip of the season... one more picture on the way home.

Arches National Park... Part 2

Once we found our campsite us parents started setting up our tent, here was the view out the front...

Ainsley and Walker started playing in the sand and asked, "Can we get our hands dirty?"

Our reply, "Yep!"

Then it was, "Can we get our feet dirty?"

Our response, "sure"

Then it was, "Can we get our pants dirty?"

Again it was, "Why not?"

Finally Walker asks, "Can we get our shirts dirty?" (as he was all but rolling in the sand at this point.)

Had to draw the line somewhere so it was a "No" For I knew the next thing asked would be can we put sand on our heads?

With water bottles and granola bars we headed out on a trail to find Tapestry Arch and Broken Trail Arch. Walking on the sand was a strange feeling... it was so soft. Walker got nicknamed "Pig Pen" (from Charlie Brown) for when he walked he shuffled his feet creating a dust-storm all around him.

The trail was great but you had to "keep on your toes" for it is only marked with cairns every so often and you had to be careful not to step on the "crusty dirt" which is an important bacteria needed in the desert. The kids loved looking for the rock cairns and Walker became obsessed with fixing the cairns if they had been knocked down... so cute!

Pictures heading to Tapestry Arch...

It was great we got to walk right out into it.

Then it was a steep walk down...

We started along the Broken Trail Arch next... I snapped a picture when we were almost there... look how far away the Tapestry Arch is..

Yeah we made it the Broken Arch!!!

The mile long hike was a good one to break us in... we pretty much had the entire trail to ourselves... the kids did great, a few times we had to help them climb up but all in all a fun first hike.

A couple more fun pictures along the trail... a lizard, and a very creative rock cairn.

We had a quick dinner and then set off to squeeze in 1 more trail before sunset. We opted for the Skyline Arch..

a bit of history for you... the arch was actually smaller... in 1940 a large area fell out of the arch. Here are all those rocks... can you believe the size??

Headed back to the campground and had a quick fire... with a couple marshmallows..

and then with long johns... jammies... sweatshirts... gloves and hats the kiddos were tired and ready for bed...

Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow.

Found this quote on an ad from Nature Valley Granola Bars...

"What better way to discover life than to get away from it?" Love it... this is why we pick up and head out so many times to a campground... explore our surroundings... or just take a drive. There is something magical about being "one with nature" and sharing it with those you love. On that note, this past weekend was the weekend for the Arches National Park Camping trip!

We had planned to leave Saturday morning... early! On Friday morning we were printing out our directions and noticed that the 6 hour trip that we had originally planned was all of a sudden 8 hours long! Not sure how we missed that one but as luck would have it Stewart was able to take a half a day off from work and we ran around like idiots throwing things in the car and headed to Provo, Utah a 4 hour drive. Kiddos were super excited to stay in a hotel.

We even found a Cracker Barrel just down the road... which made us parents really excited... haven't been to a Cracker Barrel in years! The joys of Sweet Tea!!

This was our first time visiting Provo and if money grew on trees I think we would move there in a heart beat... it's beautiful... the mountains are so close and truly are stunning. Here was the view out the hotel window.

We left Provo Saturday morning early for the remaining 4+ hour drive. Along the way we stopped at various "look out points" as we made our way through Utah. The landscape was so different than anything we had ever seen... unbelievable and I had so much fun taking pictures.

The more we drove the more we all kept on saying, "This looks like Radiator Springs" (from the Cars movie)

The closer we got to the Arches the redder the rocks and dirt got. Just outside of Moab the color of the rocks was almost purple.

We decide the best thing was to head to Moab (about 10 miles from the park entrance) and grab some lunch, gas for the car and batteries for Walker's camera which had died along the way.

So Welcome to Moab...(sorry for the blurry pic... snapped it out the window as we drove by)

As we had lunch in Moab... the boys were smiling as they spotted Jeeps... which is like every other car in Moab.

We drove back to the park entrance...

and we all started with the, "ohhs and aahhs." Walker was busy snapping pictures and saying, "Oh wow... these are turning out great!" It was a steep climb up the road...

Just as we thought we'd seen the best of the park... you'd drive around another corner and see something even better. Pictures can't not describe the size of it all but I hope you get the idea.

One thing that I was really surprised at was the mountains in the backdrop had no idea that big, beautiful La Sal mountains would also be park of the landscape... in my head i was thinking desert... and very flat.

The drive to the campground is about 45 minutes and boy were we glad that we had a reservation since the campground was already full by noon.

I'll leave part 1 of the trip here. Stay tuned for Part 2 (Camping and hiking) tomorrow.

Hard to believe one year ago today we were here... soaking up the good ol' California sun.

Having a hard time getting out of this current "weather funk"... ugh snow. Love that the kiddos are enjoying the winter wonderland and wanting to go outside instead of me "shoving them" out the door... for a moment of sanity.

What the heck is this... snow??

It was a real shock to wake up to this today... hard to believe we were just outside on Saturday with no coats and short sleeves!! This week the kiddos are on Spring Break, so it is a good day for all day jammies!

We dug out the winter stuff... again and they played outside a bit. Ainsley made a little fort area under one of the bushes and munched on snow.

Walker a "die hard sandboxer" was out playing in the sandbox...

I found this fun little print outside today as well...

It was a beautiful spring day...

We spend the day outside today planning our garden... raking out the flower beds... and giving these new raspberry bushes a temporary home until we get the area ready for them.

Kiddos played outside in the sandbox...

One more thing we are loving about Spring... see those red shoots coming up... the rhubarb is starting to come up!

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Thank goodness for Webkinz...

Walker can be playing Webkinz, while Ainsley has some quiet time to do this...

In other news... after spending hours in the fall digging, planting, and mulching. It is very irritating to see this...

Yesterday Ainsley had a dentist appointment to have sealant put on her 6 year old molars. It was quite the shock when the dentist said, "I got the recommendation from the orthodontist yesterday to pull those teeth... how about we do it while your here?" The first thing I thought, "Well, great I should have fed her dinner before we came!"

She was so brave... had two shots... making the entire lower mouth asleep... and then with pliers, he just wiggled those little teeth out. The most shocking thing for me was how BIG those "little baby" teeth were. Afterward she got to pick out 3 prizes from the prize box... she was super excited to get 3 rings and the "tooth necklace" which held the pulled teeth.

She was fine they rest of the night... gave her some Motrin and let her pick out what she wanted to eat since she was starving! She opted for a Strawberry Milkshake from McDonalds and munched on a few of Walker's soft fries.

The tooth fairy must have really loved those pulled teeth for she left 3 gold $1 coins and $4 bucks as well. When Ainsley checked her tooth fairly pillow she yelled, "Holy Moly... look at all the money I got... I want ALL my teeth to come out like this!"

I told her that she could stay home today if her jaw was really sore and she replies, "I feel great Mommy, I want to go to school today!"

She was such a trooper... so brave... we are so very proud of her.

Hope everyone finds their "pot of gold" today!

This past weekend Ainsley finished her book for the Reading Rainbow contest on PBS. She wanted to do it last year but lost interest just as quickly as mentioning it. This year how ever she was determined to do it.

So proud of her she did it all on her own... no nagging from us to do it... no input from us at all... and she even typed it all on her own! We mailed it off this weekend but not before I scanned it in to share with all of you.