Tony Grove

This has got to be one of my favorite camping places. Some of my favorite memories from when I was a kid are from this place. Either we spent a lot of time here or I just had some really good times. Or maybe a little of both.

Has this log always been here? I can remember sitting on this log like a horse and bouncing up and down. My kids spent a lot of time on this log (and jumping off of it). Here is Lindsie trying to catch minnows. I can remember spending a lot of time trying to catch tadpoles with my cousin Jody.

Jarod spent most of his time in the water. It was just not warm enough if you ask me, but just TRY to keep Jarod out of the water. Look at those muscles lifting that log! He's pretty sure he has massive muscles. Just ask him - he'll show them to you.

Here we are chilling by the lake. I have a lot of memories sitting at this little beach. I don't think it has changed in 25 years. Except it seems like there is a lot more people! This was our last day, Saturday, and I don't remember ever seeing so many people here. I always thought it was Grandpa's secret place that nobody else knew about.


Tony Grove is where Grandpa taught me to fish. I can remember sitting on the far side of the lake fishing with him. Lots of good talks. I can still see him baiting his hook with Salmon eggs, those little red eggs. That was the bait he liked to use. He knew all the good fishing spots.

On this trip we caught about 10 or so fish before we finally decided we were done. Each kid caught at least two. Good fishing at Tony Grove!


We took a hike around the lake trail. It was nice and cool so we really enjoyed the walk.
I remember the first time I went "all the way around" with Marcia. I thought I was cool stuff. One of these days I am determined to hike up to White Pine Lake.

If you look close at the lake you can see a little dot on the lake. That is my children on the boat. They spent about three hours just out there going in circles and having fun.
I can remember spending hours out on the lake in Grandpa's canoe. I remember a time when Jody and I hijacked the canoe and went out on the lake for a very long time. Pretty sure we missed dinner that night. We thought for sure we were going to be in big trouble when we got back, but no one said anything. That night as I lay in my bed, I could still feel the waves rocking the boat. It rocked me right to sleep.


My cute boys. Jarod LOVES camping. Where else is there so many things to climb on! His poor legs get so scraped up, but he just keeps on going. Band-aids are magical!
I remember spending time with my dad camping at Tony Grove. I liked to watch him build a fire and cut fire wood. I also remember the time it was just me and him, don't know where everyone else had gone, but he was cutting wood and cut his thumb pretty good. My little mind was just sure he cut it off! There was blood everywhere!

We sure had a lot of fun. Forgot my camera (that seems to happen too much) so all these pics are phone pics. Didn't get as many as I would have liked. Like pictures of roasting marshmallows. Or playing hide and seek in the trees. Or the bowling game Dean built out of logs and a rock! I hope my children are building the same kinds of memories that I did!

High Dive

We went to the Manti Pageant last week. It was fun cuz we got to take our trailer and stay over night. I took some pictures at the pageant, but I don't know what happened to them.

The day after the pageant we went over to the college to play at the Activity Center, which my kids love to do. They have a pool there so we also went swimming. The older two were jumping off the diving board, so Jarod wanted to do it too. After he jumped, Lindsie would help him swim to the side. Well, the lifeguard said that unless he could swim the entire length of the pool alone, he couldn't jump off the diving board. He was really bummed.

But Jarod is not the kind to let a little thing like that stop him. He got in the water and swam and swam until he could get from one side to the other without help. Then he got right back on that diving board and before long he was doing flips and twists!

But he wasn't done there, oh no!!! That high dive was calling to him. I just had to close my eyes. Here is this kid who has never had a swimming lesson in his life and he insists on jumping off the high dive. Keep in mind that his brother and sister were too chicken to do it! (And his mother of course).

That kid doesn't let anything stop him!

By the way, now my little entrepeneur is trying to figure out how he can build a high dive in my backyard so he can charge his friends to come over. Well son, first you have to have a pool. . .

Awesome daughter

Sunday was my 18th anniversary. Holy cow! Has it really been 18 years? I feel older every day.

Anyway, Dean and I had to go run some errands Saturday night and left Lindsie in charge of the boys. When we got home, we found this: She had this whole candle light dinner all set up. You can't tell because of the flash, but she had it all dark with the windows covered with blankets, had candles going, had love songs playing on the stereo and had even cooked dinner! She locked the boys in their rooms and then she was our "server." Then she cleaned it all up and turned on a movie for us with banana splits.

Jarod came down later and complained that Lindsie made him stay in his room and wouldn't let him come down and watch us eat our romantic dinner. THANKS LINDSIE!!

A few more shots of our trip to Zions

This one's for Marcia.

If you drive up Kolob canyon (you can still take cars up there), there is a really cool tunnel you drive through. It is really long. Took us 3 minutes and 45 seconds to get through the entire thing. And it goes right through the side of the mountain.

Here we are entering the tunnel.

This is what the tunnel entrance looks like from up above.

As you drive through the tunnel there are several "windows" so you can look out over the valley. There are some great views, but you're not allowed to stop in the tunnel so you have to look quick!

Down the canyon a little, you get a glimpse of that window that we were looking out. This tunnel seriously goes right through the side of a huge sheer cliff. Cool. You have to understand my family really gets entertained by tunnels. That was one of the funnest things of our trip last year-all the tunnels on the west coast.

This is canyon rim overlook. We hiked up 1/2 mile to overlook Kolob canyon. Watch Mr. No Fear at the end as he climbs right up to the edge of a drop off.

Here we are having a picnic at the Grotto.

A quick shot of the lower emerald pools. The best place to cool off in the middle of a long hot hike.

And now we are home and back to work for the last gruelling week of school! : )

The Touch of the Master's Hand

Way too many awesome pictures today. I narrowed it down to 20 that I really wanted to post, so I made some collages in order to fit them all in. Click on them so you can see them bigger and hopefully get an idea of the beauty that surrounded us today.

We went on a "brutal" hike today. We will all feel it tomorrow I'm sure. But it was well worth it. The cliffs up here just leak water all over. You can stand under the water and get a cool shower, which feels great after hiking in the heat. But the waterfalls that are created are incredible.

Towards the top of our hike we were surrounded by sheer cliffs as high as we could see.

This is the end of our hike - Upper Emerald Pool. It was so incredible up there.

More water pictures. Some are the Virgin River. Some are the Lower and Middle Emerald Pools.

Our view as the sun went behind the cliffs. Thank goodness for the shade of those cliffs!

More hanging gardens. It's hard to get a good picture. On the right there is a waterfall coming right out of the rocks, but because of the lighting you can't see it very well.

The canyons are just beautiful. So green considering we are in the heart of the desert. Some places we hiked today reminded us of when we were in Oregon.

We found this quote in a museum we went into:

To view the wonders of creation

Is to look into the heart of God.

Michael Fatali

Well said.

Day 2 - River Walk

Saturday we actually went into the park. You can't take cars into the canyon anymore. You have to ride buses. So we pick up one bus outside the RV park which takes us up to the canyon entrance to get on a tour bus. Needless to say, the buses were standing room only today. We got lucky and got seats, though. Good timing I guess. Jarod wanted to stay on the bus all day. Who wants to hike when the bus takes you all over the place?!!??

Water child again. We walked down the River Walk trail which takes you into Zion Narrows. To hike the narrows, you actually have to get into the Virgin River. The water is too high right now, so the narrows are closed. But we did get to play in the water a little at the mouth of the narrows. That is some seriously cold water. Didn't bother Jarod one bit. He is the only one who went wading.

This is so cool. They call it a hanging garden. Flowers just grow right out of the canyon wall. The rocks "weep." Water pours out of the rocks which allows the flowers to grow.

Here is a close up of the flowers in the hanging garden. They are sooo pretty. We were lucky to be here right when they are blooming.

So we've been camping enough to see lots of squirrels. Some very brave ones too. But I have never seen anything like the squirrels here. They literally just sit in the middle of the trail and wait for someone to feed them (which is illegal by the way). We ran right up to them, jumped over them, yelled at them. They just sit there. Even if you are about to step on them. They don't care at all.

And here is my monkey. He climbed on EVERY rock along the trail. Then he told me I needed to put every single picture on the blog. So I had to create a collage. You can't see them very well, but maybe if you click on it it will enlarge. I don't really know how to do that.

It's really pretty here. Looking forward to (fighting the crowds and) seeing some more cool stuff tomorrow.

Zions Day 1

Oh my goodness! I think everyone in the western United States is here at Zions! WOW. I have never seen so many people in one place at a time. But we knew there would be a lot of people, so we're dealing with it.

It was a long drive and VERY windy. There were a couple times we thought the wind might just blow our trailer right off the road. But we made it thank goodness. It was good to get here and get settled. The boys enjoyed playing on the playground while we set everything up. It's right next to where we are camped.

Just hangin in the trailer. Pretty sure Jarod is aiming that little foot right at his brother's face.

Here is where we are camped. It's an RV park, so neighbors are right out your door. We have neighbors in this empty spot now. But no annoying neighbors thank goodness. We are about 100 yards from the Virgin River. It is running high and fast right now, so we are keeping the kids away from it.

Didn't take the kids long to hit the pool. It's not too hot here, but hot enough that an afternoon dip is nice.