So clearly it has been a year since I last posted. I thought that I would recap a few things from our first year in Moab.
We love our house, it has the most amazing views ever, from every window. At first it felt like we were on permanent vacation, and we were in awe every time we opened the windows or went outside. (We are clearly used to this by now). Here are some view from our house (none of them do it justice.)
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| Our place. The best part about it is the ridiculous amount of bunnies that roam our yard, they are literally everywhere. The worst thing about our place is the fact that at night, it is swarming with Coyotes. They go in packs in search of those very same bunnies. By they way, bunnies scream like a crying child....I think this is the Coyotes way of louring you outside so they can attack. :) |
So we enjoyed the winter and spent a lot of time snowshoeing and going to the La Sal Mountains, but it was crazy cold , so we spent a lot of time pretending that we didn't hate the winter. But it sure was beautiful.
We spent the spring having adventures all over Moab.
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| Hurrah Pass |
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| Kids at some beautiful Petroglyphs |
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| Kenyon driving across Mill Creek | | | | |
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| Skye wanted to run down the cliff....not ok. |
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| Kenyon and River |
Summer came and it was really hot....Really hot. Ryan and I spent a lot of time Mountain Biking and Running.
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| Moab 1/2 11' |
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| Moab Red Rock Relay |
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| Ryan Brought all the kids and set up chairs at the end my my last leg of the relay. It was a really fun surprise after dodging rattle snakes and cows in 99 degree weather. | | |
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Ryan's sister Natalie came to live with us over the summer, and nanny for us. She was so great (IS so great, not WAS, she didn't die or anything)
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| Natalie and Skye in the "Catacombs", This crazy place that is like a beehive with tunnels and caves. |
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| Dead Horse Point |
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| Natalie over Castle Valley |
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| Kenyon Chillin' at this awesome swimming hole along Mill Creek stream, that we went to a million times this summer |
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We had a lot of friends and family come down to visit over the summer. Ryan's family, Our friends the Allens and the Pextons, my best friend Juleah and her beautiful family, my cousin Jana and family, and a fun visit from my dad!
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| We went to Arches |
My mom and I went on a trip to Southern California and spent a few days on the beach and at Disneyland. We had SUCH a great time!
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| Corona Del Mar |
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| We went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The most amazing restaurant that includes two of my favorite things: Forest Gump and overpriced sea food. | | | | | | | | |
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| | So, turns out, my family was so jealous that one month later I went back to California with them! Baby Skye didn't come, she might have been eaten by a shark, and that was just not a risk I was willing to take. :)
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| We went back to Corona Del Mar, which was the beach that I grew up on, so it was really fun to watch my kids playing there. |
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| River was a little nervous about the waves, and he kept asking if there were any sharks or crabs there...he was very concerned. |
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| Kenyon on the other hand had the best time in the water. We had to drag him out (literally). |
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| FYI, River would not make a good lifeguard because of his lack of skills and upper body strength |
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| The next day we went back and had the whole beach to ourselves. Ryan and Kenyon spent more than 2 hours in the waves without coming back in. |
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| We went to Newport Pier, took 8 million pictures....and this is the best one (notice Kenyon's sassy little mouth) |
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| Just then, a seal popped out of the water. (I know you can't tell what it is, it looks like a potato or something, but I promise it is a seal.) |
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| After that we went to San Juan Capistrano. It was really interesting, and would have been much more interesting if we didn't have our little dog children to wrestle with the whole time. Again we took 8 million pictures, and again...This is the best one. | |
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We spent the next day at Disneyland, which was great except for the pouring rain.
We made the most of it, and the lines were really short.
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| We got picked to come in before they opened the gates and welcome everyone to the park. I about died I was so excited (understanding how awesome it really was, of course), but my kids had never been to Disneyland, so they thought it was just standard procedure. (notice the faces) |
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| Star tours |
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| Haunted Mansion (Kenyon was nervous) |
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| The kids were really confused about the characters wandering around the park, having never been to a theme park. |
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We went back the next day and the weather was wonderful! We had a much better time.
Then the most amazing thing that has ever happened to River in his entire life happened.....He was chosen to fight Darth Vader in the Jedi training academy! He could have died he was so happy. These pictures say it all, but they don't show the fact that I was screaming and jumping up and down because I was so excited for him :)
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| My little Padawan |
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| Uh, oh! |
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| He's a little apprehensive.... |
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| Gets a little pep talk...... |
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| go River! |
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| get his leg.... |
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| I didn't get a picture of when he dropped his light saber ;) |
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| it was priceless. |
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| pirate island |
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| my little pirate booty |
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| Tea Cups with my baby, best day ever! |
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| clearly Ryan wasn't digging the spinning. |
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| River in New Orleans Square |
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| Are you kidding me? |
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| How cute is this?! |
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| It never came out. |
After that we stayed in Las Vegas, at the Luxor. FYI....Vegas is not family friendly. We ate at the Luxor Buffet for dinner and, sure enough, Kenyon ate too much and threw up in our hotel room....nice.
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River at the Luxor
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| I got to go to the Titanic exhibit (where you are not supposed to take pictures ) and took some pictures! This is the first class state room. |
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| This is a re-creation of the first class deck. There were boat sounds....is was spooky |
We had a great Thanksgiving at my Grandparents house, and are getting ready for a quite Christmas at home in Moab.
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| This 15 ft tree is taking over my house. Now imagine us lighting and decorating it without a ladder. It was great! |
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