The Return of Uncle Ted

We thought he was gone for good, lost somewhere in the DC jungle, but the long lost Uncle Ted came to visit us a few weeks ago and stayed in Utah for a couple of days to hang out.  We saw a few of the highlights with him, the temples, the malls, the mountains, the Mormons, and the lake.  Pretty exciting stuff.  

It's the Salt Lake Temple, if you come here, you've got to see it... apparently it's required.

Probably trying to climb into the fountains.  Watch out or the Mormon fuzz will throw you out!

Returned Missionary, Elder Unbehend, only recently returned from teaching the lost souls in DC about Brother Joseph and the good book.

Paul, looking very Mormonly...

 Got soaked in the fountains at the new downtown mall.  Would we expect any less?

The happy kid.

Had to check out the Great Salt Lake... though we weren't sure where they got the "great" part.  Lots of bugs, lots of foul odors, and a few dead birds scattered across the muddy beach.  Nice.

We couldn't convince Uncle Ted to go for a swim, maybe next time.  Glad he made it out though, if only for a few days.  Gotta come back when he can stay longer!

The road home... again.

Becky and the boys went to Montana, again.  I guess you can’t go home too much, can you?  They think not.  Anyway, the usual things went on, hung out with the cousins, the aunts and uncles, and the grandparents, and enjoyed the sub-zero temperatures of a Montana summer!  Sounds fantastic!  Here are a few photos of the trip and the people they saw.

 These two are only slightly mischievous...

The youngest Sellers boy... at least for three more months.

The youngest Clayburn girl... at least for another month.

Just the way he wanted his marshmallows... black and crispy. 

Time for a sugar overload.

Oh, the open fields and sun rays...

Needing some M & M's.

Brookie B, growing up fast.

Both of them growing up fast.

Heading off to the dance recital with Granny G.

Another fun trip up north, and I'm sure it won't be too long before they're on their way up there again.  At least we're quite a bit closer now, so they can skip out on the airfare.  Thanks to the Unbehend and Clayburn families for hanging out and having a good time!
 

Just hang onto the chains...

So I’d heard from a friend who’d been to Zion National Park that the Angel’s Landing hike was the hike to do down there.  I looked it up, and it seemed pretty incredible and slightly terrifying, and ultimately it did turn out to be those things.  But Grandpa Jim and I decided to head up early on one of the days, and though there were a few times where I thought to myself, “I shouldn’t be doing this…” it turned out alright and neither of us fell 1500 feet to our death… thankfully.  Here are some pictures from the hike.

The start of the hike... going to go all the way up there to the top of the ridge!  Right before here was the sign that said six people have fallen to their deaths since 2004... so try not to be seven and eight.

The first half was all paved and winding switchbacks, so we took a break before the scary part began.  Nice hat, by the way.

We're going up there...?  And in some places, the path just wasn't that wide...

Hold on to the chain, and if you fall, try not to hit me and take me with you!

The incredible view of Zion's canyon...

We made it!  And now we have to go back down...

The pictures don't do it justice, but somewhere down there are some tiny tour buses.

And we survived so Grandpa could take Paul for some fine refreshments at this lovely establishment!  Hopefully they served ice cold Mountain Dew...

So if you ever go to Zion, and you feel like putting your life on a few links of chain... you should definitely check out Angel's Landing.  Awesome hike!

The Real Land of Zion

Grandma and Grandpa Sellers stopped by for a few days on their journey east for the summer, and we took a little drive down to Zion National Park to see the sites.  Down in the southern Utah desert, Zion is basically made up of a giant canyon with towering cliffs on either side and a number of beautiful hikes to take.  We didn’t get to do all of the more famous hikes, since we didn’t want our small children to fall off any cliffs or drown in any emerald pools or flash floods, but we did get to see some pretty amazing stuff.  Here are a few pics from the mini-vacation.

Right down from the campsite was a small reservoir we took the boys to almost every night.  Adam is quite fond of throwing rocks in the water, and there were plenty of rocks.

Down along the river, Paul can't get those shoes off fast enough... the boy was made for water.

Adam, on the other hand, will stay safely ashore throwing rocks.  But he did enjoy the hikes and the friendly ground squirrels.

We hiked down to the beginning of the Narrows, one of the famous hikes in Zion, but the water got deeper and taking the boys along didn't seem to be a good idea.

Back there is where the cliffs get closer together and the hike gets tighter, hence the name.

Paul with the elders of the Sellers family.

The cliffs were pretty impressive, and not something I personally would attempt to scale.  We took a lunch break at the lodge under the shade of the trees in the 90 degree heat.

Adam, always goofing around.

And a Padre's fan, as usual, harassing his father.  But a pretty amazing park with incredible views!  We'll make it back someday when the boys are old enough to challenge the dangerous hikes... we just won't post about those, since their grandmothers read this blog...