Part Three of Hosting Our Good Friends

There are parts of our "backyard" that are absolutely gorgeous when the sun in shining, but obviously harder to see when there is no sun, especially when you are viewing it through blowing snow or fog.  This first picture is looking down at the top of the switchbacks that take you down into the Valley of the Gods/Monument Valley area.  For some reason, the name of the vista escapes me.  It was eery to just see dense fog that felt almost tangible, filling a void that was so expansive, without the fog you could have seen for miles, not to mention the massive drop off below us that was sneakily disguised by the fog.

This is what Goosenecks looks like without the sun

the sunbathing woman on the hillside by Mexican Hat didn't see any sun that day

Near Bluff, down in the Sand Island area, we stopped off the highway to check out the ancient pictures on the rock.  The weather was a little more pleasant down here.

We had a lovely lunch at Twin Rocks there in Bluff, another place we like to take our guests for good food.  No pictures of that, either, but it was perfect.

Our Special Guests: Part Two

When I originally spoke to Abbey's parents about them coming down for Spring Break, I misunderstood their time frame.  I thought they would be coming down in March, during the week of my kids Spring Break.  When they didn't show up, I figured out they were talking about April (duh!)  Unfortunately, the weather was absolutely perfect in March, but it was positively dreadful in April!  We had planned to take Abbey and her parents to Natural Bridges, but there was a blizzard! Yes, a blizzard, in the middle of April.  We made the trek anyway, in extremely limited visibility, and even stopped for pictures and a small hike in the snow.

Britt and I went to Natural Bridges on one of our first "dates" 19 years ago.  Ever since then, we have been happy to host friends and relatives there.  We really do love that park (monument, whatever the government wants to call it).

In spite of the blowing snow, we had a great time in Natural Bridges National Monument.  It was even fun to spend some time in the Visitor's Center there, and to see some of Abbey's dad's published books for sale there in the gift shop. No pictures of that, sorry. . .

Natural Bridges is a bit of a drive from Blanding, made longer by the blowing snow

Olivia was not a fan of the snow

There is a natural bridge down there somewhere

cute girls

We hiked down to Owachamo bridge.  It was cold

and snowy

Abbey's dad took this picture.  I think I was happy on that day :)

A Special Guest--Part One

This is one of three posts that has been saved in my drafts on my computer for over a year.  I selected and uploaded the photos; all I needed to do was write the words.  You may have noticed I have been pretty quiet on Blogger for the past year; I guess I just couldn't find my voice.  I have a thousand and one posts about things I have done, or my family has done to post about still, but it is not likely to happen in a while.  I hope I can use some time this summer to do a few catch up posts.  Unfortunately, I haven't been in the mood to write in a long time, so that makes blogging harder.  Maybe that will change.  I don't know.

It was April of 2012.

Abbey and her family made their annual trip to Moab and then detoured down to Blanding to see us.  My extended family was so excited to get to meet her.

My sister Kd took our guests on a behind-the-scenes tour of our community's beloved museum, The Edge of the Cedars.  It was a fascinating visit for all of us:

We even got to see a private collection in storage that is not even on display there yet:

I guess Cole was so excited, he had to text all his friends about it (ha ha).

Kd was the perfect tour guide

That evening we got to visit for a little while at our house:

Some of the cousins hung out in Tyler's room, because it was the less messy of the girls' room on this particular day.

It was a lovely visit

Oh my, this was a long time ago.  We have all changed so much since.  I hate that I have not been documenting our lives much here.  I am sorry.