Thanksgiving 09'

Me & my cute little nephew Cohen took a walk after all that dinner I ate. Just me & Cohen time.....so precious!!!!

Naomi bottom left stuffing her face, my neice Lexi, then Grandpa Kent, Uncle Eric, Aunt Heather, Uncle Joel, Aunt Breanna, Uncle Jeff & Grandma Merlene.

It's finally Thanksgiving Day!!!! We have had a great time on our family trip & now it's time to eat until we can't breathe. That we did.....and then shoved in homemade pies afterwards.

The food was delicious & we enjoyed hanging out with the family & spending time thinking about all the many things we were Thankful for. We have been blessed in so many ways this year. I am grateful for our health, my Dad's recovery, our business, the work that has come in, all our many material blessings that bring us comfort, but most importantly FAMILY!

Hoover Dam 09'

Rubbing the toes of the statue for "good luck."

On the North side of the Dam. You can see how low the water is by looking at the rocks.

This is the bridge that they're building that will go over the dam. This will help to eliminate all the congestion they get from traffic going back & forth between AZ & NV. Can't wait to see it complete.

Our family & Grandma Merlene with the bridge in the background.

Inside the Dam in the Generator room.

It's been a long time since we have taken a "dam" tour so we decided while we were visiting family for Thanksgiving that we'd take the kids and show them a "dam" good time. A "dam" good time is what we got!

Zions 09'

Darrick & I at the top of Observation Point. The view you get of Zion's Nat'l Park from that point is breath taking! This is the 2nd time Darrick & I have hiked this trail & we loved experiencing it again with our kids this time.

I think this pic says it all! Mission accomplished.

This pic was taken on the trail of Hidden Canyon. We took off on another trail before finishing up Observation Point.

Self taken pic we took at the end of the trail in Hidden Canyon. We spent some time checking out the arch (that's behind us) and laying around on the log. :)

On our way to G & G's house for Thanksgiving we decided to stop in St. George & spend a couple of days visiting Darrick's cousins that live in Hurricane & hiking in Zion's. We spend a lot of time as a family outdoors & hiking is one thing that we all enjoy together. Zion's is beautiful & we have to make a pit stop there at least once a year. Darrick & I hiked Observation Point for our anniversary a couple of years ago & we wanted to do it again. It's an 8 mile round trip hike & we weren't sure how far our kids would make it. We started up the trail & took off to Hidden Canyon (also a hike we had done in our previous hike together) which added 2 more miles to our journey. We had so much fun climbing on the rocks, hiking through sand & making it to the arch at the end of Hidden Canyon. We then headed back & resumed our hike to Observation Point. The kids were getting tired towards the top, but knowing we were only a mile away....they kept going. When reaching the top they had climbed over 2200 ft. in elevation. It's not an easy hike. They made it!!!! And they all got to enjoy a Mtn. Dew for their accomplished climb. :) As far as the coming down part???? We all sang songs (no one was around but us) and talked about the hike, our day, some memories & most importantly......Five Guys Burgers & Fries!!!! That's what we had bribed them with in the first place.

We didn't make it 10 min. down the road before I turned around & saw all 3 sound asleep!

We did eat Five Guys & we all fell asleep rather quickly that night. My kids hiked 10 miles that day.....we couldn't have been more proud of them! Especially Nate...and those little legs of his!