Muffin Mondays

Mondays can be hard for Mark and he needs a little boost to get out of bed and get ready for school. He likes staying home without a schedule. So, I introduced Muffin Mondays! Something delightful to jump start the week. It only works out because no one is riding the bus this year and allows for extra time in the morning. I take the littles and Liam and Jesslynn to school, and Maxine takes the middle school kids on her way to the high school. We aren't riding the bus because the kids have to wear masks on the bus, in addition to school. I don't want them to wear masks any more than they have to. So, the extra time in the morning creates a window for muffins. Maxine has commented that they help her get out of bed, knowing warm muffins are waiting in the kitchen.

In full disclosure, I didn't make these muffins. I haven't taken a single picture of Muffin Mondays. But I've made several different types of muffins and even had to scale up my recipes because Jack eats so much these days. If I ever stop Muffin Mondays, I think the kids might mutiny. 

 

Lee's Ferry Boat Ride

The Howards took us on their pontoon boat up from Lee's Ferry towards Glen Canyon Dam. This picture was taken right before their boat, which was taking on a little water, started to sink in the eddy. Merril's phone switched to video and you can hear people freaking out as the boat sinks a little. Everything got wet but we kept floating so all was well.

We brought some kayaks and people took turns riding in the boat or playing on the kayaks.

Pretty river! I feel like it's way prettier than Black Canyon but there aren't any hot springs.

Tricky Julie.

We stopped at some petroglyphs.

Merril and Dave scuba dived. Merril said it was cold!

It was a nice day on the river!
 

Merril's Jeep Adventures!

Merril went wheelin' with the guys and had a little misadventure. His Jeep landed on its side. No worries. They weren't able to drive it home because the spring popped out of its mount. So Merril went back the next day to rescue it. 

I feel like it looks worse that it was. None of the glass broke out of the windows and it just has some scratches on the edges. 

 

My Favorite Peeps!

I know y'all hate family pictures but look how cute you are! I'm sorry, I'll never stop wanting to take them!

 

Southern Utah Floating Lantern Festival

We raced home from Jack's mountain bike race in Cedar City to get to a floating lantern festival at Sand Hollow Reservoir. We barely made it but it was fine.

My main squeeze!

We met the Howards there and they had spent the afternoon at the lake. Some of the Howard's kids were in swimsuits and Jack, Mark, and Mikayla ended up getting completely wet. It was a nice way to end the day.   

Cedar City Mountain Bike Race

Three Peaks in Cedar City, UT was the setting for Jack's mountain bike race. It's the first race we've been to as a family. The first race only allowed 1 spectator per racer. The second race was in Price, UT and the rest of us didn't go up with him. 

The boys have to line up with masks on but they can take them off for the race.

Merril was able to help with the race and was a "sweep." A sweep is just an adult rider that makes sure the kids are coming along okay.

We were waiting in this tree most of the time. We had to wear masks in order to spectate.

Jack finished in 16th place in his division, right behind Collin Phipps.

 

Buckskin Gulch Day 2

Day 2 of Buckskin started peacefully. We had a nice little breakfast and started out. The day before, Shelly was in the back with her sister and a couple slower hikers. They took off an hour early to get a head start.

We only had 7 miles to do this day. That felt like a cake walk. We left camp a little before 9 a.m. We left the gulch and took a left up Paria canyon. There was water but no clay so it was easy.

Nicole and me, I still have sleepy face.

I had slept so I could appreciate the canyon again! Wow!

The canyon started to open up and we hiked up a wash for the rest of it. Shelly and the early bird hikers finished about 45 minutes before the rest of the group. I was first out of the rest of the hikers. I made it! I was sore but I didn't even die! Ha ha!

We ate in Kanab. I had a lovely salad. 

I also had a delicious chocolate milk!

Chocolate milk is my new favorite thing! I can't believe how it helps me recover! I have so much less stiffness after a hard adventure. I thought it was an old wives' tale but it's fantastic stuff! I was a little sore the next few days but not too bad for hiking over 21 miles!

This hike was amazing but I don't know if I'd do it again. That first day was hard. I'm sure we had less sticky mud than previous years because of the lack of rain but it was a lot for me. I can't imagine hiking in it all day. I'm glad I went, I'm glad I did it and didn't injure myself on all those ankle-twisting river rocks but I checked it off my list. If Merril wants to go, he might need to find someone else to go with. 

Buckskin Gulch Day 1

There are going to be so many pictures. Sheri Beatty and Shelly Howard are part of a ladies backpacking group. I've wanted to go but always seemed to be too late to join in. Shelly found out that I wanted to be a part of a hike and when a new hike popped up, she messaged me and said she could get me in. Buckskin Gulch in the longest and deepest slot canyon in the SW United States and possibly the world. I accepted! Merril was jealous. Then I found out we were supposed to hike 13.7 miles in 1 day. Yikes! The dread set in. That's a lot of hiking for one day. Then we weren't sure if we'd be able to filter water so we had to pack in all our water. I packed 6 liters which comes out to about 14 pounds. My whole pack weighed in at around 34 pounds. Oi. That's a lot of weight for me too! When I backpack, Merril often carries the heavy stuff. I carry the popcorn and marshmallows. I'm also coming off an ankle injury. But I trained carefully and took deep breaths. I also asked Merril for a blessing! I needed mental strength and needed my body to work like it was supposed to. We drove out to Whitehouse campground the night before so we could get on the trail early. The night was cold but I had Merril's awesome warm and light sleeping bag! Then we shuttled over to Wire Pass trailhead and set out! Yep, I was cold!

Chauncey Turley was there!

This is our first obstacle. There are quite a few people that I knew! Roni Laub, Andrea Wittwer, Emily Lowe, Jenny Chamberlain, Treasa Anderson, Shelly Howard, and Nicole Stout. Some of the ladies went on the kayaking adventure back in June.

Sheri wanted the someone in this picture for scale.

Sheri and me.

Gorgeous, astounding views were around every single corner! I kept saying, "Wow! Look at that!"

The slot canyon was filled with clay, lots of deep clay.

Most of the clay was dry, we've hardly had any rain.

Lunch was amazing. 

Shelly pulls this amazing stunt with her husband on her shoulders! She is so strong! I've always thought it was the coolest picture. When she asked if anyone would climb on her shoulders for the picture, I hesitated. When no one jumped at it, I said I'd do it! That is scary and sketchy. I'm glad I didn't break a leg! 

Rocks in the cool clay!

Then the clay got wet!

And slimy! I lost my shoes in one pool and Roni was my savior! My feet were so down deep in the sticky clay in the middle of a pool that I couldn't move without losing my water shoes. Roni was able to hike past me, drop her pack and come back for mine. Then I was able to reach down into the stinky water and pull up my shoes. I ended up taking off my water shoes in a number of the sticky shoes.

 

The walls of the slot canyon were so tall and impressive. 

But towards the end of the first day, I was kind of over it. I was still moving along but I was ready for chilling at camp!

At the end of a long day, we finally made it to camp. I was so excited to lay around.

This was my view for the evening! How spectacular! I couldn't believe my legs had moved around 14 miles! Some ladies said it felt more like 15-16 miles. Shelly said it was a really hard day. When Shelly says that, you know it's been a REALLY HARD day!