Labor Day 2011

It seems like EVERY single 3-day weekend we are jetting off somewhere. Well, since Tanner started his last Fall semester at BYU and I had to teach the Young Women on Sunday we decided to just sit tight and stay home.

I guess you could call it a stay-cation. :-) We ate tons of yummy food from the fresh fruit and veggie stands and even made home made peach ice cream! We're really fitting in with all these cool Utah people.

I've been itching to go out on the lake with a canoe. Don't ask me why. It's like this weird thing I had built up in my mind- like "If only we could rent a canoe we could have the most epic day!" Don't get me wrong, we had a blast out on Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon but canoe's are not stable on the water and I was concerned 99.9% of the time that we would capsize. We stayed safe and dry, thank goodness, but getting out of that thing was tricky and I have the wet sock and big old bruise to prove it.

We packed up a nice little picnic and took it out into the middle of the lake and just enjoyed the scenery while we ate our grub.

Fact: Tanner used to be a river guide in Salmon, Idaho during high-school.

The water was so glassy. It was beautiful!

After our little canoeing adventure we hiked up to the Timp Caves. Um, ok. Well, it's a 1.5 mile long hike up to the caves and the ranger said it would take about 30 minutes.

60 minutes later we made it.

Hole E Cow that was a hard hike. I was glad we had Parker and could justify a 4 year old's pace. I really got out of shape this summer!

At the top I was a little aggro. I was sweaty and tired and hungry. This is my, "If you HAVE to take a picture of me like this then this is what you're going to get."

Poor Tanner.

It reminded me of when we were dating and he had this great idea that we should hike the TETONS one day. We hiked above the tree line and into the snow up to a summit called Table Rock.... 10 hours and many bleeding blisters later we made it back down. I complained the whole time- it was HARD! Ok, so this wasn't quite the same but he sure heard it from me. ;-)

We had a few minutes to rest before our tour went in, which was nice. Once we got into the caves my bad attitude melted away. I was in utter awe. It was amazing in there! For all you who haven't been to the Timp Caves but HAVE been to Disneyland- it kinda reminded me of the line at Splash Mountain. But not fake and like a billion years old.

Our tour guide was awesome and knew everyone's name by the end of the hour long tour. He really knew his stuff and was very passionate about the wonder of the caves. It was really interesting to hear him speak and explain to us about the ancient geological history of them.

Parker was soaking it all up. He loved it. He was quiet most of the time just listening and taking it all in. He was constantly looking around and asking questions. This is why I love being a Mom.

At one point, deep inside the cave, our guide turned all the lights off so we could see how dark the caves really are. Everyone fell silent and it stayed that way for a few minutes. I thought it was incredible!

There were many, many breathtaking features in the caves but I thought this one was quite romantic. This stalagmite and stalactite are growing towards each other. If nothing disrupts them they will touch in a few millions years. Doesn't that just kinda remind you of growing close to your loved one? :-)

The caves were super cool! I highly recommend anyone in Utah going and checking them out. The hike up was hot and hard but the caves were cool and easy. The hike back down was obviously easy too. There are some steep drop offs but other than that it's paved and pretty do-able.

That night we all got cleaned up, BBQed up a delicious meal, and then cuddled up on the couch together and watched some TV. It was wonderful. Perfect ending to a perfect day.