Arches National Park...part 1

Over UEA weekend, my sister Suzy, my girls and I headed to Moab to go to Arches National Park.  We left early Friday morning, so we arrived in Arches around 9 or 9:30 A.M.  It was windy and a bit chilly.  It was the first time I have ever been to Arches...or my kids.  We saw a lot in one day.

First, the girls jumped for joy to be in front of Courthouse Rock!

Courthouse Rock

Balanced Rock

 Our first hike was to the Windows.  It's a short hike, but allows you to see the North Window, South Window and Turret Arch.  It's beautiful.

North Window...Suzy is there near the middle...my girls are off to the right in the picture.

My girls and I at North Window

Turret Arch

South Window

South Window

Some cool rock formations in the distance...seen from between South Window and Turret Arch

 Then we went to Sand Dune Arch.  This was the girls' favorite, especially Gabby and Ella.  They were kind of cranky about having to hike and being outside when it was a bit chilly.  But they loved Sand Dune Arch.  I think we stayed there for more than an hour.

Making sand angels

The girls were being so silly.  They were trying to jump and do splits in the air, but Ella kept intentionally messing Gabby up.  They were giggling and having so much fun.

Michelle and Suzy hiked over to Broken Arch while Gabby and Ella played a bit longer at Sand Dune Arch and then we sat and waited for Michelle and Suzy.   We then had lunch...but the wind was blowing so much that we had trouble keeping our food near us...and it felt a bit like you were eating sand rather than sandwiches.

This N That

Because I've been a terrible blogger for the last few months, this post is my way of catching up and sharing several things we've done lately without doing 20 different posts.  It's the lazy man way to blog.

Halloween:  I woke up with "A Bad Case of Stripes."  Pretty sure this is my favorite costume I've ever done!  I wish I had a better full length picture, because I had striped socks and striped fingerless gloves and it was just awesome.    Gabby was a huntress.  Ella decided at the last minute to go trick or treating and wore Michelle's 50's costume.  Michelle went to a party the week before wearing her 50's costume. On Halloween, she had a bunch of friends over and they played games, ate treats and told spooky stories.  She put up our tent in the backyard for them to hang out in as they told stories.

 This Halloween, there was a local family-owned pumpkin patch.  A couple of my friends told me about it and so I took my girls and our cute neighbors to the pumpkin patch.  We picked out pumpkins, had caramel apples and hot chocolate and sat around the fire.  It was such a cute family and cute pumpkin patch.  

Carving our pumpkins:

 Sometime in the beginning of November, Michelle and Ella made this leaf wreath which we hung on our door.  It was just made of cardstock but it was cute.  And they had fun making it.

In November, Hunter High School Theatre performed Guys and Dolls.  The girls and I went to see their performance.  Three of our YW (Annie, Katelynn, and Tia) were in the play as well as several of Michelle's friends and cute Veronica from our stake.  They all did such a great job!

Also in November, I entered a contest from Seagull Book to win a gift card for Sweet Salt Clothing.  All you did was like and share the post on Facebook and tag someone on their post.  And surprisingly, I won!!  So I received a $100 gift card to spend at sweetsaltclothing.com.  I was able to buy gifts for several family members for Christmas as well as a shirt and skirt for myself.  I ended up spending about $20 on 7 or 8 items.  So very nice!

Alfredo took a trip to Mexico for work during November.  Having had him gone twice now in the last few months has really helped me recognize how much he does for our family and how much I appreciate him.