Jake and I went to a Rodeo while we were in Utah. It was the Riverton Rodeo, and so it was small and no one even qualified on the bull riding. Pretty lame, but I had never been to one and it was good to get out with Jake while my mom watched Joshua.
Our next week in Utah, we spent lots of time with family, but we also went on a trip to Southern Utah. Our first stop was at Bryce Canyon National Park and it was absolutely beautiful. We camped the night in the campgrounds in the park and Josh had a blast. He was covered in dirt and loved being outside. When it came time for bed, that was a hard one. We recently bought him his own sleeping bag, so with him spread out in the tent and being in one big "bed" he was in heaven. Playing and crawling all over. If you know Josh, you know he loves anything fluffy that represents a pillow or bed. For the record it took him FOREVER to fall asleep that night.
Once Josh did fall asleep, Jake and I took a walk down to another man's campsite who had his very large telescope out. He's big into astronomy and Bryce Canyon is considered a "dark" sky where you can see lots of stars, planets, etc. We went down there to take a look at Saturn and he was gracious enough to show us more things like a Cloud Nebula and star that had died. It was really neat and seems like a funny hobby to get into if you have the time and money.
The next morning, after a long night of trying to sleep while camping, we headed out for our hike in Bryce Canyon. We went on a loop that started at Sunset Point and went through Navajo Loop Trail, Peek A Boo Loop, Queens Gardens and Sunrise Point. It was 6 1/2 miles and a long day. I was exhausted from the night before and it was definitely warm outside. Jake is such a trooper for carrying Josh that whole way. That's a good 40+ pounds with Josh and the weight of the pack and what's inside it.
After our hike we had a good meal and headed off to St. George to stay with Jake's cousin Sara and her family (The Glum's) and visit with Jake's sister, Janell. We had a blast staying there and we all definitely appreciated the space to get some rest and relax a little bit.
The next morning we head out for Zion's National Park. We wanted to do a quick hike up the Narrows before we headed back to Salt Lake.
The next couple of days we just relaxed in Salt Lake before heading out to Nauvoo, IL. I went to a reunion with some of my best high school friends and we were able to see and visit more with family.
On our way to Nauvoo, Josh was a champ traveler on the plane and on the car ride there. We had an excellent time in Nauvoo, visiting my Grandmother Jewel and Deanne, Bradford and the Beaton Children Joshua, Andrew and Sarah. They are there for 5 weeks this summer on a family mission playing bagpipes for the Pageant and in the surrounding areas.
During our time there we watched them perform, went to see the Pageant, went to Carthage and visited a couple sites around the town including homes where Joseph Smith had lived, grave sites, shops, etc. We went to a session in the Nauvoo Temple and it was beautiful. I'm glad that we had the opportunity to visit Nauvoo because who knows when we will be back. I'm also very grateful that we were able to see my Grandmother and other family, because they are people we don't get to see too often and who knows how long Grandmother will be around. It was also excellent to see her meet and interact with her first great-grandchild, Joshua. It was a quick visit, but we had a great time!
Before flying out of St. Louis we went to the Zoo to kill some time. It was so fun to watch Joshua get excited about the animals and the great part about it, it was free (no admittance fee for that zoo). We had a good time there.
After our return from Nauvoo, we spent the next couple of days relaxing again in SLC, which was great because we would be hitting the road again in just a few days.
At this point, our plans for the summer had changed a little bit. I had gotten sick just before our Nauvoo trip and we weren't sure if we should head home to see a doctor or continue on our way to Eastern Idaho and then to Billings. We decided to continue on our way. We had Jake's family reunion on the 9th and then stayed the night in Rigby, ID before heading to Billings the next day, which I'm glad we did.
On our way to Billings we drove through Yellowstone and were able to see a few sites. Jake and had never been before and so we took a few hours to visit Old Faithful, Fountain Paint Pots and Mammoth Hot Springs. It was a good day. Relaxing drive to Billings.
We are currently in Billings now and it had been so much fun watching Joshua play with Jake's family dog JJ and letting Josh spend time with his grandparents. It's always great visiting family and I'm also loving a good relaxing time too.
We decided that I should head to the doctor anyway even though we aren't home, so we did that yesterday and it turns out that I have Atypical (Walking) Pneumonia. Not much fun, but surprising enough I haven't felt too bad. Yeah there is a cough and I can't really sleep at night, but I don't have any cold symptoms, fever, headache, nothing. So, hopefully after a short bout of antibiotics I can get rid of this.
After our time in Billings, we are heading back to Yakima. Our original plans of heading up to Canada to visit friends isn't going to work out because of scheduling conflicts, but we are hoping that they might be able to come visit us in Yakima later this month.
We are looking forward to getting home. We do very much enjoy seeing family and traveling to see new things and places, but we also miss home very much. I miss being able to eat normally and cook, and I also miss actually having a dresser to live out of. So it has been a good summer, a little different then we had planned, but all in all we have enjoyed it and it has been a nice break.
One of the best parts about this trip has been spending time together as a family and watching Joshua grow. He is developing and growing so quickly. He recently has started signing "more" when he wants food. He says pup pup pup for animals and gives us hugs when we pick him up. He is starting to understand so much and he has been a blast to be around because he is such a goofball. I will definitely miss this age in him because he is so loving and so funny. He lives for attention and loves being around animals, especially dogs. What an adorable boy he has turned out to be! I'm so blessed.
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