Mother’s Day in Moab

Our trip to Moab was added to our 2013 goals around the first of the year. It wasn’t meant to be a mother’s day trip. Still it was fun to act like it was, it made me feel special. We got on the road after work. This is our first trip since Mirah has been mostly off breast milk. It was easier, and still a little more difficult. I needed to bring lots more food along. Driving in the car is also a hard. She can go about 2-3 hours between freak-outs Which meant we ALMOST made it to Moab without having to stop. We were about a half an hour away when we had to pull over and take a little break.

The sun was going down. Which made for some great lighting for some fun family pictures.

Mirah is getting so big.

And cute! Can you see her teeth?

Circus baby stretching!

Hugging with mom and Mirah.

We checked into our hotel, unpacked, and got something to eat.

The next morning we went to the Moab Diner for breakfast and we were on the road. Karl at the wheel.

Mirah in the back.

Then into Arches National Park.

Majestic. Seriously, so much beauty.

Windows.

It was really great sit in the passengers seat, and take pictures.

After exploring around a bit, we broke out the baby pack and took a walk.

Karl and Mirah having a blast.

We walked down the lower arch view point.

Then headed over to the actual trail. It was a couple of miles, and the trail was PACKED.

Along the park were these rock piles. Karl added his little something.

As the hike went on, it started to get warmer. We all had hats and glasses, and had applied lots of sun screen.

Then it got VERTICAL.

We rested for a minute at the top, in the shade of some sage brush.

Mirah’s new sandals. We found them at kid to kid. They are real Teva’s.

Hiking…

Up…

up…

We made it!

Family photo!

Mirah loves Karl. Sometimes I think she gets so sick of my face. She loves her dad forever.

We are buddies too.

It was a little precarious, but we made it over to the arch.

Mirah, making sure we stay hydrated.

Us under the arch!

Walking at the arch.

Taking a break before we started back down.

Back in the pack.

On our way back we made a little stop.

Karl was annoyed that they weren’t older. Only from the 1600’s. There are others in the park that are much older.

There were faces in the rocks everywhere.

Cyclists all over the roads.

And beauty all around.

We were tired and hungry, so stopped for some pork wings.

Back at the hotel we took a late afternoon dip.

Mirah in her new suit, and matching hat.

It was really bright out there, she loved the pool/

Then we all passed out.

We woke up in time for the monthly art walk. We visited local galleries, book stores and shops. It was really great actually. Then we went to dinner at this local place called Zax.

Dinner was local root bear, pizza buffet and Salad bar. So good.

The next day (today) was Sunday and Mother’s day. We found a local chapel and attneded sacrament meeting. It was great. Talks about mothers, primary kids singing. Wonderful.

The day we planned was a day of driving and short walks.

We headed out to Dead Horse point state park. The lanscape was very different from what we had seen.

And BREATHTAKING.

Karl taking a panoramic shot with his phone.

It turned out pretty great. Check it out.

The money shot.

Our little family.

We swapped taking pictures with this Indonesian family. They LOVED Mirah.

I mean they really loved her. They wanted to take pictures with her, and I was afriad they would take her, not really.

Family shadow!

Circus baby!

Our next great adventure was an off road trail. We have a 4×4 vehicle so we figured, why not. Things started easy enough.

Then it got really…real steep.

That is the path down, for our car. There were points where we could both touch the walls from the car.

A video for reference:

A few pictures to help.

Then of course there was this…

We made it.

A video of the process of getting here….

On the other side.

We were so high up! You can see the trail, then again…

Even on the bottom, it was beautiful! I took TONS of pictures of flowers this weekend. Spring time in the dessert is so lovely. Flowers blooming everywhere.

We popped out onto a highway, right next to Jug Handle Arch.

Also, right next to the Colorado river and the canyon it lives in there.

All this time in the car came with a price.

Mirah’s new front teeth had their way with a treasured book.

The book she chose was kind of…ironic?

Can you see her teeth?

Wait for it.

There they are!

It is like she is saying: “I love eating card board!!!”

About two hours out, and three hours in, she started to LOOSE it. It was a long drive home. We had decided to take the scenic byway through Huntington State Park. It was beautiful, frozen lakes, and snow, but poor Mirah was tired and hungry. It was a long drive home.

We got home, called out moms. Then called Betsy to wish her a happy mothers day. The beautiful lady invited us over for dinner! It was such a blessing! Any, also so delicious!

We sat chatting about our weekends, and the boys were tuckered out from theirs.