hiking

We found a little treasure of a hike up Payson Canyon on Memorial Day! It was only a half mile or so each way to this pretty waterfall. Katelyn was fine with going at first, but not super excited. Then within the first 30 seconds of our "hike" she started saying "this is SO FUN!!" every couple of minutes, and skipping and jumping over rocks and just acting SO happy and excited! I was thrilled that she was so affected by being out in nature exercising. 'Cause that's how I feel too!

Whitney loved it too!
A happy girl.
The bottom of the waterfall. I'm trying to take more pictures with me in them lately!

They had all these log bridges over the stream, and at first Katelyn made me hold her tightly, but here she is discovering she can walk across by herself!

....and soon she was practically skipping across! A minute after this a snake slithered across the trail right under her feet and she jumped with her feet out wide to avoid stepping on it and screamed! It was REALLY exciting, and only added to the fun of the adventure.
By the end Whitney wanted to cross the bridges by herself too- with me hovering behind. I felt like my little brother Jonathan, who's always so concerned about little kids getting hurt and sometimes drives them crazy trying to protect them! She did let me hold her hand sometimes.
Whitney with her hat almost over her eyes, as she and Katelyn talked excitedly the whole ride home about what they had seen and done! So cute. The best was when Katelyn was describing the picture she was going to draw about her experiences, and I suggested she could draw the picture in her journal. She was like "OHHH!!!" and sat straight up kicking her feet excitedly. She's so funny.
What a fun time. Days like this are the BEST.