Pandemic vacation #2- Idaho!

 Donny and Christine invited us to come up to see them in Rexburg, since they are renting a house now and have a guest room!  So we took them up on it.  We had a really fun 2 days and nights with them.  Maris and Emma ADORE their Hansen girl cousins!  It was non-stop fun with Evelyn and Claire.  This was on a fun hike.

And this was at a lake where we rented some canoes.  Jenae and Connor got to join in our adventures too, they are SO fun to play with!

I snapped this picture of Eric at the lake because his hair was SO long and I think it's so incredibly cute!!  

Whitney had tons of fun with their dog, Smokey.

We also spent a few hours with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Murray in Pocatello. They have these cool carvings in their yard.

Grandpa let Owen and Maris drive him around in his golf cart, so cute!

It was Olivia (Mei)'s birthday while we were there, and we brought her a present.  She is SOO dang cute, we all loved to play with her.

Eric trying out the real kayak. Probably the most fun thing we did there though, was go down the water slide that was floating out in the lake on a platform.  Me and Christine were really proud of ourselves that we were cool enough moms to do it haha.

Cuties on the hike

Kate with her sand creation

Donny and Christine and their cute family! THey were great hosts.

Getting Eric's hair in the pic haha

I went running with Jenae, it was awesome!! And she told me she was pregnant!!!!! Sadly she miscarried a few weeks later. 

Cousins on the hike, with the Snake RIver? Or Teton? in the background.

Owen had fun with Smokey too.

One more of these with Emma looking.

And our family on the hike.

It was a great trip.  We had so much fun talking and playing.

A vacation at last- Zion camping

After 5 years we finally made it back to Zion with the kids!  The Narrows did not disappoint, what an amazing and beautiful and unique hike!  The kids were shocked and thrilled by the first deep part!

on the way back through at the end, Maris went too deep on purpose and ended up legit swimming for a minute until Katelyn grabbed her and pulled her to a shallower part!  She wasn't scared though, she was smiling and laughing the whole time, it was so funny.

cute Emma taking a break- she did amazing though, walked most of the way for 4 miles!  It was just so new and different to be walking in the river.

and the kids by the giant walls of the canyon.

side note because moving pictures in blogger is a pain:

These signs around the visitor's center cracked us up!  Even though I'm sure it's true, it was still a funny picture.

Eric was concerned about camping in Zion in July, and it was pretty hot but he survived it thanks to his cooling towel haha.  and he took this cute picture of the kids sleeping in the morning.

We enjoyed the hammocks in the shade as usual.

and our camp had a deer just hanging out in the shade too, for like an hour!

Okay back to the Narrows.  So we got to Zion, set up camp, and went immediately to the shuttle (with our reserved tickets, thanks COVID!) and went straight to the best hike ever.  Here we are by some little waterfalls.

just past the first deep part, and Eric and the girls when they left us and trekked ahead for a while.

Emma laughing in delight at the water pouring down the rocks, and being so cute with her trekking (ski) pole.

me and Emma, with the rest of the fam in the background.

the spot me and the littles turned around, it was so beautiful!!

brave kids.

hiking family!

Maris falling on the left, and Owen about to fall on the right.  They got soaked!  It was hot but they still got a little chilly in the shade.

family pic almost at the end, when Emma wanted to be carried.

out of order, but great times.

Jumping ahead now to day 2!  We did a short hike in the morning, pictures at the end.  Emma had to be coaxed along the WHOLE WAY and it was torture.  She is too big to be carried for very long, but she was totally burnt out on hiking after the long one the day before.  but we survived!

Then we sat on the grass- socially distanced from others- under a huge tree by Zion Lodge and had a leisurely lunch, it was actually really heavenly!  to be outside in some of God's most beautiful creations, on soft lush grass, eating good food with smiling children.....it wasn't too crowded thanks to COVID, and the sky was so blue, and we had the endorphins from some good exercise......I seriously felt like this is what I want heaven to be like.  We stayed for a long time!

Then before we took the shuttle back to our campsite to pack up, we walked back across the river and found a nice swimming hole!  Katelyn and I seriously regretted not wearing our swimsuits-- she ended up jumping in but I didn't.  I didn't want to ride all the way home in wet clothes!  But I should have just gone for it, they had so much fun jumping off this rock!

Even Maris jumped in, to Eric.

riding the shuttle. We actually wore masks, but they took them off for the picture.

And here's the pics from our hike to Emerald Falls.

you go under the thin stream of the falls, it's pretty cool.  But the ledge is narrow and crowded so you can't stay for long.

Anyway it was a great trip and I'm so glad we got to go!  In a year of things being cancelled, it was so nice to have a little vacation.