March 2021 Trip to Escalante

 This was our exciting and super fun camping trip to Escalante. It was the best kind of trip because there were Megan and Jared's family, Kami and her kids, and Ethan and Kourtney's family, so it was tons of fun, lots of playmates, and I didn't have to plan anything--just show up and do what I'm told. Hallelujah!

We drove through snowstorms to get there.

This is from Kami about her first morning: The next morning our kids played, and we were going to go to Devil's Garden till Kayli and Megan's families arrived, but when we went to go gather the kids, Jubal and Chezney were missing.  They had been playing in a dry creek bed just down the hill.  I didn't worry at first. But Ethan came back after looking a while, and then we all went to look.  Elena and Sebastian split up to follow the creek bed, and I met up with Sebastian and we decided to find Elena, and anyway, as we were trying to catch up with Elena, we noticed footprints in the creek bed that were much littler than Elena's.  Elena had noticed the same footprints. So she found them first--they were about ¾ of a mile away from camp, sitting in the creek bed, praying and crying.  Jubal said he told Chezney to pray and she just kept praying and praying.  It was seriously nerve wracking to me, because the land was so broken up, it was hard to see very far and it was just empty.  My heart did not need that. So then by the time we made it back to camp almost 45 mins later, Kayli was just arriving.  They unhooked their trailer and then we finally headed to Devil's Garden in the snow.

So here we are playing in Devil's Garden.

Cute Hazel and Navy.

Me and my honey.

Look at this teamwork! I love climbing.

From Kami again: Megan's family arrived after we got back from Devil's Garden and Leo came with them!!  Yay!!  And then it started to snow.  It was very chilly to say the least.  Those little hot packs work wonders in your socks to keep you warm at night.  But we had a great time.  These pictures are all a mix of our days there.  It was Palm Sunday one day, so Megan was awesome and did a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt for the kids after a spiritual message and then the kids played with glow sticks and had a blast.  Ethan brought sand toys and that was such a huge hit.  Megan brought the dirt bike and buggy which were also a hit. And Nicolas and Wyatt and Orrin played with a bow and arrows and target we brought.

So many cute cousins! And they're all so big now--getting married or on a mission or will shortly be on a mission, or at college. How does it go by so fast? :(

We hiked through Spooky and Peek-a-boo slot canyons, which were super duper fun.

There are so many of us! Sheesh!

The most difficult "obstacle" by far was at the beginning to kind of get up into the slot. It's slick, so it's hard to climb, but too far to make it easy to jump or anything. Brett stayed at one spot and helped push/boost everyone up, and then Chad and Anders would grab them from there and help them up the next bit. Such awesome helpers!! 

I took this picture of Brett helping a random stranger lady who had seen him helping everyone up, and asked if he would be willing to help her too. What a hero!

I just love how everyone helps each other! Watching the middle kids helping the little kids is so heart-warming!

I love those sun-filled slots of red rock!

This is back at Devil's Garden, I think. Different day.

Doing some nice chimneying up the crack. I was very proud of us when we all (Hazel, Brett, and I) made it up.

That blue sky! Swoon.

On Sunday we drove up to Anazasi State Park and then kids did their junior ranger badges and then we hiked to Lower Calf Creek Falls. 

Chad and Anders jumped in.

Navy dipped in too. And then Orrin jumped in!

It was apparently really cold. haha

Behind the scenes of the shot:

The shot:

Some kids built an oven thingee.

We tried to get into Bryce Canyon National Park, but there was no parking, so in the end we went out again and went somewhere else. I don't remember the name. But it was cool.

Our tire exploded on the way home. Brett and Leo had the spare on in like two seconds flat. It was impressive.

And I can't remember what this is exactly, except that Brett asked if anyone had any foil candy wrappers or gum wrappers, and then he took one and used it to make something work. He's MacGyver.

So then we stopped at a small town and waited for new tires to be put on the van and ate some pizza.

And here are some out of order pictures.

Very good times.