River Fun!

After last week's football game, I took the boys out to the Dolores River to cool off.

The fall leaves are starting to change colors. 

Like I said in an earlier post, the rivers are low this year. Therefore, we did not do our regular tubing on the river. The water was still cool though, so they got in and played for awhile.

We love to go to the river and play in the summertime. Farewell summer-Hello fall!

Apple Pickin'

Last Saturday, we got up early and went to the Agricultural Extension in Pleasant View to pick apples. We love to go here every year to pick our apples.

Cole is a really great helper. He picked most of the apples in the basket.

They have grapes there too, but they are sour.

Eat all you can and buy the rest.

Straight from the tree!

They have plums (and peaches) too, but we didn't get any of them. I just thought they were pretty on the tree.

I love this fall tradition in our family. Hopefully one of these years we will have fruit from our own fruit trees to pick. Happy Fall!

Drought

As with alot of the country, we are in a drought here. We had a very dry winter last year, so there wasn't much snow melt to fill the rivers and lakes.

This is McPhee Reservoir, which is where our town gets water. This is the part of the lake where we usually put in our canoes or whatever in the summer.

As you can see it is very, very low.

I don't even know how that boat got out there.

You can walk all the way across in some spots.

This path should be totally under water, up until the dock. I walked out until I couldn't see the car anymore and took a picture from the middle of the lake.

I really hope we get lots of snowfall this winter. Otherwise, we may not have any water next year.

Very sad and scary.

Sunflowers

This is a test. I recently got a newer version of Photoshop, and I am trying to figure out what watermark and what size my pics should be for the blog. This one looks alittle small, so I will try to make them bigger for the next one.

P.S. I love sunflowers.

Labor Day Weekend: Bryce Canyon NP

On our way back home we stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park. We have been here before (about 5 years ago), but it is so beautiful it was worth a quick stop.

I took tons of pictures of the canyon, but I'll only post a couple. I love the colors here. We only did the overlooks because we didn't have time to do another hike.

We spent alot of time in the car this weekend, but we also spent alot of time communing with nature in our National Parks. The boys were pretty good in the car. They played their video games, read and looked out the window.

Time to go back home and back to the real world again.

Labor Day Weekend: the Cabin

Our camping weekend got a little more comfortable when we decided to rent a cabin instead of tent camping. I prefer this type of camping to the roughing it kind.

 We found this little campground off the main road just outside of Capitol Reef NP and it worked out perfectly. Everyone slept well and I had a shower and toilet to use. Very nice!

One afternoon after our hike we had a rain storm. When it was over there was a double rainbow over our cabin. You can only barely see the second rainbow on the right. I love rainbows and try to watch for them after the rain.

What a great weekend!

Labor Day Weekend: Capitol Reef NP

The main part of our weekend was spent at Capitol Reef National Park.

I took a ton of pictures, but these are only a few. We went on a couple of hikes and saw lots of rocks and old stuff.

A big part of the park showcases the pioneers that settled there (in Fruita).

We saw an old house.

 The mormon pioneers that settled Fruita planted orchards that you can still pick from today.

We picked some apples there that were super yummy.

We also stopped by this school house.

There are still carvings on the rocks that the kids that went to school here made many years ago.

 I took tons of pictures of the pretty rocks here, but I won't post them all. 

It is a beautiful park. I love all the colors and textures of the rock.

Labor Day Weekend: Natural Bridges NM

This Labor Day weekend we took a little trip to Utah to visit some National Parks. 

On the way to our cabin, we crossed over the Colorado River and by Lake Powell.

Our first stop was Natural Bridges National Monument.

The weather wasn't so great, so we didn't go on any hikes. We have been there before, so we just drove the scenic drive and took some pictures.

Here is the cute sign picture:

Next stop: Capitol Reef National Park.