Spicing Up Our Cabin Trip

The kids enjoying their electronics for the ride.

We left early Saturday morning and headed straight up to our destination for the day, Blue Ridge reservior just a few miles north our cabin in Strawberry. Dean graciously towed all 6 canoes so we could enjoy a day of paddling, picknicking and cool refreshing water.

We arrived around noon and really you couldn't have asked for nicer weather. It was sunny, warm, with a few fluffy white clouds. Until.....we all got situated. We began to canoe and I felt large drops upon my head. No big deal right? Wrong. Those innocent droplets of water soon became what I would like to call a monsoon storm. It POURED. Literally.

With a total of 19 family members, there were 3-4 of us in each of the canoes. Unfortunately, Glenn's canoe capsized along with Jared and Aubrey inside. It was a little tricky trying to flip it back over, but once we were able to get his crew back in the boat we headed for any type of shelter. Freezing and hungry we decided to park and hoped the rain would pass.

Makayla and Haleigh

It did pass for a bit....but that didn't help us warm up any. We made the executive decision to head back to the car and up to the cabin. We may have not of fully enjoyed the canoe outing, but can chalk it up to a funny, family experience. Luckily, we all paddled safely back to the dock because it began to lightning.... Not very safe, especially on a lake AND in an aluminum canoe.

I have to say I was extremely happy when I got to the car and was able to get some dry warm clothes on. I was much happier taking the rain photos from inside rather than out. Ha.

Sunday wouldn't be a Sunday without attending good old 9am Pine ward. I had intentions on skipping out, however ah em my husband decided to use love and logic with me. Did it work? Yes, I felt extremely guilty and went to church in my SHORTS mind you (since I wasn't prepared). Jen had a great idea that we should go on a family outing, not only to prevent obsessive eating at the cabin (which happens each time), but to explore the surrounding areas. We decided Tonto Natural Bridge was a place we could check out. The best part, it was only 15 minutes away.

It was about a 1/4 mile hike down into the big opening. All the kids did really well considering

how steep it was. Also, it was surprisingly crowded, who knew the natural bridge would be such

a popular location.

The view from the inside. Pretty amazing.

Doug and I at the bottom

This was the lovely water we were misted by underneath. By the time we hiked back to the top it was time to head back and eat dinner.

Jen, Kathy, and Jenny

Dinner required walking off ALL of the delicious food that we inhaled.

The bonus, watching the sunset.

......followed by a night sitting and chatting around the camp fire.

and smores of course!

Doug and Grandpa Dale deep in conversation.

Last, but not least cute Jordan and Taylor seemed to keep themselves entertained and amused with my camera and took a ton of photos that included this video, which I found funny.