Get Away to Capitol Reef

The past week has been filled with fun adventures.  On Friday we had my niece Sierra over for a sleepover.  We picked her up from her house after she got out of school and drove over to the BYU Paleontology Museum.  The museum is little, but it has lots of interesting fossils and casts.  The girls especially liked the big prehistoric crocodile skull and the apotosaurus skeleton.  While we were looking around the museum, there were some student maintenance workers replacing Exit signs.  Reagan pointed to one of the young men up on a ladder and asked, "Is that a real man?"  Everyone thought that was hilarious.

After we left the museum, we went home and made chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips and homemade pizza.  Then we watched Aladdin for a family movie night.  When we have a family movie night, we all sit on a blanket on the floor and eat popcorn.  It's fun.  Kirsten and Reagan were delighted to share some family traditions with Sierra.

Hip bone of an apotosaurus

The girls in front of a dinosaur

Happy girls

Valentine's Day was nice and relaxed this year.  Matt and I went out to eat the night before to celebrate, and on Sunday, we went to Church in the morning and played Candy Land with the girls in the afternoon.  It was the first time they'd ever played Candy Land, and they both really enjoyed it.

On Presidents' Day we woke up early and drove down to Capitol Reef National Park.  It's one of the smaller national parks, so we almost had it to ourselves.  Kirsten couldn't stop ooo-ing and ahhh-ing about how amazing and beautiful Capitol Reef looked to her.  It was really cute to hear her.  I agreed with her wholeheartedly.  It was around 50 degrees, and we got to enjoy the sun, fresh air, and beautiful scenery.  What more could you want?

After hiking some of the Chimney Rock trail, we had a picnic lunch next to a little river and the orchards of the Fruita historic area.  Near the picnic area there was a sign posted about not feeding the deer.  We didn't see any deer, but Reagan became very concerned that deer were going to come steal her food.  Matt told her that if there were any deer aggressive enough to try to take her food, he would shoot them.  Then he proceeded to tell her that people are gored every year by deer.  He was being absolutely ridiculous, and Reagan's fears were mounting.  At this point, we reassured her that daddy was being silly and deer are the most timid of creatures.  Hopefully, she now understands that deer are not to be feared :)

After lunch, we took the scenic drive through the park.  On our way, we saw Cassidy Arch, Echo Rock, and an old uranium mine.  The girls really liked hearing their echoes off Echo Rock.  I think it might have been their favorite part of Capitol Reef.  Then Kirsten started begging to go on another hike.  So we hiked Capitol Gorge and up to the Water Tanks.  It was a pretty fun hike, but it was difficult on Reagan because she realized she had to go potty about half a mile in.  The hike was only two miles round trip, but she did end up peeing her pants on our way back to the car, which was pretty miserable for her.  When we got back to the car, we took off her pants, rinsed her off with a jug of water, and wrapped her up in my sweatshirt.  It was an exciting hike though, and I was proud of her for walking almost the whole time.
  

Matt and the girls in front of Chimney Rock.

Me and the girls in front of an old uranium mine.

The girls in the ruins of an old building

Capitol Gorge

Hiking up to the Water Tanks.  I didn't feel like a responsible parent once we got up here.  This hike was listed as easy, but we had to climb over rocks quite a bit near the end.  Never fear, they survived and even enjoyed it!

On our way to the water tanks.

This is one of the water tanks.  Apparently it holds water.