Box Canyon Adventure

On Wednesday morning I was snuggling with Barry and his alarm clock went off and he tried to get up to get ready for work, but I just held him tight and said. "Please don't go to work today, stay home and let's go on an adventure." He said. "Ok!", and called in work and took the day off.

I was super surprised, because he's been soo stressed and busy at work, but we weren't going to argue.

 

We did an abbreviated session of school with the kids. It was so nice to have another adult there to help me. Then it was field trip time!

 

For our adventure, 

 

 We decided to try and find Box Canyon.

 

This wasn't our first time trying to find the place, it's pretty elusive and I haven't actually met anyone who's been there ..........but I've had seen pictures on the internet and I wanted to try.

 

 

After about an hour of driving around, some in the right direction, most in the wrong, we found it!

We'll we found a small parking lot with a sign that said Box Canyon. It was on the edge of a very large field and there was no canyon in sight. We started off down the trail very unsure of what we would find. The wind was whipping, but the kids were having a grand ol' time racing and galloping their imaginary horses. James had brought his backpack with him, which he informed me contained 1 bottle of soda, my water bottle, a metal rod he had found somewhere, a wooden stake, some Para cord. and My bottle of tums ;). It was heavy, but he didn't complain once. The crazy boy decided he needed to ADD to his rock collection as we walked and began stuffing his pockets with interesting rocks. We walked for about a mile before we could even see the canyon rim.

 

 

 

 

 WOW! a nice picture of everyone! Emma is "rearing" to go!

 We came to an overlook area. It was about a 200 foot drop down into the canyon and even with binoculars Barry and I could see no way of getting down to the beautiful water. The crystal clear water all comes from a natural underground spring and forms a very fast moving creek. It's an amphitheater canyon, so there is only one entrance into the canyon, and we were at the wrong end.

We decided to keep walking, I knew there was a way down,
because of pictures I had seen of people swimming in the cold cold water. I just hoped they hadn't repelled down. There were no signs to guide us, but we found a little trail(sort of) along the canyon rim. We followed it about another mile.
 

 There were eagles and Peregrine flacons soaring above us, they were pretty awesome to watch.

 AND then we found it! Someone had hooked a metal cable to some rock and had made a walkway down the canyon wall. (Sorry, no pictures) I was holding on to my children, camera, and sore pelvis for dear life. After a lot of scrambling we made it down into the canyon safely.  This is what we saw. :)

 The water was incredible! The park service at one time had put in a little platform and stairs by the waterfall, but that wasn't really close enough for the kids.

 Sorry! I might have got a little carried away, taking picture of the beautiful falls.

 Lauren, at one point on the trail, had face-planted it, and had given herself a bloody nose. Of course no Pate pictures would be complete without someone with a bloody nose.

 Where Barry leads, the kids follow.

 The spray from the waterfall was getting my camera wet, so I had to be careful.

 Emma was just so happy almost the whole time. She loves to be outside, and loves to scramble over rocks. The only time she wasn't happy was when she was being carried. "Let go, put me down Dad!" :)

 Perhaps, I should have cleaned off the lens.

 Barry and Em had left us and had walked further on down the path, I found them sitting out on a rock in the creek. Eating ALL of our snacks.

 You know those moments that time just seems to slow down and you know that you'll remember them forever. This was one of those for me. It was a little taste of heaven.  I love my family, I love that they are willing to take adventures with me.

 Watching falcons up on the cliff. No you can't see them. ;) One day, I will have a telephoto lens. :)

 Then Barry decided to stick his face in the water to see what he could see.  He said it was like looking through glass. I totally believed him ......the kids wanted to see for themselves. ;)

 Lauren did it too, but was busy holding too many things, included Emma, to get a picture.

 Time to head back home.

The kids were such good hikers. No complaints. Lauren walked the WHOLE way herself and Emma a ton of it. It's about 5 miles.  Barry rewarded them with strawberry milkshakes and chicken nuggets at the park. They couldn't have been happier.

 P.S. On the hike back, I found a way down to the inviting, but mysterious blue pools. It was very steep and there was no metal cable. I think I would probably have to scoot down on my bottom.  I don't think we'll be taking the kids that way for a few years, but we'll definitely we returning to beautiful, peaceful Box Canyon.

My Baby Girls!

Dark Eyed Lauren BRAND-NEW!

 She STILL loves to find sticks and carry them around.

 I was trying to find more toddler age pictures of Lauren, and I just don't seem to have very many. Then I found the above picture and it all came flooding back to me. I think I deleted a lot of pictures. She was never one to put on a fake smile for the camera and it was hard to get a good one.

 

 Baby Ellie

 She started cooking for the family, very early. :)

 One of Ellie's favorite things to do when she was small is tickle my feet. I was constantly forgetting and would absentmindedly hang my feet off the bed every few minutes and she would sneak over and tickle tickle. :)

 Back to Lauren

 Me?

 Very typical Lauren expression.  She's made this face at me since she was a baby. :)

Lauren was very concerned before Emma was born that she wouldn't be my baby anymore. I told her she would ALWAYS be my baby. She really liked that. It helped with the transition. She would tell everyone, My mom has TWO babies, Me and Emma.

Baby Blue

 

 

 

 

 All grown up!

Emma has started potty training, we are very proud of her. I tell her what a big girl she is getting to be, and she just BEAMS! You can see it.

(Sorry I currently have no way of editing or cropping pictures.)

 Caught in the act! Stealing Ellie's Valentine's chocolates. Emma has ALL sweet teeth.

 

 

 

I am very curious as to whether we will be adding another girl or boy to our family this summer. I don't need to tell you what James is hoping for.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec-Jan catch up.

Soooo

I've decided that I will never catch up on the events I missed on this blog, but I will include some photos

Since Christmas I have been super sick, and just this past week(now the middle of February) I am beginning to feel somewhat better. So sorry, Lauren. I love you more than anything, but you won't get a birthday post, I also missed Christmas and Barry's birthday, and our Valentine's Party.

Hopefully, I'll do better next year, but the next couple of posts will be the last few months in review. In random order. :) These are from my blurry phone.

The kids didn't put much effort into their Valentine's boxes this year. We had a fun party though and lots of candy. I got Barry a 3.5 pound bag of peanut M'M's for V-day. He's all for expensive chocolates. ;) He wrote me a sweet note and bought me ice cream and a new warm hat.

 Every year we go to Agri-Action. A big Agricultural Business even put on a CSI. We get lots of free stuff there. Each of us picked out a free little cow for Emmie. (She has 5) She loves them!

 Oh Baby! 11 weeks 1 day! Here's the little tike making me soo very sick!

 Poor Lauren had to have a root canal. She was amazingly good though. The dentist said she was the best dental patient EVER!

 Christmas Books.

 I couldn't resist taking this pic of James getting his hair cut. He has the cutest little face.

 Rob and Jenn's family came up and celebrated New Years with us. They brought all this food!!! It was amazing and delicious. Unfortunately this was the only picture I got of the whole time. I was beginning to feel very very sick.

 Lauren's birthday present from her primary teacher. She was so happy!

 The kid's went swimming in Brigham for Lauren's birthday. They had tons of fun.

 Lauren blowing out the candle on Natalie's birthday pie. We sent her a picture. :)

 Lauren's friend's from primary.

Family Game night.

Cookies

I know, I know. I have a lot to catch up on.
My birthday, Christmas, Lauren's b-day, New Years! Ugh!

I have been feeling so very very rotten, but Barry brought home a new laptop for me to try blogging on, so I thought I better give it a whirl.... :)

A couple days ago, Emma was just following me around EVERYWHERE begging me for a cookie. She loves cookies more than just about anything. I was trying my best to ignore her request.
As I was attempting to straighten up the kitchen, she was following my back and forth in the small space, renewing her request every 5 secs. I was beginning to lose my patiences. I knew she was very tired, and believed her to have become fixated on a silly request in her tiredness.
 Luckily, Lauren hoped off her bar stool and came right over to Emmy.

 She leaned down and sweetly patted her on the shoulder and said.

"I'm sorry Emma, but cookies are extinct."

"Do you know what that means?" ...she asked Emma in a gentle voice.

Emma just looked at her, but remained quiet.


Lauren, while sadly shaking her head, said,
"It means that there aren't any, and nobody is ever going to make anymore."

Emma's lower lip trembled, and even Lauren looked like she was going to burst into tears as she hugged Emma.

It was just such a sad moment. IF you've ever been to my house, you know we always have cookies. Cookies I made yesterday, cookies in the freezer, cookies I'm currently making. I love to make cookies! They just always seemed to make life a little bit better.

I felt so defeated. I haven't cooked anything for weeks. I have spent most days propped up on the couch with a barf bowl and my head under a pillow. The nausea and heartburn in this pregnancy has been truly overwhelming. Food has been my enemy! The kids have just been eating tortillas for most meals or maybe some granola or shredded wheat.  There has been little to no complaining about their lack of food choices and the kids have showed maturity and compassion beyond their years in this trial.  Helping me with every task, always looking for ways to help their sick Mom.

As I looked down at these sweet girls of mine comforting each other, something switched back on inside me. I could do this!

I swooped them up in my arms, gave them a hug. I told little Emma I was sorry and I would make her a cookie right now!

Lauren wide-eyed hopped off in a happy dance, I put Emma down for a nap on my bed, with her favorite blanket and Binky. She immediately laid down and closed her eyes. I went to check on her after a minute and she immediately sat up and held out her hand and asked, "Cookie?" I shook my head and said they weren't done yet, but I smiled  at her encouragingly and told her, they were coming. :)

I went back in the kitchen, told a deep breath, put a clothespin on my nose and starting making cookies.
It was a surprising balm to my soul to make those cookies. A little bit of normal back in my life. As the smell of cookies baking began to fill the house, I could hear the kids in the other room talking excitedly. As soon as the timer rang, the children all ran into the room, including sweet Emma dragging her blanket behind her, fighting off sleep. The kids all grabbed hot cookies and sat at the table. I set Emma in her high-chair and gave her some milk and the biggest cookie. She keep saying over and over again with a big grin.
"Oh thank you Mom, oh thank you!" it was obvious she meant it. The other kids chorused their own thanks.

I leaned down and gave each of them a kiss on their cheek and said.
 "No. Thank YOU children, thank YOU!"

Then I fled from the room...and returned back to the safety of my barf bowl and the couch. Though my stomach was churning, my spirits were incredible lifted. I can do this! I can do hard things! My family is the greatest blessing in my life, and I am so grateful for even the possibility of adding to my sweet little clan.





Because convincing my body to hold onto a pregnancy is always a great challenge, please, keep us in your prayers.

Thank you!