Zion National Park

We started off our Memorial weekend yesterday by heading up to Zion National Park. This was the first time going there for all of us, except Josh. We were all so excited.

We decided to drive up the Zion-Mount Carmel Hwy first. We did take a few stops along the way to check out the beautiful scenery...


This is what Jaedyn decided to do during the drive...


Here's Jaron with his grandpa John who came along with us...


My boys...


It was a little chilly when we first got up there and the boys didn't bother bringing their jackets, so they were slightly cold for part of the day...




Jaron and Jantzen got in a little bit of hiking and playing before we headed farther up the highway...


Jaedyn finally woke up and this is how happy she was about it...


We stopped at the "Checkerboard Mesa" (the mountain in the background). It's called that because there's grooves in the mountain that look like a big checker board. The boys thought it was pretty cool, Jaedyn cried because she wanted me to hold her.


My boys are so goofy!


Me and Josh...it took a few shots to get a good smile out of him.


For the rest of the ride up the highway, we let Jaedyn sit in the back seat with the boys...she loved it! I thought it was cute how they were all holding hands...


Then, every corner we went on they all acted like they were being squished...and they all giggled the whole time. I love it when my kids all get along like this!


After we headed back down the highway, we went through the Mount Carmel Tunnel, which is a mile long, and the kids loved every minute driving through it.

Here's the kids with "The Great Arch" behind them. On top of it is the "Canyon Overlook Trail", but we didn't stop to hike it, I'm deathly afraid of heights!


We got all the way back down the highway and decided to take the shuttle bus up the "Zion Canyon Scenic Drive". Along the way we saw several deer, a wild turkey, and a huge bird with long blue wings (I still haven't been able to figure out what kind of bird it was). We rode the shuttle all the way up to the "Temple of Sinawava" where the "Narrows" are located. We got out and went for a hike on the "Riverside Walk" up to see the "Narrows"...


We met some new friends along the way...


It was such a beautiful walk...




The kids with their grandpa John...


Jaedyn wanted to check out the river below, so I made Josh take her out on the rock ledge because, again, I'm deathly afraid of heights...




We finally made it up to the "Narrows"...






There were a lot of people getting in the water, but it was a little too cold for that, so my kids just played instead. They had a blast throwing rocks in the river, trying to see who could get a rock all the way across it.


Jaedyn got so excited every time she threw a rock in the water, she'd jump up and down and yell, "wahoo!"...it was really cute.


Jantzen found this rock ad loved it because he said it looked like an egg...


After the kids played for a little while, we headed back down the trail. Along the way I took some more pictures of the beautiful scenery with my kids, of course...

Here's Jaron with his walking stick he found...


...and Jaedyn with some more of her furry little friends...




I got a close up of one of the squirrels, they were very friendly. Jaron loves this picture...


Jaedyn got some snuggle/giggle time in with her daddy...




...and one last picture of my monkeys...


These are some of the pictures I got of some scenery throughout our walk through Zion. I think it's so beautiful up here...


When we were leaving, my kids were already talking about the next time we come up here. I'm so glad we decided to come up, it was such a nice day!