Southern Utah

Southern Utah is an area I've always wanted to explore because I've heard of the different National Parks and how beautiful they are. But I have lived in either Utah or Las Vegas for 14 years now and have never taken advantage of my close proximity until last weekend,which was our last opportunity to do something as a family before school starts. Matt heard of a specific area that is beautiful and fun to visit, so we decided to take a little mini-trip and see what we could discover. We were set on camping but were a little concerned because the low temperature for the area was going to be 37 degrees! But we decided it was either now or never and made arrangments to leave. Then right before we left, Matt was talking to a friend of ours and when he told him where we were going, the friend replied, "I have a cabin there - you should stay in our cabin!" How could we pass that up? The kids were a little disappointed that we wouldn't be sleeping in tents, but it didn't last long once we told them how cold it was going to be! We had such a fun and much-needed family trip! And here are the pics to prove it........

There was a stream right behind the cabin where the kids spent a little time scaring all the fish away. While the kids were there, we only saw one fish, but when Matt and I snuch back the next day, there were tons of them!

Jaxon thought he'd help out by catching a fish with his net!

Awww, Matt was such a patient teacher!

Even Duke was totally into it, although I'm sure he gave all the fish a heads-up before we even got there!

This is at a Cedar Breaks overlook with Jaxon's attempt at smiling at the camera.

A better view of Cedar Breaks; we were amazed at how far into the distance we could see!

We rented a little fishing boat at Navajo Lake and spent four hours catching a lot of lake grass. For future reference, the lake is NOT a great fishing spot! But it was beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun trying!

Cole was such a trooper and never gave up!

Tori and Cole at an overlook near the Cascade Falls trail head. Just miles and miles of beautiful forest.

There was a firepit in the backyard so we were able to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows - the kids still got a little taste of camping.

Family photo op at Bryce Canyon. We didn't get to spend too much time there but what we did see was gorgeous! Matt and I decided to go back in the future when the kids are older and we are more prepared for hiking.

Bryce Canyon - WOW!!!

Bryce Canyon again - more WOWs!!!!

And Tori steals the show! Who can pay attention to the scenery when there's such a cute little girl to look at?