Christmas 2014

We spent Christmas at the Bowles Family Farm in Idaho, and it was magical.

 It snowed on Christmas Day. Doesn't get much more festive than that!

Grand Canyon & Flagstaff

Nora dressed up as a butterfly for the Halloween party we attended at her school. Fun!

Halloween is also Nevada Day, and a holiday with no school or work! We took advantage of the long weekend and went to the Grand Canyon and to Flagstaff to visit my friend Wendy.

It was a four-hour drive in the car

It felt great to get out of the car and walk around!

The weather was beautiful, and the Canyon is really Grand.

We had dinner (and dessert) at the Bright Angel Lodge on Halloween night.

Nora enjoyed breakfast the next morning at our hotel in her pumpkin PJs.

We rented bikes and biked along the Rim Trail for an hour or so. It was a bit cloudy and chilly, but still beautiful.

We saw an elk close up.

Nora got very cozy with this mountain lion.

We hiked Red Mountain, between the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, with Wendy and Lian.

Then we saw snow fall in Flagstaff! 

Three days, three hikes, two national parks and one national monument

We took advantage of the opportunity provided by Labor Day weekend to get out of the heat of Las Vegas and visit some amazing places in Southern Utah. Our first stop was meeting Grandma & Grandpa Brough in St. George for lunch. Nora loves them so much, and calls them both "Buff" (that's how she says Brough).

Then we continued to Cedar Breaks National Monument and took a 2-mile hike around the rim. It was windy and 64 degrees, compared to 104 in Las Vegas that day.

Nora absolutely loves riding in the backpack. She talks non-stop to her daddy as they go.  

We stayed two nights in a ski lodge in Brian Head, which is not far from Cedar Breaks, and about a 90-minute drive from Bryce Canyon. The lodge was great, and had an indoor swimming pool that Nora is still talking about.

We spent most of Sunday at Bryce Canyon National Park. It's characterized by red rock and hoodoos, tall skinny spires of rock. We hiked about 5 miles around the rim of the canyon.

Giving Daddy a hug.

At Sunset Point

Nora looks pretty tired, but Mike is the one who should be tired after carrying around this 26-pound toddler all day. (I had the comparatively easy job of carrying our water, lunch, sunscreen, and camera.)

On Monday we left Brian Head and drove to Kolob Canyon, a branch of Zion National Park that's between Cedar City and St. George. We hiked a couple of miles and it was just a gorgeous day.

There are several more national parks in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California that are all fairly close by. We're planning our next long weekend already. Will it be the Grand Canyon? Yosemite? Or Death Valley? So many options.

Lake Chatcolet with the Bowles Family

Last week we met my parents and my brother Justin's family at Lake Chatcolet in Heyburn State Park for a family reunion. We spent three days biking and canoeing there.

These cute cousins had such a good time hanging out. Nora is still talking about Clancy!

They rode for 13 miles down a bumpy road in this little trailer, through some very dark tunnels.

Nora threw a lot of rocks into that lake.

Hank the Water Dog enjoyed some canoe rides. 

Thanks to Annie for most of these great photos!

The view from the cabin porch. 

The cabin porch was one of the best parts of the weekend. A perfect place for chilling out, chatting, and reading.

We celebrated Mike's birthday with vegan cupcakes from Boots Bakery in Spokane. They were fantastic -- just ask Nora!

After breaking camp at the cabin, Mike and Nora and I went to Moscow to see where Justin and Annie and Clancy live. We loved seeing their cute house and got a tour of the University of Idaho campus. The "gargoyles" on the gym above are football players in old-fashioned leather helmets.

Rose bushes at the Arboretum 

It was great to see everybody and to visit a new and beautiful place.