Bryce Canyon Half plus a little.....

Our annual trip to Bryce had a few added bonuses this year.
 The first was the color fun run for the family the night before the half marathon.
Matty was going to stay back with Aunt Penny, but once she saw the fun she just couldn't wait to run. She said "I promise I run reerry fast mom!" She did run fast for about 25 yards.  The rest of the mile was pretty slow going!  It was a lot of fun though.

BEFORE....

 After we were given bags of chalk, but before the race even started:

 

 AFTER!

The race was fun,  dinner was good, and then we sat at the park and made bets on which kid would fall off, or get sick, on the circle of death.....the only one still in existence:

 I love the green kid behind Sophie! 

 Oh man, you assume it is chalk but then the look on his face makes you think, 

 he really is about to throw up!

 

The race the next morning was great, especially since I got to roll out of my hotel a few blocks away and come and watch the end!

             After our super fast Aunt Mandy passed we had some time to wait for our dads!

There's our dad!

 Always the post race rundown....

  It was a beautiful  morning.

We took Beckstrands on a little hike to the waterfall and cave and hiked around the canyon, playing with the squirrels and fate....but no one fell down the canyon, we were blessed again.

I made some super healthy muffins and the squirrels loved them :)

I stood in the river below for this awesome picture!

Had to explore the hole in the rock....nothing there but a bunch of kids.

They learn to photobomb so young these days!

We can't forget our favorite souvenir shops!

Our last stop on this trip was one we usually do on the way to Bryce,

Mystic Rivers fishing hole.  We didn't really want to fish, but I am such a lousy driver, I was falling asleep about the time we were passing and the kids wanted to see their pet parrot.

The parrot was not there, and the ponds had been flooded out the week before.  The floods had even broken their ice machine so we couldn't even get a snow cone.  We felt really bad for the owners, but the kids still had the most amazing experience, the chance of a lifetime really....

The owner had rescued a baby owl about a month before and he let us hold it.

George has loved owls for years and years, and the rest of us have become fans over time so this was very exciting for all of us.

So amazing, and so beautiful it was definitely the cherry on top of a great roadtrip sundae!