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!

ALASKA

Kyle and his brothers had the trip of a lifetime this summer.  Mason has a dental school friend that lives in Anchorage, and so he decided the time was right to take a fishing trip. 
After a devilish time getting there, and missing out on a half a day fishing in Anchorage, they finally made it on their charter.

 This was a big chunk of glacier they came upon, so they fished it out of the water to keep the fish cold.

Mason won the ugliest fish contest.  This is actually a pretty rare catch, a Ling Cod.  They told him he could never catch another.

Gross, but awesome.  Halibut.
After their first day of fishing they had about 100 lbs. of fish already.  It was a good day.  A really good day.

 

 

Fun with the waterproof camera!

I bought this waterproof camera at the end of last summer, after swim meets and splash pads and water balloon fights, and our trip to Lake Powell, realizing I needed a sturdier camera to keep up with my kids, and it has been the life of the party.  Here are some of the fun pictures the kids have taken:

This one is my favorite....can you see Josh under George?  He is standing on Josh's shoulders.
They loved to make totems of at least 3 kids.  Once they got 4.  This is what it looks like "under" the scenes:

             Sophie looks like she is a weightlifter....well I guess she is an underwater weightlifter!
This is what it looks like from above the water:

One more collage of some diving....