Summer camping

Nothing like doing a little camping over Memorial weekend. Each year Aimee's family decides a nice warm place to go camping, and we all pack up for a little fun. (Going to a warm location is memorial weekend rule number one. In a previous year her family decided to camp in the Unitas and it snowed all weekend). So we decided that we would head down to Goblin Valley, since I had never been there before.













Mollee had a lot of fun playing in the dirt since it was a little to windy to really get the hang of playing badminton.

Maybe it was a little too much for her to handle. She was pretty wasted just after a few minutes of diving for the birdie.

So we decided to do something a little easier

"Hey Mollee....let's go on an 8 mile hike through some really challenging canyons in the hot sun"....

She was totally excited to go.

So we got in the truck and drove a few miles to Wild Horse Canyon for a day of hiking.

At first the canyon started wide and flat but after a mile or so it got pretty narrow.

No problem. Its just an easy slot canyon.





Well it got even narrower and steeper. At one point we had to climb up a 20 foot cliff, so I had to take off my pack with Logan in it and climb up part way and hand him up to some hikers up on top so I could make it up the rest of the way.







































After about 4 miles of hiking we made it out of Wild Horse Canyon and continued the loop back down through Bell Canyon which is mostly downhill and certainly not as narrow.

After the hike, we went back to the camp to rest that night before setting off the next day to go play with the Goblins at Goblin Valley State Park.






It was fun to watch Mollee run through the Goblins and have a great time.

We got a lot of sun and had a blast!!

Too bad it had to end

Dental Woes

A few weeks ago Jon, Mollee, and I went to the dentist. I have been going to the same dentist since I was Mollee's age so I was excited to show Mollee how much fun the dentist's office is and squash any horrible lies that she has heard about dentist's being scary.

When we got there, I willingly volunteered to get my cleaning done first to show Mollee how much fun it was (Jon is scared of the dentist so I also had to show him that the dentist's office can be fun!) The hygenist ("Grandma" Barb) cleaned my teeth and then gave me the bad news, the x-ray showed that I had my first cavity!! What????? I've never had a cavity. I asked her if she was sure and she grabbed the dentist to take a peek; yep, a cavity and a half! No, I wanted to scream, but I couldn't because I was being brave for Miss Mollee.

Next, Mollee was up . . . the bad news . . . she had a cavity too!! Finally, it was Jon's turn. He came out of the room with a grimace. No, it wasn't a cavity . . . he had to have a bad crown replaced. So, we all made returning appointments.

I was worried about Mollee and didn't think that I could stomach first watching Mollee have her first cavity filled and then having to have mine done right after that so I told Jon that he was going to have to be the moral support rather than me since he is a cavity expert. He volunteered to go back first so that he would be done before Mollee had to go back to get her cavity filled, but he didn't return before Mollee had to go back so I had to be the brave supporter. We passed Jon with his mouth full of purple gunk and he did not look like a happy camper.

The dentist was so cool. He told Mollee to open wide like and alligator so that Mr. Whistle (the drill) could clean out the cavity bug. Mollee was such a trouper and they didn't even give her novacaine. It only took 15 minutes before it was my turn. Mollee ran off to eat fruit snacks and I thought, no problem, Mollee was a trooper so I can be too.

Then the dentist began to pull out tools that didn't look like Mr. Whistle. Then, he was jiggling my mouth and soon pulled out a shot!!! What??? All kinds of crap went into my mouth that I know didn't go into Mollee's and I wanted to cry. I was wringing my hands so hard that they were white, but I refused to be upstaged by my 3 year old. Finally the dentist ended and we all got to go home. Jon and I had numbed frowns and Mollee was happily downing a glass of chocolate milk. Go figure!!