Get Outside!

We're currently in a stretch of Jordan working six days a week, which obviously isn't ideal for family life! Since we knew it was coming, we decided to use his last day off to do something a little out of the ordinary as a family. Since the weather is getting so nice and I wanted to see some proof that there are actually trees in this state, we chose to go up to the mountains above Payson for a little day trip. We always say we want to be more outdoorsy so it was fun to get outside for a while! We went to a fish hatchery up there and then found a nice spot with some hiking trails and a picnic area. We had our picnic lunch and then explored the trails, stumbling onto a little creek that was fun to play in! The water was actually really cold! The girls really loved being out in nature, especially Madison! She was all about it! She found walking sticks for each of us and collected all sorts of things along the trails - feathers, rocks, leaves and even tree bark! It was such a beautiful place and a fun way to spend the day!!

Checking out the fish

The girls made binoculars to take with us

There weren't really changing leaves but we did find one reddish tree

It was interesting to see the fish in various stages of growth at the hatchery before being released into the wild

Purple flowers

Of course Madison wanted to smell them

Cute girl!

More flower smelling

Ready for lunch! She was adamant about finding a spot on the rocks to sit instead of the picnic blanket

Our view for lunch

The girls found this tree and came up with lots of explanations for what happened to it. It was a fun guessing game

First experience with pine needles

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho It's off to the woods we go

With our walking sticks of course

Madison wasn't a fan of getting in the tree

Our creek

Beautiful!

The water was cold but the girls and I braved it anyway!

Love these cute girls!

Tired baby

So right after this, McKinley actually fell off this log. Thankfully, Madison was right below her kneeling at the creek bed so McKinley fell on top of her and Madison was able to steady herself and just got wet up to her knees. We all laughed pretty hard about it!

Now that is one sexy man!

Hooray for nature!