Capitol Reef

Two weeks ago the boys had a few days off from school, so we met Nephi's sister Martha and her family at Capitol Reef to enjoy a few days camping in the perfect fall weather. Capitol Reef is one of the secret National Parks in Utah. If it were located in many other locations like oh, say, anywhere east of the Mississippi, it would be famous because it is so beautiful, but it just sort of fades into the background in Utah. It looks like this in the early morning:

and the trees and sky looked like this when we were there:

It was so lovely.

We had a great camping spot right next to a little stream that kept all the kids busy for hours. I brought no towels or swimming stuff, but no one seemed to mind.

Joseph, Keturah and Alaina had a project cryptically named "KAJM Spot" that filled a good part of three days. It involved eroding the stream bank and making an island. This is the sort of thing that makes Joseph's heart truly happy - a big, earth-moving project and equally enthusiastic friends to work on it with.

We took some nice kid-friendly hikes. Someone found a little water hole for the kids to swim in on the first day, and the kids caught lizards and climbed on rocks and played indians and really had a grand time.

We also had lots of campfires and marshmallows, and one night some people took a night hike and saw a rattlesnake! Not everything was perfect - I, being nearly six months pregnant (oh yeah, forgot to mention that yet on here... post coming), slept terribly the first night and was just a weeee bit edgy on day two. But happily, by that night I was so worn out I actually slept a little bit. Otherwise... yes, things were about perfect. Ahhh, southern Utah. If you haven't been there, you really can't imagine how beautiful and incredible it is.