Hiking!

So, as you may know, I love to go on trail runs! And, Eagle Mountain has some of the best trails I've run. There is one trail (hill) that I had wanted to run for years, and then a good friend of mine, told me that she ran it, and loved it! So, I went for a run up the road that it was on, and decided to try it! Now, it is my favorite thing to run, and I try to do it every week. It is about a mile up, and it has awesome, yet very deceiving switchbacks. Once you get to the top, you are awestruck by the view!
Now that you have some background on the trail, I will get on with my blog....
This week, Adam has been in Cedar City for the SUU girl's soccer camp, and I was determined to keep the kids as active and busy as possible, so that they would have a fun week, but also so that they would crash at night :). So, I decided to take them on a hike up the hill, on Tuesday. Here are the pics...

In the car, all ready to go....(This was before I bucked them :) )

I wanted to take a picture at the start, but Azure was ready to get on with it!...

Right off the bat, we spotted an ant hill, and had to stop and take a look. Of course, they all wanted to "stomp it." This gave me a good chance to talk about ants, and what hard workers they are, etc., etc.....needless to say, it did not get "stomped."

Then, we heard a helicopter, and had to watch it pass over us....one of the perks of living close to an army base :)


Up, we go....(Now Azure is mesmerized by all the cool rocks)

Speaking of rocks...check out the cool moss!

The kids loved to turn around to see how "small" the van was getting!

They just saw a lizard!

Ace was such a good little helper! He was so good with her, that she kept on asking for him, and wouldn't let me hold her. She walked a lot of the way! Bot bad for a 20 month old!


They all wanted to hold hands up the steep parts...


We found flowers....check out Aussie in the background (he was mad that he didn't find it first)

The race to the top!

Again, Aussie was complaining....he must be 3, or something....:).....In all honesty, he walked the entire way, and was really pretty good!

At the very top!

Check out those AWESOME trails! A runner's dream!

The view of Eagle Mountain City Center...


The descent. They all found walking sticks!

Back to the van! They loved it so much, that every morning following, they asked to go to the hike again!

So.....Today, my mom and brother, Kett, came up to visit. Here is my mom with Azure...

Kett being a great helper!

Aspen sprinting to, what SHE thought was the top....only to find that we had a ways to go...

Finding more walking sticks....Aspen was very difficult to please when it came to the walking sticks. She threw many of them off to the side, because she wanted the "perfect one." My mom was very patient with her. It was very nice to have her there...

All along the way, my mom would name all of the plants along the way. I wish I could tell you the name of this flower....it was very pretty, though...



Aussie had difficulty on the way up, but was loving the downhill! He was in first place (for the first part of the descent, anyway)....

Azure stopping to look at the rocks some more...


My mom was such a good citizen, in that she collected garbage along the way!....


It was such a fun time, and I can't wait to take the kids on it, again!...