Arches, Canyons, and Goblins

 Canyonlands National Park

We decided to go on a road trip for Memorial Day weekend, so after the air show, we skedaddled our way out of town down to Moab.  Wow.  I just blew up the above picture and realized in a rare occurrence, we are all smiling and looking at the camera!  For six people, this is a feat and a half.

Another thing we discovered on this trip is how lovely it is to travel without diapers now that our last one is potty trained and no more bulky porta-crib either with Megan now sleeping in a bed.  It is truly a joyous thing to be moving onto this next stage in life.  Several times we noticed how our clan was more manageable and enjoyable on this trip without a baby in tow and the girls getting older and better-behaved in public places.  (you notice I didn't say always well-behaved)

We fell in love with Arches, and hiked throughout the national park most of the day.  The three older girls even received Junior Ranger badges after completing various tasks and answering the ranger's probing questions.  

 John and the older girls were more adventurous than Megan and I, climbing up to high perches and making my mommy meter/freakout mode go into overdrive. 

While they climbed, Megan and I enjoyed some quality togetherness time.

Er, I enjoyed.  She begged to join her siblings.  

 The double arches were really cool, to say the least.  

 Sadly, we didn't get to hike up to the actual delicate arch.  It is a rather strenuous hike we didn't think our two and four-year-old could muster up, so we settled for the drive up, park, and take a picture with a really long zoom spot. 

 We got to see this really cool football-long arch that is slowly loosing pieces. 

 

 ...and yet another arch, this time in Canyonlands, where the girls also completed another Junior Ranger program.

 We took our bikes down and enjoyed several bike rides, including this trail that took us to the local park featuring a smorgasboard of musical toys.  

 And lastly, we traveled over to Goblin Valley, which we learned is REALLY out in the middle of nowhere, but VERY cool and well worth the time, even if we did miss the little brown turn-off sign without realizing it until 20 miles later.  

 All in all, a fun trip indeed.

Oops. Forgot the earplugs.

 We went to the air show up at Hill Air Force Base on Saturday, and being the great mother I am,  forgot to grab earplugs for all of us.  Let it be known that the jets up close are really amazingly loud.

So, here is the picture I was trying to get when a couple jets overhead so rudely interrupted our photo session.     

 We checked out a bunch of airplanes until the Thunderbird show began. 

 Yup, I did just take a fascinating picture of the planes all lined up.  What you can't tell from this picture is that they are announcing all of the pilots standing next to each plane, and then the planes as they roar to life.  Again, very loud, and another awesome mommy moment for not remembering to grab those helpful earplugs. 

 Given that John works on base now, he was asked (or perhaps John requested - or perhaps both) to do a booth featuring his falcon.  It was a huge hit amongst the crowd.  

During the air show, he brought the bird with him just sitting on his arm.  It was pretty funny watching the reactions of people as they would walk by and then suddenly realize they were standing face to beak with a real-life bird of prey.  

Pictures just really do not do these guys justice.  

Let it be known that all of the times we've seen them perform from our house thinking it was a cool show does NOT - and I really mean does not compare to actually seeing them up close as they fly directly overhead with amazing fierceness and yes, incredible amounts of loudness.

Eclipse

 As most of you all probably did Sunday evening, we checked out the solar eclipse. We were a little too late buying the special viewing glasses from the planetarium (sold out), so we went up to Weber State's planetarium to see it through their telescope. 

 

Okay, so this wasn't exactly what we saw, as this is one of my friend's pictures who took it down in Cedar City, where you got a better view of the whole eclipse, but we had just as much fun.  

 

 We had to wait in a bit of a line, but it was worth it.  Besides, several people let us borrow their viewing glasses while we waited for the telescope.  

I just had to share this picture when I saw someone post it today.

This is why I live in Utah, not Seattle :)

  

I'm a Big Kid Now

Our youngest has finally mastered the potty.  We are finally diaper free - forever!!!  

~~~~Happy Dance~~~~

A Dream Becomes a Reality

So, I know it's been awhile, but do ya'll remember this post?  Feel free to NOT read it all the way through - just refresh your memory of something I committed to three years ago.  But, if you are going to read it, the first and last parts are the most important - especially where it says the odds of ever getting printed in a magazine are about 10 to 15 percent.

I have been determined to get published in a magazine, and have sent numerous ideas out to magazines these last several years. 

Drum roll please...

I sent an idea in nearly a year ago to The New Era, the LDS's church magazine for youth, circulation 230,000 worldwide (or at least it was in 2009 according to my writer's manual).  The only thing I heard back was a nice little, 'our editors will be reviewing your submission.'  Well, that was a lot better than all of the rejection emails I had gotten earlier from other magazines.  I was very hopeful for this story, but as it had been nearly a year, I had pretty much given up on it.

I didn't give up hope though, and sent in another article to them last month with another nice, 'our editors will be reviewing your submission' reply.  My first thoughts were, great, this is the one magazine that doesn't want to hurt writer's feelings with a rejection, so they just say they will review it, then your story gets lost in magazineville with all of the other submission entries. 

Against the odds, I received in the mail today, a very official contract from the The New Era asking for my permission to have my article printed in their magazine!!  I could hardly believe my eyes - even now, I am shaking with excitement and almost disbelief!  Something I have dreamed about for years has finally become a reality. 

It didn't come easily though.  Like I said, I have received numerous rejections, only to keep resubmitting other ideas to other magazines. 

As I mentioned in my post three years ago, Randy Pausch, who wrote The Last Lecture, said something about how when walls are put up, it is to see how badly you want something, and if you want it that badly, you figure out a way around the walls.  

I am here to attest that I had nearly given up, but I can now say, it is possible to achieve your dreams, even if they seem too hard to reach. 


Alas, it may take months, even up to a year before my article is printed according to their contract letter - and by all means, it is not a very long article, but it is enough to get me in the door, and maybe against all odds, the recent article I sent in that is a little lengthier that received the nice little reply will get a contract by this time next year.  One can only hope.  And if it doesn't, on to the next magazine. 

Bummal Support

John bought me a bike for my birthday.  I had been riding the same bike my parents bought for me back in college, before John and I got married.  Yes, that would have been 15 years ago.  So, it was due time for a new set of wheels, one with this...

Check out that mammoth butt seat!  I am not kidding you when I say it is the most cushiony bike seat I have ever ridden on.  No more squished bum cheeks for me.  Or sore buttockals.  My bum was a very happy camper after its last two bike rides this past week.  I think I even overheard it say it's reached bum-heaven status.

On a thank-you note, thanks for visiting our little bloggie.  It's had over 8,000 views in the last 3 years I have been doing this.  That's over 200 views per month.  Nearly 60 per week.  Okay, 8 per day.  That's more like it.  Probably from all of my visits to my blog every day so I can blog stock all of your blogs.