Do You Have a Date With a Vampire This Weekend?

Everybody I've talked to today has mentioned the upcoming release of Breaking Dawn. If you live in Antartica and don't know what this is, it's the 4th and final novel in Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Go here to learn more about it.

Oddly enough, I have a more important "date" with my family that morning at Saguaro Lake. I will not be up late Friday to purchase the book at midnight (wouldn't do it even if I could)... and won't get to start reading till Saturday afternoon. It's going to be tough, but I know I can do it!

So, if you see me at all this weekend, and you know the outcome of the much anticipated book, please KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! I'm not going to be blogging, emailing or talking on the phone until I get to read the book for myself! I don't want anyone to spoil the ending for me! So, if I appear to be uninterested in chatting or come off down right rude, please don't be offended... I'm just anxious to get back to my book!

Book Worm

I love to read. I've always loved to read, but I haven't always made the time. I think in High School I got burned out reading because I never seemed to enjoy the books we had to read for English Class. I also don't enjoy having to pick a book apart for an assignment... I enjoy reading just for the pleasure of it. Sometimes I find myself picking books apart and analyzing them, but I don't like being assigned to do it. When I got married, I didn't read much. I was working full time and trying to "be a good wife" in the evenings, which didn't include hibernating in another room with a novel. Besides, I just didn't know what kind of good books were out there. That's when I started reading the "Work and the Glory" series, but I started when there were just 2 or 3, so I had to wait a year for the next one to come out so I could get my "Steed" fix. Then I had kids and who has time to read with a full time job and a toddler?

It wasn't until I had Ian that I really jumped back into the "reading" world head on. About the same time he was born the 4th Harry Potter book was released. I'd never heard of them, but my mom saw a special about the books on the Today show and decided to buy them at Costco. She figured they would be good books to have around for the grandkids when they got a bit older. She decided to read the first one, just to see what they were like. It was all over after that. She read all 4 back to back and then brought her set to me. I had a newborn, so lots of time to read, right? I was skeptical, but read all four in just a couple weeks. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading a good book (or books in this case!) I'm amazed no one ever snapped a picture of me sitting in my rocking chair, holding Ian with a bottle and balancing a HP book all at the same time. I became quite good at it!

A little while later, a friend of mine started a "book club" in our ward. I was a total skeptic again. Reading books so you can discuss and analzye them? Totally made me think of High School all over again! Yuck... so I convienently avoided it for a long time. But, I had a great friend, Lisa, who would lend me her copy of the Book Club book after she was done with it, and say, "Christy, you have to read this... it's an amazing book." So, I would.... reluctantly, but I always enjoyed the books she passed on. Finally, I decided to attend Book Club. It had been a crazy month (Eric was in the thick of his MBA program) and I desperately needed a night away. So, I went.... LOVED it... had a GREAT time... made some NEW friends.... and have been a Book Club Enthusiast ever since!

I decided I wanted to post a list of some of my favorite Book Club books - and these are ones that I would have NEVER picked up and read on my own. Obvious Favorites (like HP and Twilight will not be on this list....):

• It's Not About the Bike (memoir by Lance Armstrong)


• Letters of a Nation


• The Hiding Place


• The Eyre Affair (and all sequels)


• Three Weeks with my Brother


• The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency (series)


• Once Upon a Town


• These is my Words


• The Mitford Series


• The Giver (and sequels)


• Slave


• Rebecca

I've also become quite a fan of Young Adult Fiction. It's generally cleaner and tamer and shorter. I've read quite a bit of it trying to find good books for my kids to read in school. Here's some of my favorites in the YA category:

• Twilight series


• Harry Potter series


• Artemis Fowl series (newest one just got released and I'm chomping at the bit waiting for Taylor to finish it so I can read it....)


• The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)


• Ella Enchanted


• Anything written by Eoin Colfer (author of Artemis Fowl)


• Anything written by Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted)


• Anything written by Shannon Hale (author of the Princess Academy)


• Stargirl


• The Chronicles of Narnia


• Fablehaven

I just discovered this blog and can't wait to explore it more along with all it's great "book" links... hey, this girl is LDS and likes Stephenie Meyer, so she must be a kindred spirit.....

So since most of us still have several weeks of HOT weather left to endure... head to the library, pick up a book or two and just enjoy some good quality time indoors!

What are your favorite books???

Leave a comment and share!

First Day of Freedeom

OOPS...

I mean First Day of School! Everyone was a bit nervous, but all in all it went well. All buses were on time and it was too hot, either. (Only 101 yesterday and not very humid.....) Megan was the most excited to go back. She likes school. Ian was the least excited to go back... he's not in love with school in general (except for recess and PE).

After they left, I had the big challenge on my hands... keeping Brayden entertained while they were all away. He wanted to go with them... he even got dressed, put on his backpack and made me get him a sign to hold up for his picture... check it out.... thank goodness preschool starts Aug 12... not soon enough, though...

The truth is always told when they come home. So this is how it went yesterday when Megan and Ian walked in the door:

Me: Hey guys, how was the first day?

Ian: Awesome! It was so fun, it felt like it was only 3 minutes long!

Me: How about your day, Meg?

Meg: It wasn't that great. (insert exasperation here....) Our teacher likes everything to be perfect and she made us practice lining up 11 times because we weren't making the lines perfect! And, I have HOMEWORK on the first day of school!

Hmmm... I'm hoping that as a new teacher to our school she just felt the need to be a tyrant for a day or two so the kids will dish her out some respect. We'll see how things develop over the next couple weeks. One hour later, Taylor comes home....

Me: Taylor... (calling downstairs) how was the first day?

Taylor: (pleasantly suprised tone in his voice) GOOD! :) Remember Travis from 5th grade who changed schools? He's back now and he bought me a slice of pizza today since I forgot to pack my lunch. (oops....)

Two hours later I'm still doing "my homework" - fillling out all those darn emergency cards, and volunteer forms, etc.... then after FHE I took Meg and Taylor to the store to buy the last of their supplies... big mistake... everything was completely picked over and we had to go to two different stores to get everything we needed. Oh well... it's still my most favorite day of the year!!! :)

Peppersauce Caves

There are things about Arizona that still mystify me... I guess us Native Californians just expect the whole country to be run the same way CA is... Arizona is so different in that way. They like to be rebels here and I'm really learning to love that about AZ!

In CA, if you had a natural cave like this one, you would close it down, rope it off and not let anyone touch it or hike through it until the forest rangers had charged you $20 and then created a 12 inch wide path for you to walk on.... making sure you didn't touch one inch of the interior. In Arizona, they seem to be all about getting in "touch" with Nature... down and dirty style. So after driving over 100 miles, they pulled off to the side of the road and went caving... and they got DIRTY! I think they brought home half the cave with them. Here's the group in the BEFORE picture:

Here's the group AFTER:Hanging out inside the caves:

Someday I'll tell you about "dispersed" camping... another odd (but interesting) thing about Arizona!

Eight Things

So I had big plans for today - get up, listen to an audio book (Eclipse) and clean my house. Eric and the three older kids were supposed to be off on a caving adventure with the YM and YW of our ward. They were leaving at 6:00 a.m. so I had big plans to be VERY productive while I let Brayden become comotose in front of the TV....

Six hours later, still nothing noteworthy has been accomplished. Ian decided to stay home (he was afraid of going in the caves) and Brayden has been a "piece of work" today. That's all I'm going to say, but he's in his room right now having a meltdown because I can't seem to find the "perfect" underwear that he wants (which I don't even know because I can't understand him when he's crying....)

So, I've been blog reading and just generally goofing around and wasting time. Here's a fun "tag" I wanted to do, but I'm not tagging anyone else... just enjoy and copy if you want to!

8 Things I am Passionate About:

1. reading

2. spending time outdoors (swimming, hiking, boating, etc.)

3. supporting good public schools

4. teaching my kids how to work and be responsible

5. Having a positive attitude

6. scrapbooking, preserving memories

7. making time for "quality" family time

8. getting enough sleep (when I'm sleep deprived, nobody's happy)



8 Books I have Read (in the last six months):

1. Deception Point by Dan Brown

2. Slave by Mende Nazer

3. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

4. Empire by Orson Scott Card

5. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

6. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

7. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

8. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan



8 Things I Say:

1. The world does NOT revolve around YOU!

2. Part of being in a family means working together

3. I love you, I love you, I LOVE YOU!! (sung in a goofy voice similar to Buddy's voice in Elf)

4. You are my favorite 8 year old, or 3 year old, or 11 year old... and so on....

5. Everyone in this family has chores to do, even Dad!

6. Did you remember to brush your teeth? (I have to say this a lot....)

7. Turn off the TV!

8. Where are your shoes????



8 Things that annoy me:

1. being late

2. agressive driving

3. teenage attitude

4. hot AZ summer nights

5. sweating profusely

6. people who have the "glass half empty" attitude

7. cooking dinner for picky eaters

8. my kids thinking they are "entitled" to everything



8 Things I Look Foward To:

1. all four kids being in school

2. the day when I no longer have a "leadership" calling at church

3. hiking, biking, or other outdoor activities with the family (no strollers, carrying toddlers, etc.)

4. the day when I finally break down and hire a cleaning service

5. the end of summer heat

6. our next trip home to visit the family

7. going on summer road trips with the kids

8. our next trip to Maui



8 Things I want to do before I die:

1. get over my fear of flying, so I can

2. travel the world with Eric

3. go on a church history road trip across the US

4. finish a full sized triathlon

5. go on a mission with Eric

6. take my grandkids to Disneyland

7. read the unabridged version of Les Miserables and visit Paris

8. become a really great photographer



8 Things I have learned:

1. laughter is the best medicine

2. worrying gets you no where fast

3. men have mood swings too

4. being nasty to someone who deserves it never makes me feel better

5. I can learn how to do just about anything if I make my mind up to do it

6. Some jobs are better left to the professionals

7. Freedom is never free

8. Fear is the opposite of Love

Eight is Great

Do you ever feel like it's a never ending birthday celebration for your kids? That's what this birthday has been like for Ian. Monday was the official day, but we had his "friend" party today and we'll celebrate again in August when he gets baptized and all the family is here.

Monday morning he was up bright and early to open gifts before Eric went to work. We don't waste any time around here - that's how we roll....

Every birthday we go out to eat and Ian chose McDonalds. Ugh... but we sucked it up and went anyway. At least it was cheap! Turns out he wanted a transformers toy in his happy meal and that's the whole reason he chose it. Whatever....

Wednesday was his first day of Cub Scouts.... here he is all ready to go to his first Den Meeting... which was a field trip to the Bowling Alley!

Yesterday was spent preparing for today - his big party with the friends! We had an "Olympic" style pool/water party. We played games in the pool and on the tramp with the water and had a great time. It was brutally hot, though and the party began at 9:00 a.m.! Who swims at 9:00 a.m.???? Arizonans do!

Fun activities this morning included:

watermelon relay races....

sponge tag....

and the alligator rodeo.

We had pizza, cheese balls, watermelon and powerade....

opened presents....

and had mini cupcakes with ice cream that melted way tooo fast!

This is as creative as I get when it comes to cake decorating... mini cupcakes with colored sprinkles arranged in the shape of the olympic flag... easy and cheap... and most of the kids were very happy to get more than one cupcake!

This was Ian's reaction after he successfully blew out all candles on one try.... comical!

Whew... this afternoon I can relax and breath a sigh of relief... thank goodness this birthday is over... part two will come in a few weeks.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday! I just realized he's turning 59... I didn't realize he was that old until just now... I guess that speaks volumes for his "mental age"! It's like he's subtracting years since he retired almost 3 years ago.

My dad was born on Pioneer Day. For the non-LDS crowd, it's the day we celebrate the Mormon Pioneers arriving in Utah and Brigham Young saying the famous words, "This is the Right Place". It has great significance to us since our ancestors were persecuted and driven from place to place until they finally fled to Utah. In Utah this day is a state holiday. In Salt Lake City they have a big parade. It's huge! My dad spent his younger years in Holiday, a SLC suburb living down the street from about a dozen cousins. Every year they would go to the pararde, then go back to someone's house for a giant birthday party and BBQ/picnic. For many years, my dad thought the parade was for his birthday! Isn't that cute!?!

Happy Birthday DAD! Wish we could be home celebrating with you right now! Don't let mom slack on making that Chocolate Cake for you today! And don't let her make the "low fat" version, either... you deserve every delicious calorie. And feel free to eat some chinese food for me... broccoli beef sounds nice! We love you!

5 Days and Counting...

... until school starts. Up until this week, we've been doing pretty well together. But this week has been hard. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard someone yelling, "stop bossing me around" or "you can't tell me what to do" or "mom said it's my turn"... you get the idea. I haven't felt 100% this week either. Monday and Tuesday I was a walking bomb. I could feel the tension just bubbling under the surface and it didn't take much to get me upset. I'm trying really hard to be patient, but if I didn't have just 5 days left until sanity returns, I don't think I would make it! Any tips on how to get through the last week of summer vacation???

Happy Birthday Ian

Today is Ian's 8th Birthday. When I think back about his birth, I actually smile. His was the best of all four! My water broke at home in the middle of the night, got to the hospital in time to have an epidural and he was born 2 hours later. It just doesn't get any better than that, even though I had the most anxiety leading up to his birth. (After Megan's delivery, I was worried about another surprise "breech" or about having him on the highway trying to get to our hospital which was 25 miles away and required travelling through a heavy traffic corridor.) In the end, it all worked out perfectly and we had our Ian who was 7 pounds 8 ounces. I remember the anestiesieologist who gave me the epidural. She was the best! When she came back to check on me, I was crying for joy... this was the first (and only) birth where I truly had NO PAIN. So, thank you Ian for that gift to me!

Ian on his "birth" day...

2001

2002

2003

2004 (I LOVE this picture of him! )

2005 Ian with Uncle Jon

2006 on the beach in Maui
2007 Celebrating his birthday on the beach in Puerto Penasco, Mexico (aka Rocky Point) with Grandpa

2008 Celebration photos to be posted soon! Stay Tuned!

Home Theatre

I have never had a child so obsessed with "make believe" games as Brayden seems to be. He is never Brayden. He is always something else. Mostly "Leo" from TMNT, but here's a list of other characters (or animals) he often pretends to be:
Leo (TMNT)
Power Ranger (always the blue one)
Vern (the turtle from Over the Hedge)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)
Ham (Space Chimps... got this solely from a movie preview)
Wall-E
Dexter (Night at the Museum)
SpiderMan
Avatar
Batman
T-Rex
Pablo (Backyardigans)

As I remember more, I will update the list. This is mostly so I can remember all this cuteness 10 years from now and maybe 15 years from now blackmail him with it or something!

Right now, Ian and Brayden have two armies set up downstairs made up of stuffed animals. They have every unsharpened pencil I own for the troops so they can fly around and have their battle on "broomsticks"... where do they come up with this stuff??? I DON'T KNOW, but we love to watch their imaginations at work!

Five Stars

Eric and I went to see "The Dark Knight" today. Normally I won't go to a movie on opening weekend because I hate the crowds (and lines that form at least an hour before hand), but we made an exception for this one. We both LOVED Batman Begins and have been anxious to see the sequel. It did not dissapoint! Can a sequel be better than the original? Not very often, but in this case DEFINATELY! The casting on this movie was flawless... even the "new" Rachel was better than the original (sorry Katie....) The acting was supurb and the excitement was non-stop.

That being said, if you have kids that like Batman, be VERY cautious in taking them to see this movie. We did not take any of our kids (including teenage boy who really wants to see it) and I'm glad we didn't. It's extremely intense and not just in a "comic book violence" kind of way. I now understand why Heath Ledger needed sleeping pills to get any rest at night. His character was creepy, insane and ruthless. A radio interview I heard with a well known movie critic said not to take kids under 10 to see this. I would say 13. It's that intense... there are many very disturbing scenes that kids and even teens would be upset by (including a gunpoint hostage scene involving a child).

But, if you are a mature adult and love Batman, drop what you are doing and go see this movie. You WILL LOVE it!

Movie Madness

Isn't this a great movie poster? I love it.... makes we want to go see the 12:01 a.m. showing on Friday, December the 12th....

This magazine cover makes me want to boycott the movie for the rest of my life... UGH!!!!

Many thanks to Sheena for pointing this out. Who got paid for this "piece of work" anyhow?

Things I Loved About Today

These Little Debbie creations are one of my favorite "treats" and at $1.25 a box, you can't go wrong... especially when I could eat the whole box by myself in one day....
(I didn't actually do it though....)

This is one video game that I can really enjoy. In the beginning, I did best at the drums, but now I'm gettin better at guitar too. Plus, what other video game is so fun to play with your teenager?

I watched my first episode of Project Runway tonight and I am HOOKED! I first saw the Host Tim Gunn on a random episode of "The Biggest Loser" and I really fell in love with him and how he treated the contestants on that show. He was a bit more "harsh" to the contestants on this show, but let's face it, it was well deserved. I never understood how much I could relate to this show... anyone who had ever sewn a couple of flower girl dresses for a wedding and finished at midnight the night before said wedding knows what kind of pressure this is. I actually thought the guy who made the "girlicious" outfit should have been kicked off... holy crap that was ugly! I totally agreed with their winner for the night... that dress was actually PRETTY - if I had been in charge, I would have picked her too!

And all these still don't beat lunch with a friend! Thanks to my dear friend Jenn, who went out on a limb and ordered a cheeseburger with provolone cheese and peanut butter. Sounds gross, but it was delish! :)

Monsoon Madness

Here's a couple of videos from Saturday....

Just 24 hours later...

Turns out this storm was the single biggest monsoon storm in terms of rainfall since 1995! We needed the water, but some places got flooded like Tempe, which logged over 3" in one hour!

Why, Why, Why...

... is coming home from a trip so hard? We came home from Grand Canyon 10 days ago and I still feel behind. I'm behind on Laundry... I'm behind on Dishes... I'm behind on Decluttering... I just can't seem to get it together!

I was going to post a picture of my messy kitchen, but two dire consequences could result... my local friends might call CPS (kidding...) but more likely, my husband would have to crawl in a hole and die from shame. He hates a messy kitchen, but sadly, it's messy more than it's clean. I've gotten to the breaking point today because yesterday I had the itch to make homemade bread... I think the rain had something to do with it. But, I didn't make bread because my kitchen was so messy I would have to clean for an hour, just to make room to make bread. How pathetic is that? Plus, I'm really craving some self satisfaction in a job well done. I LOVE how I feel when my kitchen is clean and even more when I can keep it clean for a couple days in a row!

So, now I'm going to plug in my ipod, start a new audio book (Deception Point by Dan Brown) and get to work in the kitchen. I'm committed to keep cleaning until it's 100% done.

We only have 14 days until school starts and I'm getting excited. It's been so nice to not have any commitments or a crazy schedule. It's been wonderful to stay in our pj's late and still be able to make pancakes at 9:00 a.m. We've even done some really fun local activities that my kids beg to do and we never seem to have time for. But, with only 14 more days until I can have my "life" back, it's definately something to look forward to!

When my "chores" are done, I'll post some video I took yesterday of the rain. It was a welcome treat! It looks like we could get more tonight... Bring it ON!

In the Dog House

Not Eric... but Moreno, our 9 year old lab mutt. While Eric is out of town, I will let him roam free downstairs during the night. It makes me feel safer knowing that he can growl at someone at the front door if we have a potential intruder. The older he gets, the more "bladder control" issues he has. The main reason we got rid of the carpet in our living/dining room is because he had a "bad night" and pooped and peed all over it in several places all in one night. Getting out the stains was impossible and the smell never really left either. But, even with the carpet gone, that room is his favorite place to relieve himself in the middle of the night. Two nights ago, such an accident occured. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and dutifully cleaned it all up. (It was gross!) Then last night, SAME thing! I wanted to shoot him this morning when I discovered what he'd done! He was in the "dog house" all day and I was planning on having him sleep OUTSIDE tonight, just to teach him a lesson, but there's rain and lightning out there and I feel bad leaving him out in it. So, I gated him into the laundry room and he better not have another accident or I might lose it!

When his doggy "life" is over, and I'm telling you that I want another dog, please stop me and talk some sense into me! I'm really tired of cleaning up poop and pee, moping up gallons of dog hair (shedding) and finding dog sitters when we want to leave town. The following picture was taken about a year ago... I can't believe how much he has aged in the last year!

Motivation

I love to exercise, but I'm having serious motivation issues lately. While the kids are home, I am totally content to stay and home and hang out with them, not get my backside to the gym. So, I heard that in November there are a couple triathlons in the area and I've decided I'm going to do one! I did a sprint "tri" 4 years ago with my good friend, Maureen, and LOVED it! We signed up for it because we knew if we paid good money to be in a race, we'd get our backsides out to train. And we did... but mostly we trained so we didn't embarrass ourselves in a public place where people are generally considered athletes! :) (For my Bay Area friends, it was the "Tri for Fun" series in Pleasanton at Shadowcliffs. I highly recommend it!) So, I've decided I need motivation like that again! This triathlon is in the "sprint" category also and it's totally doable for me by November. The swim is 1/4 mile (it will be 8 laps in a 50 meter pool - sweeeeet, no swimming with the nasty fish this time!), a 12 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. Easy, right?

This week I bought a yoga DVD and got out my old Pilates DVD that I love. My goal is to do 20 minutes of yoga every morning and 20-30 minutes of pilates every evening to help get me limber and toned. That's always one of my biggest failings in exercise... now, I just need to get back to the gym and get going on the treadmill! And now that I've told all my cyber friends my plan, I will have to follow through, right?!?

Highlights

Today has been very eventful and it's only lunch time....

This morning I had to drag myself out of bed at 4:20 to drive Taylor less than a mile to our bishop's house so they could go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead at 5:00 a.m. I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that....

At 7:30 I had to drag myself out of bed (again) so I could be ready for some ladies to come over at 8:00 and do water aerobics in my pool. I had just put my suit on with a pair of running shorts over it, when I heard a thunk at my front door (it's now 7:40 a.m.)...

I go to the door to investigate the noise and find Taylor laying face down on the ground on the porch... is this some kind of trick? Then in the blurred moments that followed, I'm opening the door just at Bishop is running to the front porch. Taylor had passed out again and hit the front door on his way down this time. He has a small bump on his head to prove it, but no concussion. Turns out the bishop and boys in his car were sharing stories about greusome car crashes and the last one (the bishop told this one himself) did Taylor in. He got out of the car and made it to the front door before collapsing.... what am I going to do with this guy? Med school will NEVER be in his future! Don't worry, grandma, he's fine. I've been quizzing him with odd facts all day, checking his eyes for dialation and he hasn't taken a nap, even though he got up at 4:00 a.m.

Brayden's new "game" is role playing. The four kids are often the Ninja Turtles. Brayden is Leo, Ian is Raph, Taylor is Mikey and Megan is Donatello. Or, they are power rangers and everyone is assigned (by B) a color suit to wear. He is always blue. Now, they are Scooby Doo characters. Brayden is Scooby and he says that Ian is Shaggy, Taylor is Fred, Megan is Dapne and I get to be Velma. Lucky me! The thing is that he gets very mad if we don't play along... and Taylor NEVER wants to play along.

And the latest and greatest news... Brayden has an unpopped popcorn kernal in his ear canal. It's not stuck, but every time I try to fish it out with a rounded tip bobby pin, he jerks his head and foils the attempt. I really don't want to fork over half my "health fund" taking him to the doctor today so they can just tell me to hold him still while they pop it out. Taylor had a great idea we are going to try... make sure it's loose and then dunk him in the pool. Maybe the water will flush it right out of his ear! If that doesn't work, I'll throw him in the car and go for a ride until he falls asleep and then I can "work" without him jerking around... of course that might cost me a pretty penny in gas.

UPDATE: Swimming worked... it took longer than I thought it would, but it's gone and we are happy!

Grand Canyon

Watching a rain storm with lightning bolts over the North Rim Photo taken from Yaki Point... looking west towards the people at Mather Point
These pictures just can't do the canyon the full justice it deserves


Sunset at Yavapai Point

This picture is my favoriteI really liked this treeView of the Colorado River from the Desert View Station
It's hard to believe the Canyon runs for over 200 miles... If you live within a reasonable distance and have never visited this amazing place, you should definately make an effort to do so soon! As Americans we were in the minority there.... most of the visitors were foreign. Perhaps we take for granted such an amazing place! Eric and I want to take our family back in a couple years, when they are all old enough to do some serious hiking!