B E A U T Y.

Last weekend we decided to drive up to the canyon and take the kids on a hike.
We went to Little Cottonwood canyon, about 5 miles
to the mouth of the canyon
and 2 miles up.
Here is our journey!

We started our drive up the canyon and we were

instantly blown away.
Look at all these gorgeous colors.


All the kids were so excited to go explorin' up the mountains....

We drove up till we found a trail head.

We ended up at the Granite quarry trail.

(This is where the pioneers got all the granite rock for the Salt Lake Temple

and the granite for the new Conference Center!

It was so beautiful.

(and a good learning experience for the kids!)
Me and the kids took off while Ry stayed home and studied for

his series 9/10 license. ugh!

so I went with the Larsens.

I put Mace on my hip, and off we went!
ahh look at this view!

It was fun to hop around the huge granite rocks.

The kids were in heaven.

I, on the otherhand, almost tripped hard with Mace!

But up, up we went.....

and this is what we saw at the top:
Are you ready??
>
Color Color Color Color!
wow wow wow wow!

Talk about the view.

The kids couldn't believe all the fall colors.

They were so happy to be up so high in the cool mountain air.

We sat there for about 40 minutes enjoying the view of the Salt Lake valley.

(looking back down to the valley)











Ty hopped off the big granite rock and snapped up pic of us on top of our big rock!

It was a scary drop off!

The pic below is a real pic of the leaves I took on our hiking trail.

The leave colors in full glow!


Here come the collages! I couldn't resist.

It is so fast and easy

Amber and Mace nestled among the tall cave of trees....

The sun peaking through lighting up all the little leaves.

It was so beautiful.

It was like we were in our own little land. The kids kept climbing up every where! We try to hit the mountains often, BUT we definitely need to go more!

Amber and Ty helped me with Mace. He loves them like second parents!


The kids could of stayed A L L day if we let them.

We ended up staying 3 1/2 hours exploring the mountainside.

The day was gorgeous, the weather perfect.

We were loving every second!

And we know we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful state!!
(I say that often I know!)
Ty and Jake exploring...

more mountain leaves.

My shoe hiking in the mountains.
Ashlyn thinks she is a mountain man and can hike
any mountain without help.

She made me nervous!!.

She was all over the rocks. Back and forth they all went.....

like I said the kids kept saying how much fun it was....



Here is the view of the mountains directly South of us.

In person it honestly takes your breath away

to be surrounded by a

360 view!

Austin in the wooded mountains.

One of my favorite pics below.....

We decided to all sit and take in the view.

ahhh what a lovely afternoon!

seriously life doesn't get much better! ! !

Next we went down the mountain and crossed

the street to the river.

The kids wanted to wade their feet in the icy, cold water....

Oh it felt soooo good.

The kids wanted to jump in and swim in the clear smooth water!

We let them walk out as deep as they wanted.

The view was perty!

They were having such a great time p l a y i n g

around just being kids......

Mace sitting by me staying nice and dry!

Notice Ty and Quinn were going in for a cold swim!

Quinn got $10 bucks to get in up to his shoulders! I am not that nice!

Ahhh what fun adventures!

We had such a fun afternoon.

We hit the mountains at the peak of their colors.

Cheers to a lovely day!

It was perfect.

Soon the snow will cover our valley.

Then the colors are gone and the temp drops!

We have loved summer and fall around here....!
*and I will be back in a bit, off to see the Dolphins with the hubby!