Simply the Stotts: beautiful views

Brown Family Green River/Moab trip 2009

(this song is dedicated to my dad who loves bluegrass/country..

who doesn't love a little Johnny Cash!)

The Brown clan.....

This trip was a blast. 9 out of 10 siblings came....

(Greg, Jan, Misty, Amber, Troy, Tawny, Brookie, Brie, and Brett!

plus spouses)

(missed you Bran and Em!)

and almost all the grand kids...what a trip.

BTW, who knew cactus bloomed?
I didn't.

Pink bright blossoms dotted all over the desert floor as we drove to Green River.

WE were off...all 9 siblings took off early in the morning to meet up in Castledale...

On the road...

I love a good scenic drive through Utah..

you get to see all the cool sights.

WE all drove together....

Once we met up in Price, we turned off onto a lonely dirt road

and started our adventure.

My mom had a plan to stop at about 5 different places.

dinosaur prints, petroglyphs, caves, and Indian drawings...

It was a beautiful day in the making...

All the kids were soooooo excited to be together this year!

WE stopped off at a cave nestled into the big rock wall.

The kids ran up and climbed inside.

It had a nice cool breeze blowing through it.

Mace was so happy to be exploring.

The kids were nice to him and helped him along the way.

They all kept looking for lizards and rocks.....they loved this day!

WE stopped at pictographs made 1000's of years ago.

Quite amazing if you think about it.

The kids thought it was so cool that the pics were written on the rock wall. My mom told us all the history of these pics. It was interesting.
Do you see the pictograph below right in the center of the rock wall?

The guy with the long arms....awesome!

Aus, Quinn, and Mckay checking it out...

Uncle Ty and Mace.

The kids explored the mountainside for lizards, snakes and rocks.

They would of stayed out all day. They were in heaven.

Okay do you see the dinosaur print right next to my black flip flop!? So cool.

One print out in the M I D D L E of N O W H E R E

awesome!

C O L L E C T R O C K S

Ashlyn and Austin were obsessed with finding real fossils and cool rocks.

They kept putting heavy rocks into my purse and in their pockets. I keep finding them in the washing machine....

The Stott family~

Brave or crazy? Brave or crazy? Brave or crazy?
both!
Tyler was not a f r a i d of falling....

He climbed and climbed and took his kids with him..it was fun to watch!

See him in the pic..he was right on the edge! Spiderman.

Then we were off to the Colorado river. WE have the best place to eat lunch.
A rickety, old ,wood bridge with a few trees for shade.
WE went last year and loved it. The plan: eat lunch and then play in the muddy river B U T
The second we stepped out of our car we knew:

L O C U S T S

everywhere.
(look at top right pic..100's in every tree..)

okay more like 1000's of L O C U S T S

buzzing and flying around our heads

seriously.

We had to take cover under the bridge.
fast.

the kids were s c a r e d.

I thought it was great...just like in the movie Lucas..you've seen it!

they were e v e r y w h e r e

I love this historical bridge. I wished I could of family pics with this bridge and the grand red rock as the backdrop. It was so awesome it was in the middle of the desert.
We took this pic FAST...Ash and Jake were neeervous

Ry and lil Mace man.

My dad standing above the bridge watching the kiddos float down the Green river-

(obviously he didn't mind all the Locusts...He's a farm boy!)

The locusts hate the water so we decided to let the

kids get in and body float down the Colorado.

(as we all stayed under the bridge!)

Uncle Ty got in with all of the kids and helped them.

Ty is so S W E E T. Mace considers Ty his second daddy.
Aus and Ash went first. Then Jakers got up the courage to do it!

All of the Stott kids and Larsen kids jumped right in and floated away. They

l o v e d it. I was a little nervous watching their heads bob up and down in the river but Uncle Ty was there. Thanks Tyler!
After our adventures we went to our lazy dazy hotel in Green River.....

WE all love this place.
It was set back against the big Green River and the colorful gardens layed along the bankside.....

WE can go out in sit in the chairs and just look out at the vast river. The kids thought it was the coolest hotel.
The best part is that the pool lay right on the corner overlooking the river.

We were all so D I R T Y from our afternoon. WE all jumped in. (almost)
It felt so good.

Ry was great with Mace. He watched him most of the time.

Mace and Lil C loved squirting Grandma!

That night we were off to the Green River Park for dinner and games.

Kids looooved to hang all night and play the night away.

We ate dinner and then played games.

kick soccer, baseball, big booty, football and....

the favorite of the night: Red Rover!

WE roasted marshmallows and ate delicious smores! yum

Mace playing baseball with "Uncle hoooo."(As Mace calls him.) Everybody is so sweet to Mace man.

Ry and I.
Night swimming was the B E S T. These pics are of the next night but I am not switching them. (too much time)

THE kids S W A M the night away under the stars.

They were so H A P P Y!

The pic is of Aus jumping into the pool...

The hot tub kept us all warm. thank you

The Sunset was amazing.

The light glistened off the river....

We all just sat around and took the night in. It was so fun and relaxing!

The next day we were off to Arches National Park!

This was the best part of the trip b/c it was so beautiful to see all of the arches.

I took soooo many pics

Ahhh look at the cool arches and rocks...the kids kept their eyes up the whole time.

It was truly amazing. (have I said that yet?)

I took these pics from inside the car....The pics don't give the scenery justice. It was so GRAND in person.

My mom took all the little kiddos to the sand dunes so that the rest of us could hike.

Most of us chose to do Delicate Arch again.

A W E S O M E

It was a sunny 82 degrees but the wind blew so H A R D!

I felt like when I got to the top I was going to blow off. I wouldn't let the kids go in the middle of the arch b/c it was so windy...

I love this view.

My kids kept asking, "How was this arch made? Why is it standing all alone?"

I tried to go into the scientific approach.... but in the end I just said,

"Nature and God are soooo a m a z i n g"

AFter the hike we all went into the little town of Moab and ate lunch at the river walk park. The kids love the river b/c they can catch crawdad's , watersnakes, and little fish.

WE were all exhausted from our hikes.

We all sat and ate lunch and talked and relaxed while the kids played.

Ry helped Mace catch little fish. He was so proud of his catch! (4 fish!)

Misty and her one shirt! She forgot to pack clothes so she wore Bri's shirt the ENTIRE trip! WE were laughing at her wardrobe....funny girl. She hiked in flip flops the whole time. good job girl!