Hiking Little Wild Horse Canyon

We started our hike around 9am.  The sun was already beating down and everyone was sweating bullets.  Once we started the sun wasn't so much a bother beating down on us.  Most of the hike up the canyon was shaded.  It was so beautiful.  This particular hike is a 9 mile hike if you do the whole circle.  After hiking in 3 1/2 hours we stopped and ate lunch in this huge open area that was shaded.  The kids played and climbed and had a great time.
 Then it was time to decide which way to go. If we were close to the half way point, we were just going to go forward and do the whole hike, but if we weren't then we'd go back the way we came in.  Well, Sean, Kenzie, Mark, & Joe went forward while the rest of the troops went back the same way we came in.  It took us 1 1/2 hours to get back down the canyon.  The kids leading the way most of the time, climbing up and over and down big boulders helping each other.  The way back down, however, was all in the sun, so it was hotter, much much hotter by 1:30ish. 
On the way down, I twisted my ankle.  It was good that we were still in the slotted part of the canyon so my ankle didn't do a full roll, the wall was there to stop it a few inches later.  So it hurt but I was still able to keep going.  Lili fell asleep in the hiking pack and poor thing was a red as a tomato.  She get hot and red fast but I have never seen her that red.  Enrique and I were super worried that she might get over heated or dehydrated or something.  So he went as fast as possible to the shaded areas, then waited there until we all caught up.  Jake became my wonderful helper.  I was so exhausted by the time were were about a mile from the van, I had to grab Jake's arm and he had to keep me at a steady pace because I was getting slower and slower.  By this time, everyone was going slow, even the kids, and everyone just wanted to be sitting in shade or the a/c in the vans.
It was a great experience and our family loved it.  It wouldn't have been the same if we did it just our little family but it was great doing it with all my brothers and their families.  Sean has been asking us all to go down there and camp and hike for some time now.  It's been over a year in the making.  He did a great job planning it out.

Camping at Goblin Valley State Park

Our family and my 5 brothers, and their families all went camping for 4 days and 3 nights.  It was so much fun.  We were the last ones to leave because Enrique had to work a full day, everyone else took off in the morning.  It was about a 4 1/2 drive to Goblin Valley State Park.  We got there are night, so we couldn't really appreciate the splendor of our surroundings.  We sat by the fire after the kids went to bed, as we were all chatting, we saw so many shooting stars.  It was pretty romantic if you ask me- hehehe.
The sun greeted us beautifully as you can tell.  Then we got to see what was around us.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The kids were instantly climbing up and sliding down the mountains, playing in the sand, running around where ever they wanted. It was great. They didn't really want to eat or get ready, they (all 9) wanted to play and play and play.

Lagoon

We took Joe & Jake to Lagoon while they were here with us.  It was so much fun. 

Lili absolutely loved it, the other girls did too but this was her first time there.  She wanted to ride all the rides and would run from one to another.  She cried the times she was so small to ride too.  There is a kiddie roller coaster and Lili rode that thing over and over and over.  She had her hands up in the air and was laughing and screaming with delight.  It was so fun to watch her.  Then she drove the car by herself and then ran back to the roller coaster to ride again. 
Isabel was tall enough to go on just about any ride with a partner.  The boys would make her ride them all and she didn't like some of them either. 
Gaby went on everything.  She was so excited to be big enough to go on the kiddie rides and adult rides.  She rode "Wicked"  the so-called biggest and best ride there.  Her face was priceless!  She was so scared but loved it after she got off.  She is very proud of herself that she did it. 
The boys were there all day and the rest of us got there right after Papi got home from work.  They all lasted until it closed at 10pm.  We all had a great time! 

Playing in the Rain

We put the kids to bed and when we came back upstairs, it was pouring rain.  Then Mark got home and asked where the kids were because he wanted to play in the rain with them....so he ran down and got them out of bed to play in the rain.  As soon as they went outside it was hardly raining compared to the down pour seconds earlier.  But they had fun and then dried off and got back in bed.