Fat Man's Misery

Me and Mika spent the weekend (from Thursday to Saturday) down in St. George with a few friends. We originally wanted to hike the Subway, but weren't able to get permits. So instead we decided to do Fat Man's Misery. 

On Thursday me, Mika, and Maddi drove down to St. George. We stopped in Cedar City and saw the movie Neighbors. (the movie wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be). So after the movie, we arrived at our hotel super late and just went straight to sleep.

We spent Friday morning swimming in the pool and attempting to Go-Pro ourselves swimming. After that Mika went golfing with our brother-in-law, while me and Maddi went shopping. Then Joanna and Reese made it in to town and we all went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant. After that we went and played cards in the hotel room.

Saturday was our hiking day. We got up at about four to get ready and get headed to the hike. It was about a hours drive from the hotel.

Fat Man's Misery is a slot canyon with rappels, and a lot of gross water that you have to swim and wade through. There was even a few natural water slides.  

 Maddi, Joanna, and Me

 Reece trying to catch a gross little frog.

 Doing a little rappelling.

So here is the thing, Fat Man's Misery is such an amazing, fun, and pretty hike, but it is SO easy to get lost. The trail isn't marked very well at all. It's hard to find the slot, obviously then easy to follow your way through it, and then extremely hard to find your way back after exiting the slot. Luckily when we were trying to get to the slot on the way in, there was another group that directed us where to go. The guy had done it a few times before, so he also pointed out some major rocks/mountains to look for to find your way in and back out. This hike is supposed to usually take about 8 hours......and it took us 14! We barley found the road before it got dark.

If you have an extra 40 minutes, you can watch this little movie, Fat Man's Misery Canyon, from our trip. I know it's long, but you will see me ridiculously fall multiple times and Joanna swim across a pool while screaming, "Help me!". Trust me, it's totally hilarious.

I wish I would have taken more pictures. It is really such a pretty canyon. I have a few pictures that Maddi took and then sent me from her nice camera, but for some reason, my computer won't let me upload them.

Stewart Falls Hike

We decided it would be fun to go on a little hike for Memorial Day. Little did we know that everyone else in the world thought it would be fun too. There were so many people on the hike! I have seriously never seen so many people while hiking. There always people right in front of us and behind us. 

 Our hiking group

Grandpa & Grandma Goodman, Kaisa, Me, Ellie, Amanda, Grandma & Grandpa Larsen, Millie, & Mika.

 My little family at the falls
(And Ellie did the whole hike with those shutter glasses on)

Grandpa Goodman & Ellie

Millie fell asleep on the way back

Ellie's preschool graduation

Ellie graduated from Little Readers Preschool!

I can't believe she has already gone through a whole year of school! She loves school, and is such a good little student. I can't believe how much she has learned over this year.

Ellie had a special part in the program, she said "Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance." And it totally made me cry. 

 During the program

 Ellie and Miss April

Our little family

After we went out with both mine & Mika's families to Hickory Kist for a little dinner celebration. 

Mini stay-cation

Like the rest of the world, we want to take a few vacations this summer, but because of Mika's school (He is doing both summer blocks) and work schedule, it is hard to fit anything in. So we decided to take a little weekend stay-cation.

On Saturday we headed up to Salt Lake and went to the Gateway Discovery Museum.  We have been a few times before, but it is always a lot of fun.

 Mika and Ellie got to do a little science workshop class. They made a form of homemade silly putty.

After the museum, we went up to The Pie for dinner. They seriously have the best pizza ever. We got a pizza called the wise guy and a bunch of cheesey bread. It was sooooo good. I wish they had a location closer to home. 

Ellie drawing in bed at the hotel

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and did a little swimming. The hotel was a little sketchier than the description and reviews made it out to be. But we didn't die or get bed bugs, so it's all good.

Sunday morning we went up Cotton Wood Canyon and did a random little hike. We were planning on doing Donut Falls, but the turn-off road was closed. So we picked a random trail and did it. It was really pretty and both the girls hiked pretty well. 

On the way home, we stopped at Scheel's. Ellie and I rode the Ferris Wheel while Mika and Millie watched. The girls loved the giant fish tank and all the big stuffed creatures.