the manti mormon miracle pageant

I have been looking forward to going to the Mormon Miracle Pageant since last summer. I kind of had an idea of what it would be like, but it exceeded my expectations. I thought it was amazing. I was not expecting a huge production like that.

Look at what Rach found. The shirt is too perfect. Manti LOVED all the attention he was was getting. We made sure to find a sign for him to take a picture with.

Beautiful Manti Temple! Dedicated in 1888.

Here are a couple of pictures. Thanks to Wikipedia, here is a description of the Pageant.

the awkward years: picture #1

First thing Matt said when he saw this picture, "You look like a boy."

Ah yes, the bangs my Dad would cut with his hair scissors.

My other, other half is back. Which sadly means Matt will once again be neglected. He knows it, accepts it and I love him for understanding.

happy father's day!

I am so grateful for my Dad. He is hardworking, generous, loves helping others, the nicest guy you will ever meet, will talk to anyone and everyone, can make anyone feel good about themself, super athletic, positive, very passionate (he could turn any conversation into him convincing you to run a marathon or to join the military), goofy, knows EVERYONE, and I am so lucky that he is my Dad! I am so grateful for his example in my life. I only hope I will accomplish as much as he has in his life.

Matt started to complain after seeing my post about my dad, saying that "this is SO your blog." And this is what he gets.

This is Matt and Bill on their Yucatan/ Belize Ruins Trip. Here they are at Lamanai (quite possibly the city of King Lamoni).

Matt and his Dad are a lot alike. They are passionate about Mayan Ruins, Mexico, discussing Church history, they love Trivial Pursuit, their familes, speaking Spanish and probably would just travel together all the time if they could. I'm lucky Matt was raised by such a great Dad and to be apart of Bill's family.

Matt is going to have to start adding to the blog because "this is SO our blog."

provo trail to utah lake

We took the bikes out and had a nice ride down the other side of the Provo trail away from the mountains to Utah lake. It was a unexpectedly really nice part of the trail and we really enjoyed it. Most of it was overlapped by tall trees and ended up being a very pretty ride along the river. It was fun to see a different part of Provo we are not used to.

Grand Staircase - Escalante

Well, we won't be eating this month, but this past weekend's camping trip was worth it. We headed to Southern Utah, really close to Lake Powell to see what Grand Staircase - Escalante had to offer. Matt had done some research and found these really fun slot canyons, called Spooky Gulch and Peek-A-Boo Gulch. We also saw the Natural Arch and Calf Creek Falls. It was so beautiful and I took well over a hundred pictures, but here are a lot of my favorites.

It's took bad pictures can't really capture all of the beauty one can see in person. On our way, we passed through this mountain of pines and aspen at 9,600 feet and it was a beautiful view of the colorful deserts below us.

The slot canyons.

The Natural Arch

There was cattle everywhere.

The view from our campsite.

Calf Creek Falls

Matt swam in the freezing water.

While at the waterfall, it was random, but fun to watch a couple of rappelers.

What the scenery was like on our way to and from the waterfall.