Calf Creek

We spent last weekend at one of our family's favorite vacation spots in Utah. We love it so much because of a beautiful hike that takes nearly all day but leads you to two really beautiful waterfalls. The picture above is of our feet just after the hike. Avery was a real trooper on this hike...and let me tell you, it's not all that child friendly in many parts, but she did exceptionally well, as did my niece and nephew Emma and Eli who are also 4 and 5.

Here's Emma and Avery taking in the view of what we just hiked and thinking "I can't believe we just did that...we're awesome!"

I still have not figured out how to put pictures in order, so this has nothing to do with the hike. This was taken after 3 days without showering (TMI- I know) and my hair had been in braids for 24 hours. I kept trying to convince my family I looked like Taylor Swift, but they weren't really buyin' it.

Alright, back to the hike. These are the little ones bragging (with encouragement from me) about how tough they are for making the hike.

Casey, Lynley, and me. Lynley completely surprised us by driving from Washington to come on this trip with us. That's how incredible it is people! I'm so glad she and Eli came. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

What you can't see from this picture is me screaming. The water is ridiculously cold, so I wanted a picture close to the water, but not actually in it. As I stood there posing, the entire water fall moved over and soaked me to the bone. It felt like sheets of ice pouring on my head. Meanwhile my husband and family just laughed! The nerve.

Shane to the rescue!

Here's the before picture (again out of order) just so you know I'm not lying. If you notice, I'm standing in the same place, but the water fall actually moved in a very malicious way.

There were soooo many beautiful wild flowers. I just love Southern Utah. We are lucky to live so close to such an incredible place on the planet.

Here we are at the top of a water fall that's about 3 miles down stream from the previous waterfall. I wish this picture could actually capture how high it is. It was fun to wave to the people below.

The hike between the upper and lower falls is full of surprises. At times it's almost like a nature-made water park. Here's Emma and Avery sliding down a mossy slope.

The day before we hiked to the bottom of the falls that we were standing on top of in two photos previous. (Am I making any sense?) We had such a good time, and I'm sure we'll go again.

Happy Mother's Day!

Shane ended up making it to church today after all. He arrived from his fishing trip in Idaho at 2am and made it up in time to come to church. The kids did pretty well, except for Sage randomly shouting "Mama!" when he'd remember I was sitting on the stand. Of course I loved it.

Here are a few of the thoughts I about mothers I shared in church today.

"Sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life, and make time for them. Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less to give to others, and even to your children." Elder Ballard, April '08 conference.

"Beware of the subtle ways Satan employs to take you from the plan of God and true happiness. One of Satan's most effective approaches is to demean the role of wife and mother in the home. This is an attack at the very heart of God's plan to foster love between husband and wife and to nurture children in an atmosphere of understanding, peace, appreciation, and support. Much of the violence that is rampant in the world today is the harvest of weakened homes. Government and social plans will not effectively correct that, not can the best efforts of schools and churches fully compensate for the absence of the tender care of a compassionate mother and wife in the home." Elder Richard G. Scott

"The biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make...I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."
Author Anna Quindlen

"Your success as a family...our success as a nation depends not on what happens inside the White House, but what happens inside your house." Barbara Bush

Thank you for all your helpful suggestions, and Happy Mother's Day!

I need your help family and friends!

This Sunday (Mother's Day) I have to give a talk in church about the role of motherhood. (gulp)
And not only that but I have to sing in the choir. (double gulp)
And to top it all off Shane won't be at church on Sunday which means my 2 children will be sitting on the church pew unattended! (triple gulp)

If anyone out there in cyber world has any great -or even just mediocre- Mother's day thoughts, quotes, poems, short stories, recitations, skits, novels, or television programs...please send them my way. Leave it in the comments section, so all can 10 people who read this can bask in the glorious thoughts about mothers, or email me at carefree7@hotmail.com. I don't know when, and I don't know how, (name that song.) but I promise I will make it up to you somehow.

Thank you and have a good day.

Disclaimer: In no way shape of form would the author of this blog ever leave her children to fend for themselves on a church pew, or anywhere else for that matter. (That is what young women are for.)

This is where we live.

We officially have our condo up for sale. This is a leap of faith for the Hughes family because we don't actually have anywhere to move to. Despite that minor detail, something has to be done so we're taking matters into our hands. Since our house is decluttered and clean for the first time in three years, I thought I'd post the pictures of our beautifully remodeled, move-in ready, 2bdrm 1bathrm 1060sq ft with lots of storage and a beautiful view condo.

You know, just in case you might know someone.

Shane's brother has a real estate license and because he is a good big brother and also astutely interested in the well fare of his niece and nephew, has offered is expertise in selling places to sell our place.

View from our private balcony. Yes, those are tennis courts and basketball courts you're looking at, not a prison yard. Repeat, tennis and bball courts, not prison yard.

We put a lot of work into this kitchen. And by we, I think we all know I mean Shane. The slate floors look really beautiful although you can't really appreciate them in this picture.


These are my famous turquoise walls. Either you luv em' or you hate em'. I luv em'.

Dining room. Yes I'll throw in the vase of Tulips if buy this place!! So you better hurry before they die.

Shane' s favorite piece of furniture in the whole house! wink, wink. He hates this couch, but in my defense it makes the room look enormous.

See the armoire, I'm sitting there right this moment typing this very word. The art work above the fireplace is my favorite accessory in the house. It says, "It'll cost nothing to dream, and everything not to." with a tall glass of iced lemonade. The artwork above the sofa in the previous photo says, "Share a random moment." with a picture of two cups of coffee. (Sorry if the coffee offends anyone. Well, not really.)

Here is the spare bedroom, which in our case is the master bedroom. It's just too small for our two kids to sleep and play, so they got the "actual" master bedroom. (Feel free to nominate us for parents of the year.)

Here's the kid's/"actual" master bedroom. You would think that giant sized bunny on Avery's be would scare my kids, but it doesn't.

Last, but most important, El Bano.

I know that this doesn't look like the place of someone who has an associates degree in Interior Design, but one day, when I get over my obsessive compulsive behavior to save money rather than spend it (which some people confuse with being "cheap") I will have the home of my dreams. At which point you may still think it does not look like the home of someone with an associates degree in interior design.

Thank you and have a lovely day.

Snow Canyon and Zions pictures

I love Snow Canyon. You're surrounded by 360 degrees of red rock. Here's our camp ground.

This is more of Angel's landing:

It's hard to take a bad shot in Southern Utah.

Oops...How did this get in here. That's awkward.

I just can't handle the cuteness

Are there any Mothers out there who can relate?

These switchbacks are called Walter's Wiggles. I just love that name.

This little contraption allows us to go on better bike rides. We got a lot of rubber neckers while we were out riding.

Even his grumpy face is adorable.

More cuteness that I just can't handle. These next pictures were taken at the sand dunes in Snow Canyon. The sand was so soft and wonderful, I wanted to bury my hands and feet in it all day. It felt like a manicure and foot massage.

What's a day at the sand dunes if you can't dig a large hole. Go ahead and try NOT to do it. I dare you.

Please consider this next photo your Christmas card. We are all doing very well. Merry Christmas.

Avery and Shane's Bedtime Conversation Last Night.

Before bedtime last night Shane was explaining the reason he hadn't been able to play with Avery that night.

Shane: I'm sorry I couldn't play with you tonight. I was working on some things on the computer so we can have enough money in the future. (he was setting up a retirement account.)

Avery: So you can send me to college?

Shane: Ummm...yeah.

Avery: So I can become the next president of the United States?

Watch out Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, and Mit Romney! She is definitely sassy enough.

Avery took these pictures.

The world according to a four year old:
Author's note: I'm not usually this cheesy in photographs, but Avery was really cranky after hiking 2 miles uphill and I was trying my hardest to cheer her up. Thank you.




On her next photography lesson, I'll teach her about not cutting the tops of heads off.

Oh wait, she's doing better already.

Okay maybe not. Here's me trying to be cool...but not really succeeding.

We had a lot of fun and I'll post more photos of Snow Canyon and our hike up Angels Landing at a later date. (For those of you who have hiked Angel's Landing and are freaking out about taking 4 and 2 year old children on such a dangerous hike, don't worry, we stopped before the death defying steep stuff.)