Summer Work Trips:)

I occasionally have to drive to southern Utah and stay overnight for work.  During the summer months I always take some of the kids with me when I go.  Usually we head to Cedar City.  We swim in a hotel pool and go out to dinner and see a movie.  But last week I went down to Moab.  I dropped Xander, Lexi and Sophi off in Ferron with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson.  The kids were so excited to be able to stay with them for two nights.  (To any of my children who are reading this, remember how awesome it is to have grandparents who live within reasonable driving distance!  Don't move across the country once you have kids!!!)

Of course it was a wonderful getaway for all of us.  While I was overnight in Moab, I hiked out to one of my favorite places on earth: Corona Arch.

Bowtie arch is a "pothole arch," meaning the water pooled above and eroded through over millennia.

Corona Arch

To give you an idea of the scale of this massive arch, here are two pictures of it with people directly underneath.

The people are the tiny dots towards the right side of the arch opening.

Also, this complete awesomeness was filmed at Corona Arch (sadly I was not one of the participants;)

Meanwhile, the kids were kept entertained with a visit to the community pool, Millsite state park and the complete joy of staying with grandparents.  Sophi and Lexi got in some sewing with Grandma:

Lexi made a pillow for her stuffed animals.

Sophi made a sleeping bag for Cooper, her new, very lifelike, puppy.

 And Xander was schooled in the finer points of shooting BBs by Grandpa:

And since six of the kids were gone on trek, Christi had close to three full days with just Elli at home.  Not exactly a vacation for her, but a bit of a respite:)