Bryce (barf) Canyon

Allow me a scrapbooking moment my dears. *Warning: This may be one of those painful posts where someone shows you way too many pictures from their vacation.....yep. It's definitely going to be one of those.

Our family just returned from a little jaunt to a place that we now lovingly refer to as Barf Canyon. You may know it as Bryce Canyon.

It was sunny and quite lovely on the day we arrived....here is a look at the view from our room. Aren't parking lot views the best?

We haven't done a road trip for quite some time. It's not that we haven't wanted to. It's because our kids just don't seem to get along very well, and in the past, Erik and I have found ourselves using phrases with our kids that we never thought we would use. You know, the ones I'm talking about... "Don't make me turn this car around!", etc.

Surprisingly, the kids did really well and it was quite a pleasant drive.

When we got to the hotel, they amazingly still liked each other and decided to play a game. It was so cute. So I took a picture.
The cuteness didn't last long though. A tired Ian got frustrated and threw a fit. I just happened to have my camera out still, so I took another picture. Don't you love the look on Nicole's face? Priceless.
That evening was spent eating (a lot) and playing in the hotel pool. A nice way to end the day.

But then it got ugly. Nicole started feeling ill. Really ill. She spent the next 12 hours kneeling to the porcelain god every hour, on the hour.

That night, we got a nice dusting of fresh snow. The view from our window. :)
The next morning, we debated about what to do with Nicole. Leave her at the hotel while we go explore the canyon? One of us stay with her? Take her with us on a short drive to see a few things? What to do?
We decided to leave her there, run up to the canyon, drive to a view point or two and snap a few photos and then hurry back. Her last words to us were, "Don't be gone too long."
We started at Unset Point. I mean, Sunset Point. He, he.
I forgot to mention that we were traveling with our friends- I'll call the "S family". Here they are...Katie, Rissy-roo, C-dawg, Wendeline, Heady, and La la.
After snapping a few photos, our friends, who had come to hike for the day started on their way. All of a sudden, I had a strong urge to go with them. I really wanted to hike through this beautiful canyon and the hike they had planned for that day was only 3 miles or so. So Isaac and I decided we would go and Erik and Ian would head back to take care of Nicole. Great plan, huh? I thought so.
So off we went, snapping photos right and left! The pictures just don't do it justice. It is so shocking to see the bright orange rocks against the white snow. The touch of green from the trees just adds to the beauty!
And since Isaac was the only family member with me....I got lots of shots of him. Bare with me.

He had the time of his life! The "S's" are so fun to be with and the girls treat Isaac like a little brother. He got thrown in the snow more times than I can count and had lots of fun having snowball fights.
And I had fun using my new camera taking zillions of pictures. The scenery was so amazing!
So much fun for everyone!
Especially Isaac. Here he is sliding down the side of the mountain. It was quite a ride! I would have joined him but that meant that I would have had to climb back up again and man! I just couldn't do it. One time was more work than I had planned to do. I was on vacation, remember?
So back at the hotel, Nicole slept. And slept, and slept. Only Erik couldn't check on her because I had accidentally taken the keys to our vehicle with me....on the HIKE. Ian and Erik ended up being stranded at the top, waiting for us to finish.....which only took THREE hours. Oopsie. They made the best of it though. They did a little hiking and luckily Erik had his cell phone and called to check on Nicole- who was, you guessed it, sleeping.

Poor baby.
The last day of our vacation, Nicole was feeling much better. It snowed a foot or so during the night and was still snowing when we woke up, but Nicole really wanted to see some of the canyon before we drove all the way home. "All I have seen so far is the inside of the toilet and that wasn't so great!" she said.

It was about -7 degrees with the wind chill, but at least she got to see a little of the magnificent canyon before we left.
She is the best big sister!
Man! Can I tell you how great it was to see that smile of hers?
Did I mention it snowed? Take a look at our darling next door neighbors. They were from Japan. Their little boy was all bundled up and looked like an Eskimo. He was too cute!

See how the view from our window changed over the days? Crazy!
So we piled back in the car and headed for home. The weather was a bit sketchy to start off with......

But things soon cleared up and once again, we were treated to magnificent scenery!
Excuse the amount of pictures....but my good heck! Isn't it just gorgeous!

It was a vacation to remember for sure! We are already planning a return trip for this summer. Hopefully next time we will get to make new memories that don't have anything to do with barf. :)