Zions National Park

Last Friday we went over to Zions National Park about a 45 minute drive from our house here in St. George. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We did the mile hike up the canyon that at the end starts "the Narrows" climb. You definitely must get in the river at the end of the trail and walk up through the river. It can be very dangerous at the end simply because if rain and storms come in, there is not trail. You have only rock and river to survive by. None-the-less, we had a great time and here are just a few of the pictures that I took. Max had a great time with Grandpa & Grandma and in the end we wore him out but, he was a great little hiker. He loves to climb all over the rocks, throw the rocks in, and say hello to EVERYONE! We will soon need to give him the speech of "don't talk to strangers" but in the meanwhile he loves to go and sit with anyone, say hello, share his lunch or their lunch and truly he is a little social bug! Love the weather here in St. George right now!

Halloween Fun!

Here is the pumpkin that Max DID NOT carve ... in fact, pumpkin guts and seeds were way toooo gross for him to even touch! So, Grandpa and I had the pleasure of scooping, scraping and carving this wonderful creature. Of course Max was excited when we showed him the pumpkins scary face once we were all done! Spiderman aka Max Bridges had a great halloween! We took him up and down two blocks and the bucket was getting "too heavy" so it was time to head back to the house were he promptly took off his spiderman costume, started to consume candy and helped answer the door with Grandpa to hand out our candy!

Earlier in the day we went up to Tuacahn which is a fabulous outdoor theatre here in the local area where they had different artists, rides for kids, food, vendors, etc. and we had a great time! The day was absolutely perfect so here are some pictures from are day up at Tuacahn! I highly recommend coming to this theatre during the summer for their fabulous shows and even during the Christmas holiday season where they have a short Christmas program that I believe is open to the public.

After trick 'r treating, I drove to Las Vegas to work for Freeman for 3 days. It was nice to get back to a working routine even for a couple of days. Max had a great time playing with Grandpa & Grandma and going to school while I was gone!

Family Night

On Monday nights we have Family Home Evening and I tell you Max LOVES it! We have a short lesson, sing a couple of songs, read a scripture and of course have some sort of treat! He usually asks to have family night every night! This past week we talked about tithing and how important it is to give back to the Lord 10% of our earnings. I used a couple of different ways to explain it to him ... first, we used popcorn. Everyone was given a bowl with a small amount of popcorn and I had one bowl that was empty in the middle of the table. I asked Max, Grandma & Grandpa if they would be willing to contribute any of their small amounts of popcorn to the bowl and if they said yes, then I poured more popcorn in to their bowl ... enough to almost overflow the bowl. Of course then explaining that when we give, we receive more blessings than we know what to do with. Then we counted 10 pennies each and gave one penny to tithing, 2 or 3 pennies to future missionary fund and the rest went to fun money (of course to buy more gum!). We went over the tithing envelope and that we give our tithing to the Bishop at church and this in turn is keeping a commandment that Heavenly Father has given us. I also had picked up a cute bank at Deseret Book so that Max could keep track of his "treasure" that is for tithing, missionary fund and fun money. He had a great time. Our closing song each week is Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes ... so here is Max and Grandma having a great time singing and doing the motions. Grandpa missed out on this video version but, each week we all do this several times before we call it a night.

Swim Level I Complete

Last week Max completed the Swim Level I class at our local indoor pool. He is quite comfortable floating, putting his head under the water, kicking, jumping in to the instructor, crawling along the wall, etc. He will start Level II next week. Congratulations Max!

Certificate of completion along with some Laughy Taffey from the teacher!

This is how the instructor would take the kids through the deep end.

Max is on the left.

Max jumping to his instructor.

Military Photo Humor

These pictures were sent to me recently and I thought they were pretty funny so I thought I would share them with you. I guess on occassion .... there is some down-time!

Families Are Forever!

This past weekend I have been so grateful for the knowledge that our families can be together forever! There are so many people in this world who do not have this knowledge and it makes me sad for them. I guess this should really inspire me to share the gospel knowledge that I have with those who want to know more.
Mom, dad, Max and I went hiking up Snow Canyon again this past Saturday. As I was hiking and taking in some of the breath-taking views of this area as you can see for 100's of miles, I was grateful for the freedoms and comforts we have in our lives. The freedom to simply get in our cars and go where we want to safely, to hike in and on the mountains without the fear of any bombs or enemies trying to take us as hostages, taking pictures at will and to simply come and go as we please. What great privileges we have and really in my opinion I know I take for granted. Mark's everday life right now of worrying about safety in EVERYTHING that he does, makes me so grateful for what we have. One of the many things I am grateful for is our freedom and of course those who serve to keep our freedom.

Thankfully we have the freedom to choose our religion and I am thankful for the knowledge that I have of the restored gospel here on the Earth, with a living prophet who leads and guides the church on Earth, for Jesus Christ who lead the way for us by example, for a loving Heavenly Father who loves all of us and is aware of each of our needs. How truly blessed we all are!

Time to Say Goodbye...

Ever have the most favorite t-shirt that you just can't give up? Well, this t-shirt is at least 15 years old and boy does it show! Holes in the front, on the sleeves, in the back - just about everywhere but, I still love to wash and wear this shirt at night or when I have been sick, etc. It is definitely a comfort of mine. The other day I went over the Polo Outlet store and bought me a new one ... and although it was not been washed 1000 times YET, I have hopes that it too will bring comfort and joy over the next 15 years.

Seriously ... I know I am not the only one out there with a shirt that has holes in it ... and you still have it because you LOVE it!