Into the Wild: Family Day Breakfast & Hike

June 5, 2010

This summer we discovered a perfect place to take the whole family for an easy hike! In the city of Pleasant Grove, there is a yearly hike and free breakfast around June. We drove about two miles away from our house to Kwanis Park. To our surprise, our good friends Dave and Amy were there with their three kids. The breakfast included: bananas, grapes, melons, specialty breads, scones, and juice. A healthy way to start a hike! After breakfast, the kids got to make a crafty necklace made with beads, straws, foam embellishments, and so forth. The purpose of the necklace was to hold the tickets which they received by participating in activities. The parents got a huge packet full of coupons from local businesses in the area as well as was entered into a raffle to win prizes. We were happy to show off our new CamelBak, which we got on sale at Cabalas. We went in the direction of right from the food pavilion up on the Battle Creek Trail. Along the way, there were fun games for the kids to play such as blowing bubbles with funnels, trivia, listening to a storyteller, some ball toss game, etc. The best part of the hike was at the very end (after 20 minutes of going up luckily there was one little steep part whew)! There is a magnificent water fall to cool off and play in! The children absolutely loved crossing through the shallow creek to see the waterfalls close up. After our hike, the kids exchanged their tickets for prizes (candy and plastic toys). We were winners of a local business t-shirt, lol! Too bad we didn't get the free swimming passes, restaurant gift cards, or movie passes. Maybe next year we will have better luck! Overall, it was a great day and we had a lot of fun!












I even got around to scrapping a page of our lovely hiking adventure!




Here are photos of the beautiful waterfalls *notice John tried to imitate Ansel Adams waterfall photos ha ha ha ha!!!!!











Since this hike, we have taken other family members and friends on it! Kiwanis Park is one of our favorite hang outs during the summer! There are fire pits, a space to toss a ball, a food pavilion, a BBQ area, and a couple hiking trails. There are other trails to explore besides the waterfalls and creek. Last spring John and I hiked up to the "G" on the mountaintop which is to the left of the food pavilion. It was a very steep hike with several switchbacks. We were sore a couple days after that hike! We were surprised to find out that the "G" was not white paint or rocks! It is a huge white fence bolted together into the ground shaped like a capital "G"! Who knew from looking at a distance that "G" was made from a fence!

Family Traditions:Memorial Day Weekend 2010

It is a yearly Free family tradition to visit a tiny town in Nevada called Panaca. Many Free decedents gather together at a campsite. We try to make an effort of going whenever our work schedules allow it and if we can afford the gas. Some people say, "Where on this earth is that place and why would we want to camp in the middle of the desert?" My children's grandfather Joseph Free grew up in that small town and have many ancestors buried in Panaca's cemetery. Little do most people know, Panaca is a little piece of heaven on earth!

Panaca is a small quaint farming town nestled near mining towns and ghost towns. There is one grocery store, one school that holds K-12, a few gas stations, a cafe, and one LDS chapel. From a distance, you can see fields of lavender plants. We set up our tents or trailers at a beautiful campground called Cathedral Gorge State Park.






The scenery is absolutely breathtaking to those who appreciate the beauty of the great western culture. There are clay like canyons that are seen from the campsite about a 1/4 mile away. Near the campsite, one of my children made the mistake of picking a brilliant red cactus flower! The children love to catch lizards, frogs, or non poisonous snakes. The gorgeous canyons have many cliffs that are easy to climb onto as well as many caves to explore in. Being in the dry desert can shock our bodies! It gets really cold at night and very hot during the day.







There are several exciting attractions to do in Panaca over Memorial Day weekend!

1. Hike or bike the beautiful desert scenic trails near the campground.






2. Climb and explore caves at Cathedral Gorge.







3. Play in the sand dunes with four wheelers, SUV's, or bucket/shovels.



Eleven year old with cousins Justin and James jeeping at the sand dunes!






Playing in the sand with cousins Erika and Avery.



4. Swim in Panaca's natural spring among fish and tadpoles.



5. Go Shooting(usually a guy thing but this year 11 year old and I tagged along).








6. Enjoy a campfire eating smores made with Reece's Peanut Butter Cups!



Big Sister with Granny Free getting toasty by the camp fire!



Other things to do in Panaca are seeing the nearby mines, visit ghost towns, and search for trilobites in the mountains. We have made many fun memories in Panaca this year. Our Memorial Day weekend for 2010 included the following activities/ memories:

Friday- We set up our tent. Then my girls went on a jeep ride with their cousins Justin and James to the spring. John and the girls went swimming in the spring while I read a book. While carrying my youngest daughter to the truck, we slipped and fell. I got a nasty abrasion on my knee. Luckily my daughter survived with just a scare. That evening before dinner, my 11 year old and I went with the boys to practice shooting different guns. This was my first time shooting guns. I am not a fan of them but I gave it a try and hubby was proud of me! For dinner, we made foil dinners (meat, onions potatoes, and carrots) which we cooked in the fire coals.





Saturday- We had a rough night sleeping. It was very cold and windy. John woke up shivering in the middle of the night. We went to the spring again this time I went swimming. John and I went jeeping with James and Justin near the dunes and on some crazy cliffs... We went to see a huge cave in the middle of town. It is made with red sand and rock. We ate a dutch oven turkey pot pie for dinner. Then the girls and I took a very cold shower due to the many people who showered way before us! At least we got clean though!



Little sister was grumpy! She was hungry, tired, and ready to go back to camp!



Sunday-We all got up early to get ready for church attended all three meetings. The people in Panaca are very humble and kind. After church, we had free time to take naps or relax at the camp site. Later that day everyone went to the cemetery to place flowers on our ancestors' gravestones. Then we went for an evening hike to the Cathedral Gorge Caves. For our night activity, we met with our extended family members Uncle Duane and Aunt Rhea's families for a devotional around Duane's campfire. We sang some songs, ate smores, and listened to my father in-law and Uncle Duane share memories of growing up in Panaca.

This is everyone that went to the cemetery. John's cousin Vickie, Little sister, and I were at Aunt Rhea's on a bathroom break when this photo got taken.



Monday- I got up around 5:30 AM to go on bike ride with my brother in-law Rich. Then James, Justin, and our family of four went for another hike to the caves again. The boys had fun climbing to the top of the cliffs. We came back cleaned up camp and headed towards home. We stopped at the Dairy Freeze near my in-law's house for dinner and dessert. The girls and I slept most the way home.



Good-bye, Panana! We look forward to more Memorial Day adventures in the future!

The winner is....

May 3, 2010

A couple weeks before the end of the school year, there is a reading drawing at the girl's elementary school. Since my girls are total book worms, they submitted several reading tickets with their names on them. During a reward assembly, a friendly police officer drew the names of the winners out of a box. Some of the prizes were bikes, $50.00 towards collage, lacrosse sticks, baseballs, footballs, jump ropes, and so forth. To our surprise, our seven year old won one of the greatest prizes- a brand new pink scooter with a bell to alert people when she is coming and a matching pink Paul Frank helmet! Wooohooo!!!!! She was soooo ecstatic when she came home from school lugging her brand new scooter and helmet. Way to go, little girlie! We are so proud of her reading accomplishments! She has improved a lot this past school year jumping several reading levels. We are also grateful for the school's reward incentive program that encourages my kids to read more! What a great way to start her summer with a new scooter to enjoy!

So lucky to be me!!!



How cute is that helmet????

Seven Heaven

April 15, 2010.

Where did the time go? My youngest daughter is 7 years old! That week at school she was student of the week. We had to make an "All about Me" poster. She shared it with her class and brought store bought chocolate chip cookies as her birthday treat. Seven interesting facts about my seven year old are the following:

1. She loves monkeys and lady bugs.
2. She idols Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez.
3. She enjoys four wheeling with her daddy.
4. She loves reading and watching Tom and Jerry.
5. Her favorite colors are pink and orange.
6. She likes fishing with her daddy.
7. She loves strawberries, cheese, and chocolate.



As for her party, we didn't plan a huge/expensive birthday party due to the fact next year seemed like a more appropriate time for a grand hooray birthday party of friends and family members. Since we were not having a big party, we decided to get her a few special birthday presents. But to our surprise, she requested something that was rare or impossible to find at the stores. Ack! She wanted the pink Barbie camper that was sold out around Christmas time. It was out of stock everywhere on the internet too and I refused to pay what people were asking for it on ebay or Amazon. I was getting very discouraged and almost lost hope a couple weeks before her birthday but then I discovered that Toys R Us website restocked it just in time... Ahhh, what a relief!!!

Here are some pictures of her excitement of her special day! Her grandma Hawley got the skinny jeans and peanut butter and jelly t-shirt. Granny and Grandpa Free got the books (from the money they sent), Uncle Nate Coleman gave her $$ which she went to Build a Bear Shop online! to get the darling Monkey stuffed animal.


The Barbie, pink camper, and Barbie tot bag was from us. The tot bag was free with the purchase of the Barbie camper! It was truly seven heaven for her that day!










I even scrapped her birthday page! Woohoo go me!!!

Lucky 7th Birthday, 2010

Credits: Shabby Princess' An Affair to Remember kit.  As for the font, I used Segoe Print. :0)