October Trip to Utah

In October we visited Family and a couple friends in beautiful Utah. We stayed in a cabin near Park City with Holden's side of the family for a big chunk of it which was really fun. We got to meet Belen's newest cousin Hendrix, visited my friend Betsy and my niece Erica and her husband Brad, plus Holden's friend Kirk. We got to see Grandma Higginbotham down in Richfield and spend some more quality time with the Higginbotham family. Belen did a great job on the flights even though we got bumped in Cincinatti and had to stay the night. She was a trooper. On the way to our terminal for our final leg of the flight she went to sleep on my shoulder. We'll be in North Carolina for Christmas, but are looking forward to our next trip to see my side of the family in Oregon in February.

Utah Trip

On the second part of the trip I was re-united with my sweetie after a week apart. Then we got together with his side of the family (and my niece Erica) for an early baby shower in Orem and Christmas celebrating in the lovely southern Utah city of Richfield. We also got to see friends Betsy, Aunika and Billy which was so much fun - again I slacked on the picture taking. Good thing I have a blog now, it is a good reminder to keep the camera clicking! We hope to be able to see those we missed next time, we love you and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Oregon Trip

I went to Oregon recently to see family - originally Holden was going to come as well, but got swamped at work and met me for the second part of our trip in Utah. I started out in Portland where I got to see my brother and his family as well as my nephew Nick and his girlfriend Haley. I had a great time with all of them although I definitely needed a bit more time! Above is my nephew Jared and nieces Amanda and Andrea as well as a quick shot of Anastasia as she was getting ready to run out the door for work and a group shot of my brother Guy, his wife Diana, the girls, and myself. Down in southern Oregon I was able to visit with my parents, my sister Jody, sister Cyndi and husband Jeff as well as my nephew Nathan and his family, however, I slacked on the picture taking - oops! Next time for sure! It was so great to see you all!

Winter Quarters

We took a tour of the Winter Quarters LDS Visitor's Center in Omaha Nebraska. Winter Quarters is where many LDS pioneers lived and prepared for the trek West. The missionary giving the tour talked about how just like oxen are yoked together and need to pull in the same direction, so do married couples in order to have success. This is a good image to remember.

We also pulled a handcart together.

And Holden is standing next to a wagon wheel where we learned how the pioneers counted each turn of the wheel so that those following them would know how long it would take between stopping posts where they would be able to replenish their supplies.

The temple at Winter Quarters is very beautiful. The flowers on the grounds seem to grow effortlessly and overflow their flower beds and there are several beautiful blue and green stained glass windows.

Mighty Mississippi

Some more beautiful photography by Holden. We saw some really beautiful landscapes along our drive including these.

We enjoyed seeing all the corn fields too. There was another crop we kept seeing, but we couldn't identify. We found out later it was soybeans. We saw field after field of corn followed by soybeans. I didn't know we grew so many crops of soybeans in the U.S. Live and learn :)

Badlands National Park

Next we went to Badlands. It was similar to Bryce Canyon except not as orange, and seems less well-preserved. It was neat to drive through.
Badlands National Park Website

Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore

It was fun seeing these monuments. Pop Quiz: Do you know who all four men of Mt. Rushmore are? South Dakota is beautiful. The Black Hills are pretty and there is beautiful camping in this area as well as horse back riding. The problem is that it's in the middle of nowhere. We happened to be there during Sturgis Bike Week, so we saw lots and lots of tough-looking men and women on motorcycles. Most of them seemed very friendly.

Martin's Cove

We happened upon the LDS visitor's center at Martin's Cove on our way towards South Dakota. It slowed us down a bit, but it was worth it. It is the place where Latter-day Saint (aka "Mormon") pioneers pulling handcarts were caught in an early winter storm. The 2nd picture is a monument to the 3 young men who helped rescue the handcart company. Many youth come here each year to have a handcart-pulling experience of their own and are also required to cross the river with their handcarts. Families and other visitors can have a similar experience. This is also the route where the pony express used to come through; the landmark is Devil's Gate shown in the first picture. We found out that the LDS Church purchased the land from the Sun Family who owns a lot of Wyoming. The land the Church owns also has a working ranch on it which employs 3 cowboys.

Higgfest Finale

More from Higgfest Continued...

More from Higgfest...

Higgfest in the Mountains

We stayed in a cabin in the mountains with Holden's family for a few days. The festivities ranged from watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and the opening ceremonies for the Olympics to hiking, fishing, and frisbee golfing. Fun was had by all.

Horned Toad Lizard

Holden found this Lizard at Bryce. He seemed to want to be caught, and he didn't try to get away once he was. He even let Holden take this second picture of him up close and personal.

Cross Country Trip

We took a little over 2 weeks to move across the country. We started our adventure with some camping and hiking in Bryce Canyon.

The awesome high 5 shot is at the end of one of the loops on our hike that seemed to last forever.