Goblins in October

We decided to do one last camping hurrah before it got too cold.  We left early afternoon, and made our way to Goblin Valley. We enjoyed the Autumn colors on the drive down.

A few hours later, we finally saw the San Raphael Swell.

Our camp site!
We made it just in time for the sun to begin setting.
Probably the prettiest site we have ever been too. Our tent is the green one.

We had to hurry over to see the Goblins before the sun fully set.

The ground was pretty cool. Almost like stepping on a mattress.

It also looked like the desert from Lion King.

Now we understand why alien shows like Galaxy Quest have been filmed here. Everything really looks like it's from another planet.

Beautiful shadows against the rocks!

Under a mushroom goblin!

And we got to watch the sun set together. Awwww! :)

After that, we made our way back to our camp to begin dinner. We had pulled chicken meat sandwiches, with campfire lemon-blueberry cobbler.

When night fall hit, the sky was spectacular.  We could see the Milky Way, and so many stars and meteors.  It was amazing (it helped that there was no moon). Seriously, we saw a few dozen meteors.

Our tent in the night sky. Too bad you can't see all the stars...

Our portable hammock for stargazing. We were so amazed at the meteor shower and the billions of stars in the sky, that we watched, and cuddled beneath, the stars until 11:00pm. It was awesome!

We just couldn't get enough. Even in the tent, we stayed up watching the stars. 

Us watching the stars in our tent. We have a full mesh top. Also, Taylor has some lungs!  He blew up our air mattress all by himself!

The next day we hiked Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon in Bell Canyon.

The beginning of the hike.

A few minutes in...Taylor loves finding, and playing in, quick sand. 

The walls of the canyon began to rise and became more narrow.

Soon, we came to the mouth of the actual slot canyon.

Which was flooded...

But we still dared to cross!

However, due to recent flash floods, boulders blocked our way through the narrow slit.

Taylor surveying a pass. You can see the boulders in front of him.

In the end, we had to find a different route...but we got great pictures!

Adorable...with soaking boots.

We found a safer way to climb in, and began our journey through the canyon.

This was our first narrow hallway. The end was only wide enough to fit us through. 

Can you see me? Taylor loved taking these kind of pictures. 

"Hello!"

Part 1 of the canyon was finished. We came to a clearing, and behind me is the mouth of Part 2. 

Part 2 is much more narrow and exciting!!

Here we go!

The Canyon behind us! So amazing we got to walk through that!

After 4 hours of hiking, we were ready to head home. Here's the shot of us saying goodbye to Goblin Valley area. Farewell till next time.

And to keep up our tradition of going to aquariums on vacations, on our way home Monday night, we had to stop by Cabella's to see the fish get fed.

All About Witches and Cats...

Taylor finally decided to get his back checked out. He's been having mid-back pain for the last year. Although it is hard to find out the actual cause, we found out some interesting thing about goofy Taylor: he has a goofy back. It fits him well! :)

For example, this picture says it all. The spine is only supposed to have 5 spinous processes (the bone alignments in the middle of the x-ray). Taylor has 6.
Also, if you look at the last vertebrae before the hip connection, his transverse processes (the wings) are different sizes. The one on the left is three times as large as the one on the right. It even overlaps with the hip!
That's pretty tight, eh?  X-Rays are awesome!

And Taylor and I got a new pet: a Ruger LC9. Soon we will be concealed carriers!

We took these pics after Taylor brought our girl home. We've already taken a Basic Firearm Safety Course, and have our concealed carry course next week. 

Ready for action!

On Saturday, October 10th, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving early because we had a campout planned on actual Columbus Day. We decided to make Jigg's Dinner, a traditional Newfie favorite.

Taylor wrapping split peas in old shirts to create pudding bags. The beginning of pease pudding.
Also, the big 'ol corned beef is soaking pre-cooking. 

Ready for boiling!

 Three hours before the meal, we began boiling the beef and pease pudding. We had so much food, we had to use two pots, and invited my parents over to help eat it. We won't see them this Thanksgiving, so we thought it was appropriate. :)

After two hours on the stove, we added the parsnips, cabbage, potatoes, turnips, and carrots. 

Oh SO good!

For dessert, Tay made blueberry duff.

Again, wrapped in a pudding bag for boiling.

All wrapped up and ready to go! I love blueberry duff. 

One hour to go!!

And for the first time ever, we added dumplings to the meal. 

The whole plate! Taylor even made maple acorn squash. 

Blueberry duff! Tasty!!

 That night, Tay went through a scary transformation. Taylor turned into an orange kitty-cat thing.

And suddenly gained amazing make-up skills.

Okay, I admit it. I'm a witch. I made him my kitty for the night. My magic was too good. Taylor even started acting like a real cat, forgetting his human nature.

I had to leash him up for the public's, and his own, safety.

In every picture, his cat side showed through.  

He began hunting around every corner, and brought me this muskrat as a gift. 

Kinda weird, but at least my kitty husband loves me.

And Cat-husbands do have their uses. Taylor's instincts allowed him to kill this fly out of thin air.  No really...he actually killed it in the air.

Happy cat!

At least he maintained enough human nature not to eat it...

One Wedding, Two Throw Ups, And Three Scouts

DeMarie and Cody got married at the SLC Temple.

 (I really didn't feel well, but I think I made myself look pretty good)

The Drakes

We met Taylor's namesake: Taylor Drake Nielson (Mike's cousin).  He had a really special gift for Taylor.

He gave Taylor the scriptures of his Great Grandfather, Herrick Munson Drake. They were passed down to Taylor 1 before Great Grandpa Drake died, and because the note inside was written to "Taylor", Taylor 1 saw it was only fit that the set was passed down to Taylor 2 (my hubsters).
The note talked about how Tay's ancestors showed the mummies of the Pearl of Great Price to visitors back in the early church. That's how we're connected there...

The next day, Saturday, Taylor threw up in the bathroom...and it got all over the floor. Before he could clean it all up, I stepped it in.

On Sunday though, I got him back by throwing up in the middle of being set-apart...and he had to hold an empty trash can for me, in the bishop's office, and then wander around the church halls with it trying to find a bathroom for me, and a place to clean it since it didn't have a liner...

Thank goodness for washing machines - and washboard abs.

We witnessed the Supermoon Blood Moon.

We taught the scouts how to build a fire, and then cooked smores.

We started decorating for Halloween.

When this cool cat was all done being made, he started giving some attitude.

So now he's in the dog house on the front porch...

We made some honey wheat cinnamon rolls for General Conference.

Yup, tasted like honey wheat cinnamon rolls...

Taylor left me a note in the shower.

Can you read it? Guess what it's written with:
My hair.
Ew-some and romantic.

And Tannin didn't want to be left out of all the holiday celebrations, so one night she stuck a bunch of pumpkins and spiders to her walls.

"Hey, Mom and Dad!  Did I scare you?"

And I got some more injections in my back...

Yay for modern medicine!