FHE - to Bridal Vail Falls

Monday I went to FHE and we went as a group up to Bridal Vail Falls. Here I am with (left to right) Corey, Me, Steven, Katie, and Amy.

Katie is sitting at the base of the falls, we crossed a small stream in order to climb the face to get to these pictures.


Here I am at the base of the falls, see my hair pre-fall exposure...just wait till you see my hair at the top! (I'm kind of sitting like a little girl, it was not planned)



Here is the falls from the base. They are incredibly beautiful, we climb up a 90 degree angle wash to get to the middle level of the falls. It was awesome.

Here is the Provo river that runs at the base of the falls.
And across the way you can see a small little fall on the other side of the highway. I want to hike up there to see that one.

Here we are after we get up the wash, some of us were really tired after the climb, but man did all of us enjoy it...can't you tell. We are smiling aren't we? Ok, that might be because I insisted on a photo and everyone is just grinning and bearing it.

Here is another picture of all us with Steve included, he took the first shot and thought he got out of the victory shot, but I insisted.

Alright...here is the picture you have been waiting for...check out the wind tunnel hair. The wind coming off the falls in incredible. I felt I really needed to have my feet planted on the ground to keep from flying away.

Pretty incredible what Heavenly Father gives us to enjoy. We have this beautiful earth that is full of wondrous things if we but look for them. I am so grateful for the beauty of the earth.

Alright, back to the group...here we are doing funny faces. I love pictures like this, because it shows each person personality. I tend to be a geek, others tend to be nerds, and some are just space cadets..but at the end of the day we had fun.

I don't have a picture to prove that we made it down from the falls safe (actually I fell going done and ended up batter and bruise) but we did make it. All of us lived to tell the tale of FHE at Bridal Vail Falls.

Hunt Reunion

Mom, Bridgette, Brindy, Kaely, and Brynna came to Phoenix to get me to go up to the mountains for the Hunt Reunion. We stopped in Globe for lunch and we at Mexican food...yummy.

Here's us at lunch enjoying to food. Below is Brindy in the car after dinner...so cute!


With all the carbs in our lunch Kaely went right to sleep as we headed up the road to Lakeside, AZ. The pink ball is the one her mom bought her at Sam's Club to take out camping (FYI, it popped on day 2 of camping...Bridgette, you should demand your money back!).

Here is beautiful Bridgette making some lunch while camping. She was always the first to start helping with breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and everything she cooked was amazing. I hope to learn some mean cooking skills from her.


Here is mom closing the door of the trailer for about the 500th time. The little kids liked trying to get inside and grandma was forever shoeing them outside to play.

Here is dad just chilling and enjoy the camp. We had a great time just sitting around the camp and fire visiting. We re-told all the old classic family stores, laughing, sometimes so much that we ended up crying. Ahh so many memories of camping.

Here is Alexsis giving Brynna some love for the camera. The kids would get clean up and then about 10 minutes later their faces where as dirty was before the cleaning. It was a never ending battle with the dirt. The war was only raged before meal times and if the children wanted snack they at those with dirty fingers...hummm good vitamins, right?

See here is grandma engaged in the battle of clean faces, but dirt aside I think everyone had a wonderful time.

Here are the girls enjoying lunch at the feet of their father. Cody was in charge of making sure they at all of the dinner in order for them to get their dessert. Brynna desided to help Brindy with hers, here she is sneaking a bite off of Brindy's plate.

Grandpa and Lance...you could not go more than 5 minutes without seeing grandpa and some baby having a good time.

Here I am with all the kids trying to climb into my lap at once! They ignored me the whole trip but then when one wanted to sit with me then everyone wanted on! J/K. We were having a group hug and it just got bigger as each kid wanted to be a part of it.

There was a pinata brought to camp by Debbie and Lee Wayne's family. They invited all the great grandchildren to come and take a wack at it. Even Grandpa Hunt got a shot at it.

Here I am laughing at something funny. Mom got a hold of my camera and took a candid shot of me. Serves me right, since I am always doing it to everyone else, but at least I am smiling!

Here is Grandpa Hunt and Alexsis sitting at the campfire one night.


Here is Grandpa hunt enjoying his 84th Birthday cake. We all had cake and ice cream to celebrate the occasion.

And here is the family...showing how much we really love each other...J/K we are making silly faces..and hey, it got a laugh out of Grandpa Hunt and Dad so it was worth it!

And the Rain Came Tumbing Down

And the rain came tumbling down...over the ridge creating a spectacular waterfall. It is spring in Oregon and that means rain fall, the wonderful benefit of all the surplus rain is the creation of waterfalls. This waterfall is running so rapidly because of the steady rain Oregon has been getting all winter. David said that the falls are almost non-existent in the summer because of the drought and heat.


This water fall is massive and we had to wear rain jackets to keep from getting soaked.


Check out David and the boys...so cute


Here is the attempt to show you how big the falls actually is...


And here is the indian tribe decked out in all our rain and winter finery

Little waterfalls or streams could be seen through the foliage all along the path up to the top of the falls.

Every switch back on the trail has a marker that helps hikers to count down till they reach the top. We started off really good, all in good spirits, and energy.

Part way up the trail we encountered a group of mourners who had the bagpipes playing and a funeral procession following down from the falls. We were never really sure what it was about but hearing the bagpipe with the mist from the falls made one feel as though you were in "County Tyrone, that's in Ireland".

Here is the view for one of the switch backs, we climbed only about 1 1/4 mile up but we went straight up the mountainside. You can see a lake in the far distances.


Well, we were doing good but here is the Reinhold family taking a breather half-way up the mountain. Gabe and Braydon are doing more then breathing...they are taking advantage of the short distance to the ground and the fact that they are boys and do not care if their cloths get dirty and wet.
Here is the view looking down from the falls. It is straight down. The noise is incredible and the view spectacular.

We all made it to the top and a good Samaritan took our picture.

Right behind the long drop off is this beautiful mini water fall.

Here is one happy couple. Can you feel the love tonight?


Views of the stream that creates the waterfall can be seen the last 1/4 mile of the trail.

Here is the wet and tired group taking advantage of Ruth's desire for a ton of pics to take a rest and get a group shot. We picked up a little babushka along the way. Das Vi Danya, Vonda!

This reminds me of a Bob Ross painting for some reason.

David took this shot...great job...the views were just incredible.

Say cheese!

Give us a big kiss, Braydon! Yummy you taste like vanilla!


The Babushka allow me to take a close up picture with her.

Here we seek refuge from the rain in the whole in the rock.

Aaah...may the beauty of the waterfalls and the thought we had there linger in our hearts forever..it all seems but a dream...the wonderful time we spent admiring God's beautiful nature.