Sawtooth Mountains-Family Vacation

Every summer the Badger's go on a family vacation to the Sawtooth Mountains. It is one of our favorite family vacations and we always look forward to it. This year was so much fun. We spent time fishing, four wheeling, swimming in mountain lakes, and enjoyed spending time together. Dave's dad was able to come with us again too. We even saw a badger this year! We will be looking forward to next year :)

Slots of Fun!

Over the weekend Dave, my sister Katie, and I headed down to St. George to explore some new slot canyons. The first canyon we hiked was a semi-technical slot called Red Cave. This canyon is located on private property and we had to get permission before we could do any hiking in the area. We called the family who owns the property in advance and got permission to hike into Red Cave. When we arrived we started walking down a dirt road and an old man with half of his teeth missing and a worn tin hat came out to see what we were doing. We thought he might be a member of the family we had called. Dave asked him if thats who he was to which he responded, "Hell No!" He then said, "I want to cut his *#% **#% head off! I own this property." Dave went on to ask him if it was alright with him if we hiked into the canyon. He agreed to let us pass and be on our way. The canyon was beautiful and well worth it but was lacking in water so the 110 degree weather took it's toll on us.


The second canyon we visited was a technical slot called Echo Canyon which is located in Zion National Park. The canyon contains six rappels and a lot of swimming in what is said to be some of the coldest water in the park. We got a permit to visit the canyon, rented wetsuits and had such a fun time exploring this canyon.

Yellowstone

We went on a Badger family vacation over the fourth of July weekend to Yellowstone. Dave's dad even got to come with us. We rented a cabin and stayed in a little city in Montana called Silver Gate. Dave, his dad, and I slept in a Jumping Jack. From day 1 we saw an abundance of wildlife and more bears than we have ever seen in Yellowstone. We saw over 20 bears this year! We drove up the Beartooth Highway which is such a beautiful and amazing place! We took some small hikes in Yellowstone and even got to watch a firework show in Cooke City, Montana. Overall this was a great family vacation. Robbie is on a mission and Heather is in Hawaii going to BYU so we missed them but we still had a wonderful time! Enjoy the pictures!

Images can be clicked on for a larger view.

Girls and Nephews

Dave and I got to go up to the Heber Valley Girls Camp and take the fourth year young women on their overnight hike. The girls learned how to make dutch oven spaghetti. The Heber Valley Camp is awesome and we all had a great time! We went to the desert last week and up in the mountains this week. Isn't Utah great!?

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We have been promising to take some of our nephews on a hike we know of to catch horny toads. We finally found a time that worked for all of us. It was so much fun to take them hiking and as you can see we definitely were not disappointed!