a memorial day adventure in photos {and some shop news}

For Memorial Day this year, we joined some family for a hike up Adam's Canyon.  It's a gorgeous place named for my mother-in-law's family (Adams) just about a 10 minute drive from our house.  I've never hiked it before, but we thought it would be fun to take Noah in the back pack.  Here's the view from just 20 minutes into the hike:

Poor Abe is already pooped!

This is me.  I'm taking a turn.  Oh wait, the pack is empty.  No wonder I'm smiling.  Noah is up ahead with Grandpa Dan.

Now we're into the fun stuff.  If it looks steep, that's because it is.

But it sure is beautiful!

Taking a much needed rest at the mid-way point with Noah's favorite cousin, Jonah (they are just 4 months apart).

Grandpa Dan decided to take a turn carrying Noah.

This is Abe's tired face.  He was in the process of regretting the decision to pack all 37 lbs of Noah up this canyon.

But I feel fine! ;)

Too soon, the trail started getting a lot harder.  For those of us without a giant toddler on our backs, it was somewhat challenging, beautiful and lot's of fun...

But for those of us carrying the giant toddlers... maybe not so much.

This part, among others, gave me a minor heart attack. 

I barely enjoyed the scenery of the beautiful canyon as Noah's safety was consuming my brain!

This is after Abe took Noah back from Grandpa Dan.

This hike is a tradition in Abe's family, but he hadn't done it in quite a few years.

So at this moment I asked him, "Now that you remember the difficulty of this hike, would you do it again with Noah in the pack?"

Abe paused for a moment and said, "Hold on... I think I'm going to vomit."

I guess I'll take that as a "no".

But the end result??  A beautiful 40 foot waterfall!  Here's Noah with Grandma Eve:

And a family photo at the falls:

The way back was much easier.  Here's Noah and cousin Jonah playing at the mid-way point.

Jonah gave Noah a good shove:

And of course Noah needed a quick hug:

It's ok Jonah, Noah needs that every once in a while.

Now it's my turn.  I decided I really wanted to give packing Noah a try.

Wow.  That kid is heavy. 

I only lasted about 10 minutes.  My sister would have laughed in my face.

To my credit, I may have been able to go longer had the pack been fitted for me.

Notice how low the hip harness is.  I had 40 lbs pulling the snot out of my shoulder blades.

I'm just sayin'.

Overall we had a good time with no injuries to any of the group.  A beautiful hike on a beautiful morning!

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And in shop news, I've finished 6 new paintings!  They are a farm series I've been playing with for a while and I'm so happy they are finally done.  I'll be posting them to the shop throughout the week.

Also, Abe has been busy making some beautiful shelving available in the

Pickled Pantry shop!

I'll post pictures of the new paintings and shelves soon!  So exciting!