The Rowley Family: Arches National Park

This summer Justin and I decided that instead of going to Montana we would head down to the Arches National Park and go camping with Justin's family. We camped at Devils Garden Camp ground. It is the only camp site that is actually in the park so we were excited. We arrived on Thursday around 3pm and Justin's parents were already there. We visited before picking a spot for our tent. So that night Justin and I decided to roast hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner. We did have fun sitting around talking and visited with Justin's siblings that trickled in as the night went on. Here are some pictures of us roasting marshmallow and hot dogs.

That night it was actually not the best night. Keyan and Leah both woke up screaming and we were having a hard time getting Leah to calm down. Justin finally took Leah on a walk outside the tent at 3am and it worked she came back and climbed in bed with us and promptly fell asleep. So having Leah in bed with us I was up bright and early at 5:30 and was able to watch the sun come up. It was sure beautiful. I had to take some pictures.

Here is our tent...I had to take this picture of our tent sitting at our camp site...even at 6 in the morning it was pretty hot with out any shade.

Here is a picture of Justin...early early morning with out sleep.

After getting ready we headed off to go hiking...but first this is a picture of our campsite...arches all over the place.

The first placed we hiked to was called Landscape arch. This picture was taken only after hiking for maybe an hour. It was so hot..we actually did not make it all the way to the arch. Leah was crying and Keyan was tired from our long night so Justin and I took some pictures of the arch from a distance and carried the kids out..

When we got back to our car it was 106 no wonder the kids where hot tired and sleepy. So we ended up driving around looking at different rocks formations while the kids took a nap in the car. here are a few favorites.

When we got back to our tent we realized that our rain flap had come off. Then we realized that the wind had blown sand and covered all of our sleeping bags and blankets. It really was a mess trying to shake everything out. I do have to say that..that night it was like sleeping with dirt all over everything. Later that day we decided to drive down to Moab to get more ice for our coolers becasue it was so hot that all the ice had melted. While there we got ice cream and had a fun time just sitting in our air conditioned car...it was nice...

That night the rest of the family arrived and we had a family dinner all together...Well sort off. Dinner actually did not get done until 8pm so we all ate watermelon rolls and junk food because we were so hungry waiting for the food...and eventually the food was ready but the kids were not anymore..oh well it really was great...thanks Jessie and Leif for cooking it. That night was also not the best night for Leah...while playing with cousins she fell into a cactus and we had to take tweezers to get all the thorns out...She as not happy...I felt so bad for her...not fun.

The next morning we all went hiking together as a family we went to an area called the windows and got to see many arches. It really was a good hike because when you got to the arch it was shady and it had a breeze..Some parts were more windy then others but it make the hike bearable.

Leah with her cousins and Justin's parents.

Here is Leah...She was so cute and really loved wearing her dora hat she picked out before we left town to go on our trip.

Here are my cute guys.

Can I say that i dont know why Leah can not smile anymore...she used to give me the cutest smiles and now all of the sudden she does not know how to anymore...i he she grows out of it.