Summer adventures

My cute niece Makenzie just graduated from High School. She decided that for her senior trip she wanted to come and spend a week in Price with Scott and me. I reminded her of what Price consisted of, and she still decided to come here. I was worried about what I was going to do to make this trip special, because really, you only get one senior trip. Unfortunately I could only take limited time off of work so she got to spend a lot of down time by herself but we tried to find some fun activities to make the trip memorable.

The day after she got here, we went to Scofield Resevoir where they were having "Pleasant Valley Days." Every town in central Utah, at some point in the summer, has an event like this with booths and good (greasy) food, entertainment and lots of other activities that brings everyone together. Being up in the mountains I anticipated the weather to be a little cooler. Boy was I wrong. We lasted for about an hour and a half before we were both miserable. We did stay to watch the "Rubby Ducky Derby" that they have each year. People can sponsor a rubber ducky, by paying $5, and win a price, if they come in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or last. The proceeds are donated to a local charity. I bought one and we watched the race. People line up on the banks of the river to see if their ducky wins a prize. It's a fun tradition for the community. Here we are waiting ever so patiently.
And here they finally came!
On the 4th we didn't have much to do during the day so we took a drive up to Joe's Valley Reservoir. We had never been up there but had heard good things. The weather didn't hold out long enough for us to do much, but it was a pretty drive and an every prettier reservoir. It makes me want a boat.
Playin' on the unstable dock.
The following weekend, my parents came down with Nick and Sydney (Kenzie's brother and sister). The kids had never been to Price in the 3 years that we had lived here and were excited to come down and see what it was all about.

My mom, Kenzie, Nick, Sydney and I went to the USU-CEU Dinosaur Museum. I am embarrassed to say that I had never been there before. I was pretty impressed by the artifacts that they have. They even have an alligator, and we happened to be there during feeding time. Watching an alligator eat live mice is pretty disturbing.

They had some fun activities for kids, including fossil brushing.
We had a great opportunity to take some fun pictures.
The next morning, Kenzie, Nick, Scott, my dad and I left my house at 5:30 and headed for Arches National Park, where we made the hike to Delicate Arch. It was hot, and we got lost, but we had a great time and the reward at the top of the trail is always worth it.

Nick, Dad and Kenz under the Arch.
We had some extra time before we were supposed to meet up with my mom and Syd in Moab, so we ventured over to some other Arches. Kenzie, Nick and I were too sore and hot to do anymore hiking so my dad and Scott made the hike to these Arches called the North and South Windows.
After meeting up with my mom and Syd, we drove 90 minutes south to a town called Bluff, Utah. We were all so exhausted and it was over 100 degrees outside but we were too close to this special little town not to go. Some of my ancestors helped settle this town and 3 years ago my dad, his siblings and some cousins went down and built a small cabin (in 3 days time) as a memorial to these pioneers.
A plaque about my great great grandmother.
It was such a fun and memorable week with Kenzie and some other members of my family. I'm so glad that they were able to come down to Price and spend some time.