Chocolates, Devil's Garden, and the Slot Canyons

Last year, Will was introduced to Thanksgiving at the cabin. This year, he reaped the benefits of being one of the family. Instead of sleeping on cots, we got a "married people bed." As part of our new role of grown-up folk, we also assumed some responsibility for the Thanksgiving feast. I was a little ambitious and decided to make orange rolls in addition to crescent rolls. We ran out of flour. Needless to say, bisquick is a great substitute.

After the feast, we embarked on our long-time tradition of making chocolates. Will and I decided our contribution would be the caramel. Unfortunately, we struggled with the "hard-ball stage" to say the least, our caramel turned out to be toffee. Thankfully, Wendy and Torrey, my aunt and uncle, came to our rescue and made some more. We're now enjoying a vast array of chocolates and getting much closer to becoming diabetics.

We got a little cabin fever after Thanksgiving, so in the middle of chocolate-making, we took the kids to Devil's Garden, a vast aray of hoodoos found near Escalante. These are some pictures of the gang.

The kids loved crawling in all the little caves and passages. Contrary to popular belief, I think I will be a cautious mother after all. It's one thing when I go rock-climbing and another thing when little munchkins are scrambling around.

To the right are some hoodoos. (I just really like that "hoodoo" doesn't sound scientific at all.)

And here's a little hoodlum. (She's wearing a hood. . . silly)

The next day, we decided to go to the Slot Canyons with the little Widget. Canyoneering with a two-year-old poses some unique problems. I think Will was more concerned about the dangers of the car ride than the actual expedition. He got a little car-sick from Justin's off-roading.

Kell insisted on wearing the "pack-pack" but could barely walk around with it since it was just about as heavy as he was.

See that little white speck sandwiched between cliffs--that's me!

All in all, Thanksgiving weekend was a grand adventure. It was fun to relax, eat food, be with family, and explore new places around the cabin.