Utah Bucket List

There were several things we wanted to do before we left Utah. We've known a long time we'd be leaving eventually, since neither of us loved it there. So we had compiled a list of things we wanted to do and see before we left. Once we knew we were leaving, we started knocking a few things off the list right away. We still have a bunch of stuff we still need to do in the future, but here's what we were able to do:

1. Fairly Land of the Uintas

This was about half an hour into the mountains from Sam's parents' house in Midway. We met up with Caity and her kids, painted a bunch of rocks we found, and carted them into the Uintas to find them a new home at the Fairy Land. It was so cool. There were all kinds of painted rocks, houses, decorations, etc. Some were really old, but most were recent, since someone blogged about it and it made it on Pinterest. It was pretty neat to wander around in the forest with the kids and look at all the fairy houses. We made our little fairy setup with the painted rocks (with "Wasden" in runes because fairies) and built a little teepee out of sticks and called it good. It was pretty fun.

Caity and her kidlets

Mystical

Searching the forest

Somebody else's house

2. Camping at Bryce Canyon

Sam and I never had the chance to camp by ourselves while we were living there, so we left the kids with my mom overnight and made the trip down to Bryce Canyon. We hiked around in the canyons and had a great time. It was wonderful to recharge with each other. We stopped at Cove Fort on the way home since Sam had never seen it and I was sick when I went as a kid and couldn't enjoy it.

I forgot the name of this river, but here you go

Hoodoos?  You do.

These are the only slot canyons in Utah not carved by flash flooding

3. Timpanogos Caves

Sam had never been up here, so we made a quick hike of it one evening when it was a little cooler in the day. We enjoyed the caves. We had a very small tour group with no kids and the ranger was very funny. Actually I feel like you have to be able to make all kinds of puns and lame jokes if you want to be a successful park ranger ;)

I really hate this picture because it's making our heads look like they're being pulled into a black hole

The Heart of Timpanogos weighs as much as a baby elephant

4. Bridal Veil Falls

I had never hiked up to the base of the falls. It was a quick hike but very steep and parts of the trail were eroding and it totally did not feel safe. But again, my anxiety is through the roof at the mo, so of course I felt like we were all going to die. But nobody did!

Hiking pals

5. The Cake I Promised Ian

Ian missed our wedding, so I always promised him I would remake our wedding cake (on a smaller scale of course) so he could have some. I made it for a family dinner and there were at least 17 things to celebrate at the time, so it was everybody's cake. It was rich chocolate cake with chocolate mousse & chopped (garden fresh!) strawberries for the filling, and a rich chocolate ganache for the frosting. So very yum. I will miss making desserts for our monthly family dinners.

Happy* cake

All things to celebrate

6. Prince Family Reunion

This wasn't really a bucket list item, but we did need to do it before we left. Adrien & I had volunteered to plan and carry it out this year. Overall it went pretty well, and as long as people had fun, it was a success!

Everybody loves Grandpa Prince

Enjoying the obstacle course