Facebook has changed our lives!

Since Megan and I have discovered Facebook I have been less than stellar at blogging. Since on Facebook you generally post what your doing, where you are and what's going on in your life, I haven't really seen the point in keeping up on the blog, but due to overwhelming pressure (Megan keeps asking)I will try to make a more diligent effort. This past summer we had many adventures, and went to a lot of places. Our adventures began in April when we went to Disneyland. This was Makenzie and Kaleb's first visit to the magic kingdom. We also visited the beach, Makenzie liked the beach more than Disneyland, but she had fun at both places. In May we went to Bryce canyon and stayed at the lodge. Bryce canyon has always been a favorite place of ours, we usually try and go a few times a year. While there Kaleb got pink eye, and by the time we left he could hardly open his eyes! We went on a big hike, it was about 6 miles, Makenzie did the whole thing by herself. I thought that I would end up carrying her up the canyon, but she made it all by herself the entire way! In June Megan and I had the opportunity to get away for the weekend by ourselves! Last fall Megan won and all expense paid trip to Durango Colorado. Durango is a fun place, we ate at places that we wouldn't normally eat at, and stayed at a nice hotel in town. The trip included going river rafting, and those of you that know me know I hate anything that has to do with water since I don't swim, but I agreed to go rafting with Megan since she has always wanted to go with me. I actually had a good time, and survived to tell about it! Later on in June we took the kids up to hike Timp. We hadn't been to timp in years and I had forgotten how strenuous it is, but once again Makenzie hiked all the way up and back down by herself, she has become our little hiker this past summer! July we decided to take a trip up to Yellowstone and do some camping. Out of all the trips we went on this past summer, Yellowstone was our favorite! Everyday while we were in Yellowstone we would spend the entire day out driving around from one end of the park to the other seeing all the wildlife and the sites, and wouldn't get back to our trailer until late at night. Yellowstone has so many neat things to see and the wildlife makes it that much more exciting. Also in July Megan and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary, we went to the Anniversary Inn. We love that place the themed rooms are fun and the breakfast is even better! August we had our Carpenter family reunion at Moon Lake in the Uintah's. We got the chance to relax and go to the wildlife museum in Vernal. We also went to Moab and did some hiking in August. Moab is another favorite place of ours, we love to go hike the red rock and go to Arches and hike to delicate arch. Later in August I had to go St. George to go "work". So we stayed at a nice hotel in a suite, and ate good food, and Jiffy Lube paid for all of it! While I was out working, Megan took the kids to the wildlife museum in St. George, and went shopping. Since summer was winding down we decided we'd make once more trip in September to our favorite place.....Bryce Canyon! We stayed in tropic in a log cabin, and then we drove to Escalante to go hike Calf Creek Falls. This is a pretty nice hike, not too strenuous and it has alot of good scenery. Well about 1/4 mile into the hike it started to rain. It continued to rain until we got to the falls and then it stopped. We stayed at the falls for a bit and then decided that we had better get going so we could make it back before the rain started again. That was a great idea, but as soon as we started hiking again it started to rain lightly. Soon the rain turned to a down pour and we were getting soaked and the ground was quickly turning to mud. Eventually it got so bad that it was hailing and we couldn't even see the canyon walls, there was several inches of standing water because the dessert floor had become saturated,and the lightning was getting closer and closer! Makenzie was scared and crying, Kaleb was on my back in a hiking pack and freezing to death. The canyon was filling with water and all the rocks had waterfalls coming off of them. Megan and I decided to keep going and press forward, to hopefully get to the car before it got worse. Just as we were coming overt the last hill before the car the rain stopped and we made it back to the car okay. I think that is probably one of the craziest experiences I have ever had. Back in the day when I used to go out hiking with the "boys" it didn't really matter what kind of trouble we got into, because it was just us boys, but it's a different kind of feeling when you have your family with you and you get caught in a flash flood. After getting back to the car we luckily had a change of clothes for Kaleb, but not the rest of us. I ended up finding a laundry mat in Tropic and washing all our clothes and shoes. The next day was better we headed over to Bryce Canyon, but after being there for a minute we made a split-second decision to go to the North rim of the Grand Canyon. Hey it's only a few hours away! So we headed for the Grand Canyon, and spent the day there. Well the weekend was over....or was it? On our way home I decided that since I didn't have to be back to work until that Wednesday, we should extend our last outing of the year and hit Las Vegas! To all those who think Vegas isn't family friendly, your wrong! There's plenty of stuff to do there for families and stuff that is free also. October was Megan's birthday and so thanks to Megan's niece, Jaelyn, we spent another weekend with no kids and went to Las Vegas again. In November I had a Real Estate convention in San Diego. I honestly think I could live in San Diego! What a beautiful place, and tons of fun things to do. While I was in meetings and classes all day, Megan took the kids to Sea World. We went on a fun cruise of the San Diego harbor, and enjoyed the great 70 degree weather. Since we were in California we had to hit the Magic Kingdom again for the 2nd time this year. We have never been there at this time of year so we didn't know what to expect. Disneyland was all decorated for Christmas and was very fun! They had converted the haunted mansion from it's usual ride into a scene from Nightmare Before Christmas. Main Street was all decked out for Christmas as well as Sleeping Beauties Castle. There was even snow on main street and a huge Christmas tree at the top of Main Street by the train station.
It has been a fun and eventful year. We are grateful for all our friends and family and look forward to spending the holiday season with you. Hopefully I will be better at keeping up on this blog and staying in touch with everyone through it.