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Arches National Park

Out second day in Moab over Thanksgiving was spent at Arches National Park. We had a great time hiking and taking pictures. The kids loved to climb on the rocks. The weather was great for us especially considering that it was November. If anything, we were over-dressed in our long sleeves and coats. When packing bags, it is hard to know what to bring to meet all the potential weather conditions, but at least with the long sleeves we did not have to worry about sunscreen as much.

Here we have Lori holding-up Balancing Rock. It was heavy, but she is very strong.

Brett is doing what he can to hold the rock up as well.

Lori was afraid balancing rock was going to tip over, so here she is pushing it back into place.

The Windows Section of Arches National Park.

Jared, Brett, Ryan and me at the base of one of the windows arches. I am not sure if it is the North or South arch but I think it is the North one.

Jared sitting up in one of the Windows arches.

Mountain climbing Conner up in a cove by one of the arches.

Ryan wanted to climb-up with all the kids, so I HAD to climb up with them.

Brett and Ryan in one of the coves.

Grandpa did some climbing too.

Troy decided he needed to do some climbing as well and so he took it to the next level.

Here we are all posing for the camera. Conner and Nicholas thought this little cove was so nice they wanted to just set-up house and live there. I think it was Nicholas who said that way he would not have to do any work. I am sure that Dawn just works them to death at home. Nicholas was too funny!

Once Troy got up, he discovered that he had some difficulty getting down. Here I am helping Troy to get down from where he had climbed. Note to Troy: Before going up, make sure you can get back down.

Jared just relaxing in the sun.

Jared and Brett climbing up some more rocks.

This is a picture looking through Double Arch in the Windows Section of Arches. In the background looking through the arch is Balancing Rock. It was still balancing even though Lori was not there to hold it up!

While we were there, we had to make the hike out to Delicate Arch. That was an impressive sight and we were able to get some good pictures without anyone there. The hike was a little tough with Ryan. Brett, Jared and Conner are race horses on the hikes and tend to get way ahead of everyone. They come by in naturally though because I tend to have one speed, and that is fast. I would not have had any trouble keeping-up with them but Ryan is not quite so ambitious. Whenever he falls a little behind he thinks that I need to carry him. Ryan is getting to be a very big boy and he is heavy to carry, much less up the mountain to the Arch. I was still able to keep-up, but it was intense with Ryan on my shoulders. Somebody had to keep-up with the older boys though so they would not get lost. It was a tough job, but I was up for it. In addition to Ryan, I was also carrying the camera bag, which is also heavy. Just in case anyone is wondering, I am BRAGGING, not complaining.

Since I did have the camera, I was able to take a picture of the race horses (and one rider, which would be Ryan) before everyone else got there. Here we have Jared, Brett, Conner and Ryan at Delicate Arch. We did have to wait a long time for everyone else to get there because we were sooo fast! Or, possibly they were sooo slow. I am not sure which it was.

When Lori finally did arrive, we were able to take a picture with her. Here we have Ryan, Jared Brett and Lori at Delicate Arch.

And then our family picture at Delicate Arch. That is me on the left.

Troy's family at Delicate Arch. Dawn, Conner, Nicholas and Troy.

Conner is a bit of a mountain goat and he went out to the Arch with Troy. Brett was a little bit afraid because it is not a direct walk out to it. There is a steep slope down into a bowl right near the arch and I have to admit it was a little bit scary. I was worried about our wild little red headed 3-year old running around the area and falling off a cliff. It made Brett nervous and he did not want to go out to the arch. So, I took Jared and Ryan out and this is a picture of us standing under Delicate Arch. It puts the size of the arch into perspective.

This is Conner, Troy, Nicholas, Jared, me and Ryan under Delicate Arch.

A close-up of us under Delicate Arch. It is hard to get a good perspective of the slope of the rock around the arch, but it is steep. The thing that makes the walk easier is the sand stone is not slick and it is easy to climb on. But it is steep and there are cliffs nearby. I kept a good hold on Ryan and Jared kept a good hold on my all on his own. Conner showed no fear. Keep that in mind because in my next post (not sure when that will be) the irony of that will be demonstrated.

Grandpa joined us under Delicate Arch for a picture.

Brett with Grandma Sorensen at Delicate Arch, back at the safe place.


Lori and Dawn under Delicate Arch. Lori took a turn to go out there.

Lori and Dawn under the full arch, giving the size of the arch perspective.

Dawn and Troy smooching under Delicate Arch. The shadow makes it hard to see, but Troy is putting some drama into it.

This is a picture of the bowl around the arch. It is tough to really capture the perspective of a 3-dimensional world in a 2 dimensional picture, but the clop and the cliffs are impressive. That is why Brett was so nervous about walking out to the Arch. In the end though, Brett got brave and walked out with me under the Arch. We do not know if we will ever get back there, so Brett figured it was a once in a lifetime chance.

The whole crew minus Dawn and Lori.

Lori jumped in with us for this picture....


Then Dawn and Lori switched placed for this one.

Nicholas and Ryan playing in some holes in the rock on the Delicate Arch trail.

Our final hike was out to Landscape Arch. It was getting into the evening and cooling off. On the trail Jared got cold (he did not bring his coat) and so I gave my jacket to him. Recently a big chunk of Landscape Arch fell off and there were people there that filmed it. In typically knee-jerk over-reaction, they will not let anyone get near the arch. It has been how many years since anything fell before? How many years will it be before anything falls again? I think the risks of driving out of the park are higher than having anything fall on someone, but now nobody can get close to the arch. It is probably more of an excuse generated bu the environmental wackos to restrict access than it is about the real risks of someone getting injured, but this was about as close as we could get to Landscape Arch.


A picture of Landscape Arch. It would have been better if there would have been blue sky behind it, but considering the time of year we were just glad to have such marvelous weather.


Jared at Landscape Arch.


I know that we would have been safe to climb around Landscape Arch because Brett would have held it up for us.

As we were hiking back to the car, the sun came out again and made the landscape even more striking with the light and shadows.

We had a great time at Arches National Park and we were able to see quite a bit of in it one day. The weather was great and it was so fun to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen and Troy and his family. We are so glad that Troy was able to go with us. The kids loved being with Conner and Nicholas. I think I can safely say that a great time was had by all.

Merry Christmas

We would like to wish both people that come to see this blog a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Both of you have received our annual Christmas Card Mailing, but just in case someone missed it, attached is a miniature of what we sent out.

I suspect you cannot read the writing on the card, so this is what it says: Merry Christmas to our family and friends this holiday season! We are doing great. Shane has started a new job at Chevron & we will be staying in Houston, Texas. The boys are doing well. As you can see by the pictures we are staying busy. Lori is just trying to keep up with her "boys". If you want to find out more about what is going on in our lives you can go to our website at www.slsorensen.com. Love, Shane, Lori, Brett, Jared & Ryan Sorensen

We went to see Santa Claus last Friday and this is our annual Christmas Picture.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Be sure and check back to our blog often over the next year because I will be posting on our many adventures.

4-Wheeling in Moab - Gemini Bridge

On the Monday before Thanksgiving we went 4-wheeling in Moab, Utah. Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen brought their two Jeeps and two 4-wheelers to accommodate everyone. Troy, Dawn, Conner and Nicholas came with us and we had a great time. It was really nice to be able to spend time with Troy and his family. We are really happy that our kids had the chance to spend time getting to know their cousins.

Ryan and Jared are ready to go on Grandpa's 4-wheeler.

Jared, Ryan and me ready to go on the 4-wheeler. The good news is the weather was very nice. We needed jackets but it was not too cold riding the 4-wheelers.

Our first stop was the top of Gemini Bridge. Grandma warned us that there were shear cliffs and we all needed to be careful and not go running off. It was a bit scary at times with the young kids running around but we made it without anyone falling off a cliff. Here is Conner, Jared and Brett at the top of Gemini Bridge.

Brett, Jared, Nicholas and Troy cautiously looking over the edge.

Grandpa drove his Jeep Cherokee out on one of the bridges. The picture does adequately represent what it feel like to be out there on the bridge, but on each side of the Jeep there is a drop off. Nicholas gave us a bit of a scare when he went to go get in the Jeep with grandpa and headed straight for the hole in between. Troy was able to get his attention in a hurry and stop him.

All of us (except Grandpa and Lori) cautiously looking out over the cliff. We have a tight hold on the kids because we did not want any of them getting too close to the edge.

This is Troy setting a bad example for the kids and dangling his legs over the edge of the cliff. I was not that brave (or dumb, you decide).

This is our family standing out near the edge of the cliff. We are holding on tight to the kids as you can tell from the picture.

This picture gives a better perspective of where the Jeep is parked.

Kids love to climb on and under rocks. Here we have Brett, Jared, Ryan, Lori, Grandma and Conner playing on the rocks.

In this picture we have us playing on the rocks some more, Troy in particular.

Super Jared taking off!

Troy, Dawn, Conner and Nicholas posing near the edge of the cliff.

Nicholas showing us his muscles. He is HUGE!

Grandpa loaded-up the Jeep with all the grand kids that wanted to ride with him off the bridge. Here Grandpa is going to get in. Keep in mind that on this side of the Jeep it is a shear cliff as well as the far side.

Grandpa driving on the bridge. Scary!

After we spent some time at the top of the Gemini Bridge, we went to the bottom to look up. Here is Brett and Jared with the bridge in the background. Grandpa parked his Jeep right above Jared's head.

We had a great time the first day in Moab. On the way back at dusk (too late to get pictures) we saw some mountain goats. What a great time we have going to Utah. Grandpa and Grandma take us out and it is like a high adventure resort!