Pioneer Day

All day long AnDee would ask "whats this day called again?" I tried to explain to her what a pioneer was but I just dont think she was completely understanding. So we thought we would show her by doing our own little pioneer trek. Ok. Not really, we really just went for a great big hike to spot some elk for dads upcoming hunts.
We headed up to Fairview canyon and spent the day fishing and hiking. I cant think of a better way to spend a holiday. The fish we caught were pretty small but it turned out to be a good thing cause AnDee officially caught a fish all by herself. Ok.. so Andrew helped with the cast but only a little, she is actually surprisingly good at it. She hooked it and reeled it in. She is a pro.

After fishing and lunch we headed up to the very tip top of the mountain. Dad and Dyl got out and started "glassing" (as they call it. I just say they used their binoculars to look for elk but whatever)

and found a pretty good sized herd.

 If you look close you can see one of the bulls. He's laying down.
We decided to hike down and see how close we could get. The kids where amazing. I told them we had to be sneaky like Indians (and by that I mean native Americans of course... and sneaky in a good way. Im not racists I promise) They didn't make a sound the whole way down. It was steep and a little scary watching our train wreck 4 year old try to navigate it by herself but she made it out alive and the scenery was incredible!

I have honestly never seen so may wild flowers! Gorgeous!
We did however stumble upon a few deer carcasses. They smelled real bad and I'm pretty sure whatever was eating them was stalking me for a while. Andrew and Dyl left me with the kids for a while to try and get in a little closer to the elk and I could just feel something watching me. I was terrified. And then we found this footprint...

needless to say I was glad when Andrew and Dyl came back.
We also walked right up on an eagle sitting in a tree. We got about 15 feet from the tree before it flew away. I wish I had pics. It was so cool. They are such big birds! We could hear the wind whistling through its wings.
AnDee walked all the way in and all the way out by herself and that is saying something. It was NOT an easy hike. She tried to give up a few times but we kept reminding her about how good it would feel to get to the top and be able to say she did it all by herself. Its funny though cause while she was complaining that she was too tired to hike anymore she would just randomly wonder off a little ways and start climbing up giant boulders. (Thats her new word. Boulder. She uses it whenever possible.)

We were all pretty tuckered out by the time we headed home...

it was a good day.