Payson

On Father's Day Mike wanted to head out on an adventure after church. So we packed up a lunch, changed into our adventure clothes, and looked up some trails on-line. 

We were excited to go visit Payson. 

First we visited the Grotto Trail which has a waterfall. Bonus!!
The trail was super easy. A short 1/2 mile hike. It's all flat with a small incline. There's wooden beams that make it easy to cross the rocky stream. So our hike was about 5 minutes! 
Seriously.... super easy!

When we got to the waterfall it was super crowded. It turns out that this is the hotspot for most Utah County families since the trail is so easy that little kids can do it without help. So we stood for a moment and moved on.

Mike went a little further on the trail, where most people don't continue due to it's high steep rocks, to see what was further. So while he ventured out I stood with our girls and played in the stream.

This was really odd for passerby's to see. People were walking on the large rocks so their feet didn't get wet. Us- we're at a waterfall so getting wet is part of the plan.
Ducati found this stick and started singing me some songs. ♪♪

I was wanting to take of picture of our girls and this is what I got. These girls have such a sense of humor that I wanted to remember their funny camera pose faces forever.

Lily was really excited to find tadpoles on the underside of this rock. She yelled so loud, "Mom take my picture with these baby toads."
When Mike got back he didn't notice anything of excitement so we decided to find our own trail.

 This lead us to walking down side trails, which lead to rocky stream, where we found ourselves under an overpass. Lily and Cati thought it was so awesome we were under the street.

Now we drove up further into the mountains where there was no cars, no people, just us. Just how we like it. We enjoyed our picnic and enjoyed the noises of nature much more. We seen robins and dragonflies everywhere around us. It was so amazing!

But we didn't not like how there was trash everywhere. So to motivate our girls to help clean up we promised them ice cream of they helped clean up this spot. And they took it to heart. Every single thing was picked up. Once we were finished we started our drive back down the town and they had us stop when they seen a large McDonald's cup thrown into a shrub.
We teach our kids to never leave behind their footprint so it's so annoying when others leave behind everything single thing.

For ice cream we stopped at Daley Freez. Support Local Business' when we can.
We got ourselves some chocolate dipped ones and a blackberry shake.

Apparently they are famous for their lime ice cream. It's like lime sherbet. So we weren't fans. But whatever. At least we can say we tried it.

 

But we couldn't leave without seeing the Payson Temple. We've seen it from the highway but it doesn't to it justice unless you see it up close. The way the walls circle out. It reminded me of the White House. The gates were closed to we only could drive by. It was still beautiful to see.

I love this state we live in. There's so much to see and experience. I'm thankful to have this opportunity to see another small part of Utah's beauty.