Happy Halloween

In honor of Halloween we decided to skip the typical haunted houses, corn mazes and costumes and instead went to Texas Road House for dinner and then saw the movie Vampires Assistant.

  

                                                       Heidi and Jonathan

Sharon and Brian

Jordan and Brook

Kourtney, Dave, Heidi, Jonathan and Mary Vaughn

We had such a fun night together.  Dinner was so good and although the movie wasn't our favorite we still laughed a lot and had a great time. 

Festive Fall

Jordan and I were walking to work one morning when we saw this amazing sunrise.

The first storm of the season came in suddenly and left just as suddenly.  It was a high of 30 degrees with a wind chill factor of ten below. It was so COLD! We were happy when the next day it was back to being sunny and warm. 

 

Sharon and I carved pumpkins in her apartment to decorate the front desk.  It made it feel much more festive and I think we did a pretty good job.

Game night at Zion Ponderosa! 

The very few of us left working during the fall have spent the last few nights playing Skip Bo, Phase Ten and a really fun game called Last Word. 

While Caitlin, Ryan and his parents were visiting the resort we decided to go on an ATV tour.  Jordan just happened to be the guide who could take us. 

Jordan and I were the only one's who had ever driven an ATV before so it was really fun being with them as they experienced handling an ATV for the first time.  They had a few moments of missing the turn off for the trail, rolling backwards on a hill, getting really dirty, and having a lot of fun.    

Angel's Landing

"The route to Angels Landing involves travel along a steep, narrow ridge with support chains anchored intermittently along the route. Footing can be slippery even when the rock is dry. Unevenly surfaced steps are cut into the rock with major cliff dropoffs adjacent. Keep off when it is wet, icy or thunderstorms are in the area. Plan to be off before dark. Younger children should skip this trail; older children must be closely supervised."

Caitlin, Ryan and Ryan's parents came to Zion National Park for the weekend. 

Ryan, Jordan and Ryan's parents wanted to hike to Angel's Landing.  Ryan's parents hiked to Scout Lookout while Jordan and Ryan went up the chains to the top of Angel's Landing. 

Caitlin and I decided to go into Springdale for the morning and spent the day going to see different artists and stopped at the local stores and orchard. We had a great day just being together as sisters.  I loved having family here.  And although we weren't able to spend a lot of time together we really had a great weekend having them here. 

Angel's watching over my family

Jordan and Jonathan were sent to an outdoor and recreation fair for a few days in Salt Lake City. 
Jordan was driving our general manager's truck and Jonathan was driving behind Jordan in the company van.  They left around 7pm. 

Just outside of Bryce Canyon, Jonathan said that he saw the taillights of the truck swerve, shift into reverse, swerve again and then the truck slowly pull over onto the side of the road.  He jumped out of the van and what he saw was nothing short of a miracle.  The front of the truck had been pushed up and wrapped above the roof of the truck.  The passenger side wheel had been smashed into the cab of the truck left resting on the steering wheel.  They immediately called 911. The paramedics came and they discovered that Jordan had walked away with not a scratch on him.  A little sore from hitting the steering wheel but no injuries.

What happened was as Jordan was driving at 65 mph when he came around a blind corner. Standing in the middle of the highway was a large black cow.  With no reaction time there was little Jordan could do but try to keep control of the truck as he hit the cow.

I was told about the accident the next morning.  I stopped into the lodge for breakfast and my coworker Sharon asked if I had heard from Jordan yet.  I knew from the look on her face that something had happened.  I called Jordan who calmly told me that he was fine, and that he loved me and would be home in a few days.

I know without doubt that angels were with Jordan that night.  I feel so incredibly grateful for the protection that was given and so blessed for the miracle that had happened. 

    

Moments from Jordan's trip to the San Rafael Swell

September Wrap Up

September went by so quickly. Here is a brief recap of our month in Zion National Park. 

Jordan and I have been constantly working at the resort.  We meet such interesting people from all around the world each week.  Some guests are friendly, courteous and so happy to be here.  While others hate it the moment they drive into the resort.  My favorite guests to come were an older couple who walked in and immediately asked to be upgraded to the best place possible (this was before they ever saw where they were staying), next they asked for organic tea to be brought to them each morning, the music be turned off at the pool, the hot tub to have more bubbles and the temperature to be cooled down, and my favorite, terry cloth bathrobes, which they walked around in (with nothing underneath) their entire stay.  We do our best to accommodate each guest but there are some who we can't help but be completely entertained by.  

We worked the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort booth at the St George Marathon Expo.  We sat at the booth, handed out fliers, signed people up for a drawing and answered questions.  Most people asked about Zion National Park not the resort and it is surprising how much I have learned about Zion's hiking trails, restrictions, hours, ect over the last few years.  I felt pretty knowledgeable. As a bonus for going to the expo the resort bought us dinner.   

Jordan went with our friends Jonathan and Issac to The San Rafael Swell.  He spent a few days in several slot canyons TA-ing for Issacs BYU's canyoneering class. He loved being with the boys for a few days amd playing in the canyons. Sadly while Jordan was there he forgot his backpack along with our camera so no pictures for awhile.

We learned through experience the importance of keeping an eternal perspective, having hope and how comforting the temple can be.     

We celebrated our one year anniversary!!!  Originally we had planned on going to the St George temple and then to a Thai resturant for dinner.  We realized that both of us were working and that our plan would have to be altered.  So after talking it over we decided to save up our money and celebrate a little later by going to the Tuachan in St George to see Thriller for Halloween with Thai food before the show.  I am so excited!  Jordan is loving, caring, protective, funny, hard working and my best friend.  I feel so blessed to be building a life with him and excited to see where the next few years take us.

Zion National Park has sunsets unlike anything I have seen before. They are breathtaking.


Jordan and I have been spending most of our days working long hours and spending our nights around the campfire, in the hot tub or watching movies with our coworkers on the projector.

It was very busy over Labor day weekend but slowed down enough in the last few days that we were able to go to dinner and the movies with most of the staff.

We are looking forward to hiking another canyon but are waiting for the flash flood weather to pass before trying our luck. We feel pretty blessed to be in Zion this fall for Jordan's second internship. He has been given some pretty incredible opportunities that he wouldn't have found anywhere else.

Western Legends Round up

Jordan and I went to the Western Legends Round up in Kanab, Utah over the weekend. It is a weekend of old western movie stars, fiddling, quilting, tractor pulling, a lot of John Wayne and for the first time a rodeo.

As we were leaving for Kanab we noticed a fire on the hill across from the park. From the amount of smoke we thought it could be in the park or near the resort. We found out that it was a controlled fire almost 200 miles away!

Once in Kanab we spent the evening walking around looking at booths, stopped for pizza and then went to the first ever Kane county rodeo. We met up with some of our friends from the ranch and had a lot of fun. At the rodeo they had calf roping, break away roping, team roping, barrel racing, mutton busting and my favorite bronc and bull riding.

Orderville Canyon

At the trail head

Remnants of a flash flood a few months earlier.

Finding obstacles along the way.

Revisiting the place in the narrows where Jordan proposed a year earlier.

Welcome to the Narrows.

"Orderville Canyon is an adventure through a slot canyon, so spectacular that it rivals the grandest of them all - the Zion Narrows. At the start of the route, juniper and pine trees abruptly give way, as hikers drop into a brushy waterway and see their first glance of a waterfall, if it has been a wet year. Rock walls and waterfalls slowly start to populate the stream as towering vertical barricades enclose the canyon. A trip through this slot is not a meager undertaking. Several obstacles requiring competent down climbing skills, and rope work complicate the 10 to12 mile trek. This one-way 'hike' begins outside the eastern boundary of the park and ends at the Temple of Sinawava in Zion Canyon."

Jordan, our friend Adella and I started our technical hike to Orderville canyon around ten in the morning. Most of the morning was spent as an easy down hill hike into the canyon. Once in the slot canyon we realized rather quickly the danger of slot canyons and flash flooding. We saw trees stacked one on top of each other climbing half way up the canyon wall. We had to weave ourselves through the wreckage in places in order to continue.

We located our first obstacle, a large boulder. We found the bolt and secured the rope. Jordan was the first to climb down landing in thick mud and surrounded by hundreds of bees. Adella and I followed next down wedging our bodies in the center of the rock and chimneying our way to the bottom where Jordan guided us across the mud trying to keep us out of it as much as possible.

We weren't hiking for very long when we found we were hiking in shallow water and finding our next obstacle another boulder. This time we had two choices: a hard down climb which should probably be rappelled or a shorter down climb along the side of the canyon wall. The tricky thing about this was the water being trapped along the side of the canyon created a small and fast moving waterfall. Jordan anchored the rope and climbed down the waterfall, splashing into cold, deep water. He swam to the edge and Adella was the next to go. She also climbed down without much trouble. As I adjusted the rope in my hands I started to climbed down the rock. Water was splashing and moving very quickly around me. I couldn't find a foot hold! Everywhere I placed my foot it slipped on the slick rock. I placed all my weight on my left foot and tried to continue down. Almost instantly my foot slipped and I fell down, scrapping my elbow along the rock and landing in cold water. I quickly swam to the side, Jordan checked my arm (bleeding but fine) and we continued on.

I had heard there were only two obstacles in Orderville canyon. Thinking we had successfully managed our way through both of them I relaxed. This only lasted a short time. We found ourselves climbing down logs, boulders, and swimming through dark, deep and COLD water to reach our final stretch exiting Orderville canyon into the Narrows. Seen we started seeing other hikers who casually hiked along in the river. We one the other hand were exhausted, cold and ready to be out of the water. The narrows felt like they would never end. Once we reached the river walk we dried off, took the shuttle to our car and drove as fast as we could to make it back to the resort in time for dinner. At dinner I started to notice all my cuts, bruises and swelling ankle. All of that didn't bother me for a second. I was so proud of myself. I had hiked twelve miles, overcame my fears, and loved every moment.