Russian River Falls

We hiked to the Russian River Falls with our friends, the Young family. I'd done it once before with Becca Thomas and her family last summer, but this was our first time doing it all together (Jacob wasn't there last year). It was tons of fun. I enjoyed walking and talking with Leaca while Jacob and the kids ran ahead of us. One of my other friends, Krista, says that as women, we have a certain number of words that we have to get out each and every day... I don't remember what the exact number is, but I'm sure Leaca and I easily surpassed it!

It was a beautiful day for the hike. At the top, we watched the salmon jumping up the falls (picture credits of the fish actually jumping go to Gordon, I think!). What an amazing sight. I guess these fish are going back to the same spot where they were born... only to die!

The walk back was my favorite part. Somehow, my "too big and independent" five-year-old, Ammon, let me hold his hand for the entire 2.5-3 miles (Jacob walked ahead of us with Abe and Ziya). I was in heaven. We played goofy games like "you pick something you see and tell me what color it is and then think of a rhyming word and you have to guess what it is!" I-Spy was boring compared to this Ammon-invented game. We also played the memory game where we said, "I'm thankful for..." and then the next person had to say that thing plus a new one. If I recall correctly, our list ended up something like this: "I'm thankful for the trees, the flowers, the grass, my family, my body, food, water, bones, the Church, the prophet..." and lots more stuff. There was no bickering, no whining, no hitting... just my sweet little Ammon and me. I was reminded of how important it is to have one-on-one time with my children.

At night when I asked Ammon what his favorite part of the day was, he didn't hesitate to respond that it was walking back holding my hand. I had to agree.