Hiking and an accidental experiment with mosquitoes!

On Friday our family decided to take a hike near Kanaraville. Apparently, there is a hike up one of those canyons that has ropes and ladders, and no, that's not the hike we took. Well, if it was, we didn't get far enough in the canyon to find the ropes and ladders.

The kids were troopers. They were tired on and off on the way in and Ben and I took turns giving them occasional piggy-back rides. The next day my back told me Melanie is a little too big to get piggy-back rides anymore!

Melanie loves to draw things from nature - flowers, trees, animals, rocks. So this trip we brought along the camera and she had a blast and went overboard with pictures. There were a lot of beautiful flowers along the way. There was one section that had a bush similar to a rosebush, but the flowers were little pink five-petal flowers. They smelled absolutely amazing. I wish I could have transplanted some to a bucket, but alas, my black thumb would have just killed it. Here are some of my favorites.
I don't know if I took this picture or if it was Melanie who took it. Either way, both of us need to work on focus. I love orange, and these little orange flowers stood out beautifully among the foliage. Besides that great smelling flower that I neglected to get a picture of, this was my favorite. It reminded me of a starfish. The color was this great pinkish reddish. Maybe Tearese can tell me what color that would be? :)


Here's a picture of the kids before they got tired - we're right at the beginning of the hike here. I should have taken pictures of us coming out of the hike because it would have been a totally different picture - literally.

This little guy was one of our favorite finds. He was in a hurry to cross the trail, I'll tell you that much. He didn't want to stop for a photo shoot, but the paparazzi got him anyway.

We actually saw a lot of interesting wildlife out there. We saw a couple of lizards, but they really weren't about to sit still for some camera time. We saw some huge spiders, one of which had these orange and brown stripes. He blended in really well with the red sand. The cicadas were out in droves and we could hear them clicking and buzzing. Did you know cicadas live underground for most of their lives? We found all these little holes on the trail, and a cicada was sticking it's head out. They had also been molting and their skins were everywhere near those holes. Interesting bug.

This little stream was running back and forth throughout the trail. Both Melanie and I loved this picture, where the stream sneaks into the protection of the trees. She said she wanted to take the picture to President Eastmond, our Stake President who is an artist, and ask him to paint it.

We finally made it into the canyon, and turned right back around. This picture of Carter should illustrate why. You know the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Well we had some very hungry mosquitoes. I'm not an outdoorsy type of girl, so you can't blame me, but you can blame Ben because he knew the mosquitoes would be having a "frat party" as he put it. And let me tell you, they were! But, Ben is the only one who paid for it.

You see, I'm not allergic to mosquito bites. They suck my blood just as much as anyone else, but I don't swell up and itch - at all. My dad is the same way. I told Ben even though I inherited his stubbornness, it's a small price to pay for not being allergic to mosquitoes. Anyway, we always wondered whether our kids would be lucky enough to pick that trait up from me. No more wondering. They have. Ben got eaten alive out there. He was still itchy Saturday evening. But not I nor any of our kids had any kind of reaction to the mosquitoes. I can see several places on my arms and legs where I was bitten by the nasty little things, but I never itched or swelled up.

I don't think they like the way I smell because they weren't swarming me like they were Ben and Carter. And it's funny because Carter has the same skin texture as Ben, but Melanie and Riley unfortunately inherited my excema skin. It's rough and bumpy and burns easily. But even though they liked the way Carter tasted, he didn't have a reaction to their bites.

The hike was great, and the funniest part was Melanie at the end. Once we got to the canyon, where there was more water and significantly more mosquitoes, Melanie was so ready to go home. When we turned around she led the way without any complaints. She just started walking and didn't check to see if we were following. Ben said she reminded him of a horse that has smelled home. She smelled the van, and there was nothing we could do to stop her from getting there as soon as possible!