Grand Canyon, Phantom Ranch

I had the unique opportunity to go with my sister LeAnn on a backpacking trip to Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon. Her group had one member drop out and I was able to take her spot with just a week to prepare. It was such a fun girls trip and I enjoyed being with the women who were there, especially LeAnn. We took 7 hours to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, as we were taking pictures and enjoying the scenery with all the snow! We all prepared well and were warm through the whole hike. We enjoyed dinner at Phantom Ranch which was stew and salad and then we slept in the bunkhouses and left the next morning. We hiked much faster going up, at least an hour faster. I stayed behind and helped one of the women get through since she was struggling the last 3 miles. We made it safely up and had a blizzard to drive home in. I learned quickly that the road I take to go home was closed from the weather and I had to detour through Las Vegas. I ended up spending the night in St. George at my grandparents 2nd home and got home the next day with good roads. I had two adventures! I hope to enjoy more trips like this soon!

Dinner at the top of Grand Canyon (south rim)the night before we hike down.

Playing around after dinner at the gift shops!

 Our gear is on, let's do this! Getting ready to brave the snow and start the decent!

Here we go! I'm at the back! It was pretty aggressive wind but the canyon blocked it when we started to descend and we were able to enjoy a calm hike down with snowflakes floating around us! Just gorgeous!

 Selfie! Yep we felt crazy to start with so much snow but it was beautiful and we brought spikes for our shoes and poles to keep balance!

We picked up another woman and helped her hike longer than she anticipated. Jen was traveling the area and was from back east.

 Me and my sis at Indian Gardens!

 Yes, there was this glorious RAINBOW! How magical!

 At Bright Angel Bridge! Almost to Phantom Ranch!

 Hooray! Time to relax and get dry!

 I got to sleep on the top. Funny enough, the window was open and the heaters were very warm! We all slept well, especially since another group joined us who were sawing logs through the night. It was pretty comical!

 Dinner at Phantom Ranch! Not fancy but very good stew!

 Starting the ascent with snowflakes at Phantom Ranch!

Finishing the last half mile!

Drawing

Kevin took a quick picture of me drawing. I am illustrating a book for my sister Diane. I've never done it before and it is hard to find time to do it. There are 41 pictures for the first book and I've only made it through the first couple chapters! It is fun to share in something like this with my sister. The stories are really good too. I'll keep drawing!

Paper Castle

Kevin made a fun date night with me. We get LOTS of scraps of paper from a friend and so he decided we could use them to make a castle. With the help of a stapler we were successful! The kids ended up playing with it for a few days which made it even more of a success. I love it when Kevin thinks of fun things for us to do.

Stitches

Apparently it was my month of pain. I had two moles removed and STITCHES. It wasn't fun but the healing process wasn't too bad. It will take weeks to have the redness fade and a year to have my scars completely settle into being one with my skin. It had to be done sometime so why not now.