Mount Timpanogos

I convinced my sister-in-law, Emily, to hike with me to the Mount Timpanogos caves this week. So, armed with our collective 7 children (we had to count three times and correct ourselves twice to come up with that number, by the way, when buying tickets for the cave tour), 2 of whom can't walk and 2 of whom may or may not prefer to walk at any given moment, we trekked the mile-and-a-half trail that took us straight up nearly to the top of the mountain. It took us two hours, a pretty decent time considering what we were hauling up the hillside. When we finally got into the cave, McKay started yelling, "I think I'm done now. Can I go?" & Matthew started bawling & hit his head on a stalagtite (or was it a stalagmite? I'm not sure the difference, as I couldn't hear the tour guide's discourse due to the crying and yelling). After the tour, McKay, who had literally led our group up the trail, decided that he was done hiking. He just stood at the trailhead and wouldn't budge. A middle-aged man and 13-year-old boy that had been on the tour with us actually carried McKay and his 2 year old cousin Jeffrey down entire hill. We were also accompanied by 2 female park rangers who made sure the 2 oldest boys didn't run (read: fall) down the trail. The real kicker was that by the end, McKay was snuggling up on the shoulder of the stranger who was carrying him and falling asleep. He woke up to eat an ice cream cone for dinner and then finally fell asleep around 5:30 - we didn't hear from him again until about 7 a.m. the next morning. This was officially the first time I wore McKay out!

By the way, in the picture of Emily and I, I am not striking a pose - I am holding out my arm to keep McKay from falling off the edge of the cliff we were standing next to.