Nature smells so good

My most favorite thing about Utah is all of its gorgeous nature!  Nature makes me so, so happy.  Within thirty minutes of us, there are hundreds of hiking trails, dozens of waterfalls, dozens of lakes/reservoirs, tons of biking trails, and so much more.   If I ever feel overwhelmed, I just need to take a short drive (or even a short walk), and I'll find myself right in the middle of nature.  Wonderful, pure, beautiful nature. We have embarked on many adventures over the past few months.  There are so many trail heads and different paths, and we have gotten 'lost' a few times and ended up on different trails.  A few of our recent hikes lasted 4-6 miles.  All three of my boys hike on their own, and I'm always impressed by Blake.  He has hiked more miles in his two year old life than I did my entire childhood.  One hike was about five miles round trip, part of which was uphill and rocky, and Blake completed most of it himself.  Blake will cry if Jason and the older boys get too far ahead, or when he gets tired, but he usually will walk 90% of each hike himself.  Chase usually complains the most, but ends up having fun once the hike is over.  Wesley is full of energy, and loves being in nature like I do (but has more endurance than I do lol).  Wesley has crazy rock hounding skills, and usually finds a fossil on almost every hike we go on.  He is always hunting and exploring, and finding treasure.  One time he found this tiny circular metal object.  Wesley was convinced it was an ancient fossil, and anytime someone walked past us, Wesley had to stop to tell them how "there used to be a giant lake that covered all of Salt Lake, called lake Boniville, and there are a lot of fossils in this area."  He would then say,  " This is a crustacean fossil!!  Isn't it amazing!"  One man started to say, "I think that is small washer..."  When his girlfriend nudged him hard in the side and played along with Wesley's story, "Oh Wow!!  That is amazing!!"  Most people try to walk away as Wesley continues to yell after them so he can finish his story.  Hikes are so much more fun when there is a Wesley around.  (unless he is trying to walk to the edge of a cliff to get a better view..)

I'm so grateful to live in such a beautiful world!