mammoth creek cabin...

for the fourth of july chris and i headed up to mammoth creek with my mom and my siblings to the old family cabin.  my grandpa and his brothers built this cabin a million years ago... now it is owned by my mom's cousin so we rented it for the weekend.  it was so much fun to go back!  we used to go every summer when i was little till i was about 8.  my mom would take all us kids up there with her mom and we would spend a week... and during that week we would play in the river (which is just outside the back door of the cabin) and we would run up the mountain side outside the front door and play in this ancient fort (which still stands) and we would go out to this field to hunt for horny toads and we would visit the lava caves... etc.  

my siblings and i were so excited to go and kept sharing all of our memories from previous trips.  mine of course being the one where my aunt julia took the little kids on a little hike/walk where we ended up across the river from our cabin up on a road... you could totally see us below and she had us all take our shirts off and wave and yell at our moms down below who were in the back yard reading books... 

it was really fun to see the cabin... even though improvements have been made it still looks much the same... 5 bedrooms with a million beds crammed in each one and 2 bathrooms... the front room has the dining table and kitchen and then there is a little den with tv and what not... the favorite place to hang out is the back porch... so fun to sit in a chair and read a book while watching the river and seeing the kids play all over...

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the first day we were there we took a hike to cascade falls... its fascinating as the water is just shooting out of the side of the mountain... it come from the navajo lake above and then eventually the cascade falls goes under ground to become mammoth creek springs... its very cool. the hike was really crowded but still fun and easy (thank goodness) 

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we had a good time playing by the river.. it was way too cold and way too full to actually get in but the little babies had a great time putting their hands in and throwing rocks...

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we also had a hilarious time trying to get a good picture of the three grandkids... as proven below it was impossible but the result of trying was still really funny...

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the next day we visited the lava caves... they are these underground tunnels that are crazy dark... like with out flashlights you cannot see anything... i even felt like i couldn't breathe it was so dark... we made the half mile way through the tunnel and crawled out this tiny hole at the end and were covered in mud... but it was totally worth it and way fun!

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the boys also had a good time climbing on the mountains of lava rock....

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i took our nice camera up with us so chris and i could have a little fun taking nice pictures... i got some really cute ones of my nieces and nephew... they are just so darn cute!

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on the last day chris decided he had to jump in the river... it was very cold and moving fast but he had to do it at least once... our camera has this really neat sports mode that take continuous pictures.. so you get to see the whole movement of chris jumping and and the river pushing him over... it cracks me up when his leg pops up out of the water... he said it wasn't that cold... it feels the same as lake tahoe.. and i said yeah... that means its cold!! 

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on the drive home we took the scenic route to look at cedar breaks... which is breath taking!! 

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the trip overall was amazing and fun and so great to spend all that time with my family and get to share our memories with our spouses ... and it was fun to just be there again... you are so cut off from the world up high in the mountains like that and its really just kinda nice!!