Battle Creek Falls

Today Caitlyn had her second counseling appointment.  She decided that she would like to get some counseling to help with her anxiety and work through some other things that are hard for her.  She is such an empathetic person so she takes on other people's problems a lot.  I worry because she worries more about protecting other people's feelings than she does about sticking up for and protecting herself.  She started going to the same place that Wyatt goes and she has loved it so far.  She loves art, so she loves that she gets to work on art while she talks to her counselor.  She finished this painting today. I loved her explanation of it. She said, "the sand is the beginning of trials or hard things and at first they don't seem too bad, but then they get bigger like the rocks and you can feel the rocks and they are harder to get rid of, but you have to embrace it and be able to work through the trial to get to the seashell.  The shells represent what you have gained from your trials and experiences.  They are all different shapes and sizes and they help you have experience and strengthen for your next trials."  She is such a wise girl!

I have been searching for family friendly hikes around Utah County and I found one I wanted to try in Pleasant Grove.  Caitlyn had a birthday party and I knew Jonah would rather be with his friends so I texted Tiff to see if they wanted to join us.  I'm so glad they did, it's always more fun with the Barths.

Tiff got Hallee and Tessa these hats, so cute.  When people passed us on the trail they would tip their hats and say, "greetings."

There were lots of places to climb and explore off the trail.  We let the older boys do it a little bit, but we tried to keep them on the trail for the most part.

You can't resist climbing on a huge rock!

The trail only had a few shaded parts, so I'm glad the girls had their hats.

We were all excited when we reached the part of the trail with water running by it. I love the sound of rushing water.

We made it to the top and were rewarded with this beautiful water fall.  

We took off our shoes and socks and climbed up the rocks to the water fall.

I wish I would have brought water shoes.  Those rocks hurt your feet!  It felt great to get our feet in the cold water and feel the cold, wet breeze!

Wyatt is always looking out for me and wanting to help.  He told me that he wanted to carry the backpack down the trail for me.  He is such a sweetheart.

We saw a lot of beautiful views.  Overall it was a great hike.  It was a little steep and rocky in some places, not what I would classify as family friendly, but it wasn't too bad. 

We stopped at a few different places so that the kids could throw rocks in the water. 

The boys were sure that this was a real bear cave!  I'm so glad we went, it was such a fun adventure!

We were all hot after the hike so I talked Hallee and Wyatt into going swimming.  We grabbed something to eat and then headed over to the pool.  We had fun playing in the wave pool for an hour before we were ready to go home.  I'm glad my little two still like to hang out with me.  We sure had a fun day!