The Bright Side of Life

It will always be easy to find the gray in life; the bad, the sad, the stressful, and the boring bits. Which is why we must always try to find the bits of color. Some days they will be harder to find than others, but with an open heart, open mind, and open eyes you will always be able to find something, be it big or small, to brighten your day and bring a smile to your face :)

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; 
the tang of the untainted, fresh and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought."
- Helen Keller

“For beautiful eyes, look for good in others;
for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness;
and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

-Audrey Hepburn

Sunshine

 

 “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” 

-
Helen Keller

Zion National Park

Zion was our last stop before heading home. It was so beautiful, and definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. Our first day in Zion we took the Emerald Pools trail. It would have been an easy hike most days, but it was 106 degrees the day we went! Despite the heat, we had a good time. Our second day we went on a hike called "The Narrows". The "trail" is actually the river, and you walk through it as it goes through a canyon. It was so amazing, and so much fun! We also saw a lot of cool wildlife in Zion; lizards with vibrant blue tails, deer, ground squirrels, dragonflies, frogs, and tarantula hawks (a type of hornet that has the 2nd most painful sting of any insect in the world!) Zion was a great way to end a great trip :)

Animals in Western Nebraska

Here are some pictures of some of the animals we saw when we were in Western Nebraska. I took the top picture when we were driving through Lodgepole and we saw a field with at least 30 horses in all different colors. My parents had to stop and let me visit them and take some pictures - a definite highlight of our trip :) The next two are pictures of some cute, feral tabby kittens we saw near where we were staying. There was a mom and five babies. The last picture is a baby horned toad we found on a hike. I can't believe my brother found this one because it was so tiny, they blend in perfectly with the rock, and the sun was starting to set!

"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained. I stand and look at them long and long."  -Walt Whitman