For the love of the mountains

I will never tire of the mountains here in Utah. They are perfect, absolutely spectacular. And only minutes from my house. So on Tuesday when the weather was divine and the baby was happy, I thought I'd take a little walk in the mountains, just the two of us.

We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Lake Blanche trail head and just enjoyed the splendidness of it all. I pushed the stroller up the paved trail for a bit and then let my boy out to "walk". With one hand in mine he zooms around quite quickly. Every day I notice he needs my hand for balance less and less. However, it is the sweetest thing in the world when he reaches up for my hand so we can walk together.

James loves to "hike" over rocks, sticks and logs. I swear, we never stay on the trail because he sees something like a big rock off to the side of the trail and all he wants to do is step on it or over it. He'll be a good hiker one day, I can tell.

There is a little waterfall next to the trail. James and I sat here and ate lunch. And did you notice the amazing color of the leaves in the photo above?
I love to sit James down and watch him explore the world around him. He uses his little pointer finger to feel new textures.
Oh wow, he's found a stick!
And tasting a rock...
One of Jame's tricks these days is kissing. When I say "kiss kiss?" he will open his cute little mouth into a perfect O and leans in for a kiss. It is a little slobberly, but the cutest thing ever. While we were up the mountains he seemed to be in an extra kissy mood, so I tried to do a self portrait. Glad it kinda turned out.
Such a love.
He loves water and kept trying to lunge himself toward the river. I found a calm spot that he could splash in.
Near some big rocks he found another stick!

Of course he had to taste it.