Little did our family and friends know we were keeping a special secret at our wedding. The timing was perfect to announce that we were expecting when we got back from our honeymoon. It was probably one of the hardest secrets we’ve ever kept.
We knew we were going to be going to a lot of national parks on our trip. I wanted some sort of prop that we could use to take pictures of at all the parks. That’s when my husband and I decided to get a pair of kid hiking boots to use for pictures that we knew our baby could wear one day. I had also found a onesie that said “Our next great adventure”. As a couple always going on one adventure to the next, we found it fitting since this was going to be our next, and biggest adventure yet.
Zion National Park
Our honeymoon started at Zion National Park, and we did the West Rim Trail which takes you up to the start of Angels Landing. The views at the top were amazing, so we took our first announcement picture there. We knew we had wanted some sort of keepsake from each national park. We had decided on patches or magnets and then used them in the some of the pictures.
Bryce Canyon
Our next stop was Bryce Canyon, which we started with a horseback ride through the park. This worked out great, as we only spent about a day there. After our ride, we spent time at the main lookout point, not long after you enter the park, to watch the sunset.
Arches National Park
One of the mornings, while we were visiting Arches National Park, we did a sunrise hike to Delicate Arch. We saw many arches at the park, but there was something special about the hike and experience of watching the sunrise here that made it the perfect spot for an announcement picture.
Dead Horse State Park
While staying in Moab, we heard others talking about this state park and wanted to check it out. The views and landscape were just as stunning as a national park’s. You could see for miles and had a great view of the Colorado River running through.
Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park
Being from the East Coast, the trees here amazed us. There were a bunch of photo opportunities, but we ended up deciding to showcase one of the giant trees.
Yosemite
We had almost a week to spend in Yosemite. This gave us time to really explore and even go to some far out places like Hetch Hetchy and Tenaya Lake. Every part of this national park was beautiful, and we knew that we couldn’t just take one picture here.
Once we returned home, we told our families that we wanted to show them a slideshow of pictures from the trip. This was true, though, as we had seen and done so much and wanted to share it all with them. However, they were not expecting to see these pictures throughout the slideshow. Then for other family members who we may have not had time to share all the pictures, we picked one to show as our “favorite”. It was the best surprise to plan and we made lots of special memories creating and sharing the pictures.
