Love this lacolith

Went for a walk with just my cell phone camera.  Pine Valley is so pretty with snow on top and red rocks below that I just had to take a picture.  Love seeing this mountain.

Falling Man Petroglyph and beautiful colors

Saturday afternoon Paul and I drove down past Mesquite to visit the Falling Man petroglyph site.  Even if there had been no glyphs, it would have been worth the trip because the colors were so beautiful.  The clouds came in and the wind blew some, but it was just amazing.  Every time you came around another rock formation there were more colors and more petroglyhs to see.  The Joshuas are about to bloom along with some other spring flowers.  We decided we need to take the family on a camping trip down that way and spend a bit more time enjoying the site.  Lake Mead could be seen shining in the distance.  It would be fun to drive over there too.  There are a lot of cool things down that way.  More "edventuring" sites for the future!  

Beautiful sights en route

We arrive

To get to the Falling Man you got through this little tunnel that has glyphs beside the entrance.  

More glyphs

and more

and more.

Color - this red/orange stuff was "running" everywhere.

More colors and water left over from a recent rain storm.

Good times missed

I'm not whining.  All of my kids/grand kids live in-state.  But I am glad for pictures of the good times we sometimes miss sharing with them.  Juge sent me some that I was happy to see.  Noah's #4 birthday, Eden's #6 birthday and some cute bear hugs and swinging times with the siblings.  Thanks for sharing these missed good times with us.

  

I think the kids liked their presents.  Always glad to see that.  

Finishing off with Kennis' #9

Monday evening we got together to wish Kennis a happy #9.  It was a fun time with presents, brownies and ice cream and plenty of noise from the boys.  Happy Birthday Kennis!  We love you and we are so glad that you were all in one piece to enjoy celebrating your birthday with us.  No more bike riding without brakes!

President's Day weekend "edventures"

Saturday afternoon started with Paul and I attending the Dixie College Art Show - a yearly tradition that we enjoy.  Every year they ask you to vote for your favorite painting for a People's Choice award.  Every year it is not possible to choose a favorite.  This year I decided I would try.  Even though there were many others that I liked just as much I chose Kate Starling's "Dry Creek Bed" because I have enjoyed hiking in places that looked so much like it so many times.  She has many beautiful  paintings of outdoor scenery that I like.  

After that we decided to take a bike ride on a trail the neighbors told us about - "Dogtown Wash" out in Washington.  It is a little piece of bike trail that goes along the river on one section and up a really cool canyon on another section.  We did both.  There were some hills that made us breath.  I need to get all of my bike riding parts back into shape.  While we were there a guy told us about another trail pretty close by that was just a dirt trail - Grapevine.  We headed over there and did a few miles on it until it was time to call it a day.  It will take me a while to get back to riding dirt, sand and rocks again.  It was really pretty and we only saw some horseback riders on their way back.  Also, it is impossible for me to take pictures without just stopping and sometimes on the hills you just don't want to break your momentum, so we didn't get many pictures of the beautiful scenery that was there to enjoy.  

The trail pictures are of the Dogtown Wash trail.  We saw the bird on Grapevine.  He didn't much like having me take his picture and flew off to another pole pretty quick.  

Monday we talked the Borrowmans into taking another bike ride with us.  We did quite a bit of car jockying to make it happen.  We started the ride at the top Snow Canyon on the bike trail that goes along Hwy. 89 and enjoyed the mostly downhill ride turning onto Snow Canyon Parkway and going under the road and ending at a little park in Dixie Downs area - probably about 8 miles. We stopped off along the way to see the job that Paul is working on up in the Ledges. Ferf had the hardest part pulling Gaige and Koen up the hills of the dips.  Kennis scared us all when she had brake failure at the sharp turn to go under the road and did a perfect crash into the bushes instead of a sign or a tree that could have caused her quite a bit of damage.  She came out scared, but unscathed thankfully. Our morning prayers for a safe day were in effect.  Ice cream and fries at Arctic Circle helped us all get over the trauma and we ended on a good note.  I think we can say that we all had a good time.  We are going to work on Kennis' bike before another bike ride.  Tavin is going to work on learning to use his gears.  Brynnli is probably converted to riding the tandem with Grandpa.  They just zinged along trying not to leave us all behind in their dust.  We should have hooked the bike trailer up to that bike!  Bike riding doesn't hurt Paul's knees, so we are going to be doing a lot more of it.  

Petroglyphs, pottery shards. etc.

A friend told me how to find this really cool petroglyph site. We went out to find it Friday afternoon.  Some of the rocks were literally covered with the stuff.  

Some were not quite so covered.  

Finding pottery shards was a first for me.  Some had painted designs and others had formed designs.  We also saw rocks that look like they had been used to grind on.  

A nearby wash was so pretty with rocks of many colors  blending together and even some hoo doo rocks.

More Valentine Fun!

Got some cute Valentine wishes via the e-mail. Thanks Madi and Tahlia.  (Really like that sassy pic of Madi.) Also got some yummy wishes last night which we were too busy eating up to think of taking a picture. Brenden decorated them himself.  Thanks Brenden (and mom and dad).  Eliza entertained us with her giggles when we kissed her toes.  She laughed herself into the hick-ups.  So cute.  Also, my beautiful flower decided to bloom just at the right time to brighten things up for the holiday!  Thanks for sharing your cookies, pictures and love with us.

Valentine bandits strike our front door!

Last night Supe alerted me to the Valentine bandit's strike on my front door.  I had somehow missed it all evening.  The Randall family is fessing up to the strike. We love it and plan to enjoy it for the holiday.  We especially like the little checkered things as we have been sneaking them back and forth to each other for several months now.  I don't know how  we can top this trick, but we will be working on it!  Thanks for the fun.  Happy Valentine's Day to you and we're "nuts about you" too!

Happy #4 Brenden....finally!

This, that and the other got in the way of us celebrating Brenden's birthday, but it finally happened!  He seemed ok with the wait and got enough car toys to make it worth waiting for.  Thanks for being patient.  We love you Brenden!  Can't believe you are already four!

Four candles, three candles, one candle...got 'em all!

More fun last week included a drive to Vegas to get some mat boards for Paul's art.  Later that day the Smiths invited us over for pizza and a movie.  (No pictures of any of this fun.)  Trigg has learned to crawl around and it was funny watching him trying to sneak drinks of root beer from the kids sippee cups and get into whatever else he could!  Thanks for a fun evening!

Brady's baptism

Saturday was a big day for Brady.  He got baptized.  So glad that he lives close enough that lots of us could attend.  Paul and I, the Borrowmans, Lenae and kids and Moss and Christie and kids along with Bryan's folks and Grandma were there.  After the baptism and confirmation we headed over to the Randall's for a so yummy lunch and visiting.  It is so great to be able to enjoy these important days together.  Congratulations Brady.  We are so happy for you and proud of you.  Thanks to Lou and Bryan for inviting us for lunch too.

Just had to get out there while the sun was shining

Friday after school I decided to take time to check out the White Rocks area of Snow Canyon.  Just needed to take a walk while the sun was shining and had seen an article about how pretty the rain pools were up there.  It was beautiful.  There was a family up there playing in the sand and they had one little girl who  was singing about how wonderful the sand was.  It was very cute.  I had to agree with her.  I hiked down the little canyon that I've have only looked down before.  I think I could have gotten clear down to the canyon floor, but decided that time would not permit for it that day. Saw lots of cool little wind/water carved caves on the way. It was worth paying the park fee to get out there and enjoy the sun, sand, rocks and scenery.  Love, love, loved it!