Travis and Malachi went camping in Great Basin National Park with Jonh, Trent, Uncle Dan, Bubba, Trevor and Taylar. Great Basin is the least visited National Park!
I was reminded by someone that our tax dollars are paying for these beautiful parks - we should take advantage of them! Travis said it was worth the 7 hr. drive and he would definitely go back. I hope to go with him, next time!
Malachi crashed!
Bub and Taylar saying cheese!
Trent
Papa John
Mountain Man Trent
Beautiful aspens on the way to an amphitheater.
In the caverns.
Trent caught a fish - so did Trevor, but I don't have a picture.
We went camping last weekend up in Williams with my family! But, before I go any furthur, I have to make a confession... we stayed in a hotel. I know, I know, that is not real camping (although, I'll have you know, even of those who really "camped", only Trent and Trevor slept in a tent and Grandpa Dennis under the stars! The rest were in motor homes.). :)
Anyway, the day before we left on the trip, Morgan got a cold, along with a fever. The fever was gone by the next day and we figured he would be just as miserable at home as he would be out in the fresh air, so we decided to go, but to stay in a hotel since it still gets very cold at night. I think he enjoyed camping a lot, actually, with all those grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins to squish on him!
Camping was a blast! We had LOTS of family: Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Vickie, who hosted the event on their property; Uncle Bubba, Trevor and Taylar, up from Phoenix; Uncle Dan and Great-Great Grandma Dea (do you know anyone else who can say they went camping with their great-great grandma?!); Papa John and Grammy Jamie with Darrell and Trent; and Uncle Don and Aunt Pam who brought Chewy, their dog, along for his first camping trip!
Along with Chewy, the other trip mascots were Bud, Rocky, Bocifus, Foxy Lady, and Husso.
It was a big crowd!
The next few posts will be mostly pictures from our trip! I had fun with my new camera, however, I felt a little frustrated. I was more interested in simply capturing the moment and it was frustrating to have to focus so much on simply learning the basics of how to use the camera. Uncle Dan taught me a few tricks, though, so it was fun to get to practice a bit!
Some of the pictures were taken by Darrell, too.
Enjoy!
Darrell had lots of fun getting pictures of the camp fire!
Grandpa and Grandma, the camp hosts
Grandma Vickie and Foxy Lady
Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Vickie, Uncle Dan, G-Grandma Bryant, Darrell around the fire
Malachi loved putting on Trent's helmet!
Beautiful Indian Paintbrush
Trevor caught lots of butterflies!!
Trevor, Taylar and Trent with their butterfly nets
Malachi admiring the kids' catches. I love the dirty face - evidence that he had lots of fun playing!
Trent adding his catch to the collection
On the lookout
Darrell's only catch of the day...
Trevor was the butterfly catching champ, though Darrell has the record for the biggest catch!
Great-Great Grandma Bryant and Foxy
(From from to back) Travis and Malachi, Grammy and Morgan, Trent, and Trevor
on a hike near a watering hole close to the property
Throwing rocks into the water - Malachi, Taylar, Trevor, Husso, Trent, and Darrell
Mo was worn out from all that hiking.
Trevor and Bud
Morgan hugging cousin Taylar
Grammy and Malachi enjoying the warm fire and s'mores
Travis playing with his knife
Putting on the layers as it got colder - I love that little bucket hat!
Malachi - probably doing his little kung fu dance that he made up
Thought I should give a little update. Malachi has 3 teeth (bring on the steak!) and, as you can see, is expanding his horizons with a new mode of transportation!
We went "camping" in the Hualapais (the near-by mountains) Friday night in my Grandma's 5th wheel. It was freezing but we had fun. Norah thought she could take on the big elk that roam around out there, but, luckily, she didn't have a chance to find out that size does matter when it comes to wild animals. Last weekend we went to Vegas celebrate Daniel's (Trav's brother) un-birthday (he was born Feb 29th).
I started tutoring a girl at a local Christian School 1 hr/day, 4 days a week. I enjoy working with her. I am also teaching a woman's Bible study Friday mornings. This is the highlight of my week. I am teaching through 1 John. It is very challenging and I spend a lot of time studying in preparation. This helps me not miss college so much! I love the ladies I have the opportunity to teach.
We are getting ready for Malachi's 1st birthday party on the 15th. We are hoping for a beautiful day because our house isn't big enough to hold all the people we invited, but our porch and yard are perfect for a big gathering! In the unlikely event of rain, I guess we'll just be very "cozy" inside!
Wow, I can't believe I was able to write so much with a squirmy little boy climbing in and out of my lap. Please excuse the lack of cohesion and the rammbling on this post!
We all walked down to the beach to go fishing. There was a beautiful bird that stuck really close for most of the day, probably because Zachary, the little 4-year-old in the background, kept throwing it little minnows to eat! "I caught one!" If you look really close, you might be able to see it! Malachi heading for the water. He had a blast splashing in it and playing in the sand. This was my favorite spot of the whole trip - the picture doesn't quite do it justice (of course). We all got sunburned at the beach. When one goes camping in November, one does not think to pack sunscreen and hats... one generally packs beanies, and jackets. But I guess one lives and learns!
This weekend we went camping with some friends just outside Pensacola. It poured the whole drive out there, but by the time we were ready to set up camp the rain stopped and it was beautiful for the rest of the weekend!
We FROZE at night - the Birdie slept snuggled close to Momma, almost completely under the covers all night. At least he was cozy!
The Hoover Dam bridge
Darrell had lots of fun getting pictures of the camp fire!
