A Trip to Paradise: Blowing Stuff Up

The highlight of the trip was probably blowing stuff up with Kade. He bought some Tannerite targets that blow up when you shoot them. He sent Aaron, Stephen, and me out to find some fun things to explode. We went back to the creeptastic trailer and the junk pile and ended up with a rotting watermelon, a drawer, a plush horse head, and a ceramic gnome. Pretty good haul!

the junk pile

We plucked up the courage to poke our heads in the creeptastic RV and take a picture. No cats jumped out this time. 

Setting up the Go Pro

Mixing explosives while the gnome looks on

I put together a video with appropriately dramatic music using slo motion from Kade's clips. We didn't film the drawer exploding because it took Stephen like 20,000 shots to hit it and we were worried it would use up all the camera memory. Let the record show that I nailed the horse head on my first try. 

Kade promised that he will blow up the creeptastic RV with 5 galleons of tannerite with the next Bloods who go out to visit him. Any takers?

A Trip to Paradise: Farm Tour

Once Stephen's family showed up, Kade gave us all a tour of the farm he manages. First stop: really huge tractors. Elizabeth and Kade gave us rides in a couple of them.

Elliot thought they were great

He was transfixed watching the tires turn during his ride in the cockpit.
Do you call it a cockpit?

Next stop: Cow feed lots. This involved fitting as many people on the 4-wheeler as possible. Everyone else walked. 

Easily seats 4

Looking at cows

Eowyn kept biffing it in the feed gutter

Our turn for a ride with Kade. 4 wheels, 5 people

We hopped back in the cars and drove over to see horses and more cow feed lots. Brianna was SO EXCITED about the horses.

This horse was showing off some serious teeth

Elliot was giggling and gave one of the horses a few pats on his nose

Then came the coolest part: real cowboys! Kade called up some of his employees and they came by and let Brianna ride on one of their saddled up horses. Then they got back to work and lassoed a sick cow in the feed lot we were watching. So cool!

They somehow managed to notice a single sick cow out of the huge group and lasso it so that they could doctor her up. That's talent!

Watching cowboys

A Trip to Paradise: Waterfall Hike, Circuits, & Skeet

On our Monday, Elizabeth and Avery took us to a waterfall up a nearby canyon. It was a good example of why everyone out there has giant trucks- the dirt road up to the canyon was pretty rough at parts. 

Elliot loooooves riding on Aaron's shoulders. And mine too, but he yanks my hair so I don't let him. 

The hiking crew

 The water was cold, but that didn't stop Elliot and Avery from putting their toes in.

Elliot getting his toes wet

Elizabeth and Avery. Avery is wearing a "glasses guys" shirt

Telling her mom and uncle something

Apparently it was funny

Dancing baby

Elliot: "Seriously, mom? more pictures?"

 When we got back, Elizabeth showed us this snap circuit kit that Avery won in a library program raffle. She liked it because of all the colors. Aaron was in heaven. 

Aaron showing Avery the wonders of circuits

She lost interest long before Aaron did

 When Kade got off work, Aaron tried to convince Kade that his snap circuit creations were cool (I'll vouch, they were). Kade then shared some of his hobbies with us. Aaron and I got to shoot skeet for the first time. Aaron had been trying for a while before I got Elliot fed and could ditch him with Elizabeth. I hit the clay pigeon on my first try! I ended up hitting 3 of my 8 shots, and after I told Aaron my aiming secret, he hit a couple too. We also shot targets with the pistol a little bit, but I didn't like it as much. It's harder to hold still. 

Action shot

Pistol shooting

A Trip to Paradise: The Stone House

We went up to visit Aaron's sister Elizabeth in Paradise Valley, Nevada for a week. It was so fun! They live in the cutest house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by giant cottonwood trees. It was built in the 1950's and converted into a bed and breakfast/ dude ranch in 1991. Crawford Farms bought the land that the bed and breakfast was on last year, and Elizabeth and Kade got to move in. They renovated the main floor, but the upstairs rooms all have names and 50's wallpaper. We stayed in the Rye Patch and Elliot got his own room up in the attic. There are 4 beds up there, but he stayed in the pack and play. We got there on Saturday and Stephen's family came on Tuesday.

Stone House, or "the big house" as Avery calls it

Bird's eye view. There are other apartments in the other buildings that they rent out to hunters.

Aerial view over the pheasant pen and some pastures

More pastures, some tall trees, and mountains in the not-so-distant distance

Lift at full height

 How did I take those aerial shots? BY GOING 60 FEET IN THE AIR IN KADE'S CRAZY LIFT TRACTOR! 

The lift at kid height for Brianna, Eowyn, and Avery.

 We got there on Conference weekend, so we watched the broadcast and toured the property on the first couple of days.

Conference snuggle buddies

Getting ready for the walking tour. Have I mentioned that their yard is gorgeous?

Avery and a freshly retrieved chicken egg. I secretly loved checking for eggs and kept taking Avery or Brianna out to check, pretending like they were the ones who wanted to do it

The Pheasant Pen. Kade runs a hunting business on the side. Pheasants are native to the area, but he keeps some to release for hunters. They are gorgeous birds!

Pretty pheasant stock photo

 Part of our tour included the creepy RV in front of the junk pile. The windows were all busted and it looked like the floor was falling through. It was obvious that critters have been living in it for a long time. I wanted to poke my head inside, but was being all cautious in case there was a bobcat or zombie or something inside. As soon as I put my foot on the doorstep, a cat bolted out the window right next to me. It gave us all a good jump!

The creeptastic trailer

Another angle of the Stone House. Aren't those trees magnificent?

Grand Canyon

After living driving around with license plates that say "Grand Canyon State" on them for two years, we finally made a trip to see the big hole! Spoiler alert: it was really, really big. 

There's just so much going on!

We went camping for two nights with our friends the Hays and the Halls. We rode up in the Hays' van. The entertainment consisted of figuring out how to work the DVD player, watching Princess Bride/Monster University, and listening to Elliot screaming his head off before falling asleep.

"Is anyone here an electrical engineer?"

Not so happy camper

Elliot was the limiting factor in how much we could do because he still needs two naps a day. We didn't have all that much time to hike around. We also had two pregnant people and a couple of wimpy toddlers, so the only hike we did was 0.5 miles long down the Bright Angel Trailhead to the upper tunnel. It was enough to get a good taste of the canyon, but one day I would like to go a lot further. Preferably when our kids are all the age in which they are coordinated and intelligent enough to not fall to their deaths. 

The group

The Hays on our grueling (not) half mile hike. Alice's backpack has a leash attached to it that was very handy- that girl is an adventurer! 

The classic hiking butts shot

It is nice having photographer friends

The Halls watching the sunset. Isn't Melony a trooper for going camping while being 6 months pregnant with twins?

Riding the Shuttle. He had a pretty bad melt down on the way back- it was past his bedtime and not even cheerios could console him

We spent a lot of time hanging around the campsite while kiddos napped. We played card games and Citadels, cooked delicious food, and played a cool Swedish lawn game called Kubb. Also, the stars were SOO clear at night!

We had a great climbing tree. Apparently Melony scaled it while I was off nursing Elliot. 

Oh hey up there

Me and my little buddy at the Grandest of Canyons