Cathedral Gorge and Lehman Caves...

Merril bought a new International Scout and the seller lived up by Ely, NV.  Merril suggested we all go, take the RV, camp at Cathedral Gorge and go to Lehman caves.  So we started on an adventure.  Those RV windows are scary big and the kids may not have been properly restrained the entire time.

We got out of town a little before dinner and made it up to Cathedral Gorge around dusk.  We ate dinner and made a fire for s'mores.  During s'mores, it started to rain a little.  We stayed out under some trees for a bit but then decided to go in the RV and go to bed.  It rained with lightening and thunder a lot that night.  The next morning was cloudy but not rainy.  We had breakfast and the kids played around the campsite.

Julie was ready for breakfast.  She's my up and at 'em girl.

Mark gets carted around by his siblings more often than not.

By Daddy too.  This is my favorite shot of the trip!

Cathedral Gorge reminds me of the formations at Bryce Canyon, except on a much smaller scale.

Lehman caves were a few hours away into Northern Nevada so we headed up.  At the caves, Mark got strapped in for an hour-long tour.

In the first "room" of the caves, the lights were turned off (for effect) and after that, Mark could not be quieted down.  He fussed and crawled to get out of the pack.  He didn't have an afternoon nap and wouldn't be consoled.  Then Mikayla started throwing a bit of a fit so we had the ranger radio out that we needed an escort back up top.  Me, Mikayla, and Mark came out of the caves and Merril and the 3 older kids continued on the tour.  The caves had cool calcite formations like this:

The caves were kind of tight and Merril didn't snap a picture of the kids at all and the only one I got before I left was way overexposed and didn't turn out.  The one room I saw was amazing and I would recommend that place to anyone with kids.

Tubing with the littles....

Merril and I have nicknamed our 2 youngest children "the littles."  Last time at the lake, we decided to put them in the tube and pull VERY SLOWLY.  They were tied off right behind the boat with a parent on the ready.  

I worried about them but they had a blast and no went overboard.

Daddy was gone for a week...

Merril went on a Japanese tour through Yosemite National Park and was gone for a week.  That's kind of a long time apart for me.  He hiked and camped with the tour, which is different than the usual hotel/road trip type he usually takes.  The kids missed him.  Mikayla parked next to him when he got home.

Speaking of Mikayla, that girl is a nut bag.  She is always pulling the funniest faces and saying the funniest stuff.  When I was doing her hair the other day, I said, "You look so pretty!" and she said, "Totes adorbs."  Nice one, girlie!

And while Merril was gone, I had some rocks delivered to fill in the sparse patch in our landscaping.  I ordered extra and had enough to finish rocking the terraces on the North side of the house.  It looks so clean!

It was exercise and I accomplished something.  Perfect.

Fall evenings...

Boy it's nice outside this time of year!  We spend a lot of evenings outside because Mark starts to get grumpy during that time of day.  If we're outside, he's better.  All my kids have loved being outside.  Merril and I love to be outside too.  Maybe because I feel closer to God.  A neighbor once said she's never seen anyone outside more.  While I was loving the evening air, I snapped some photos.

Mikayla and Luke love to drive the Jeep.  Luke is kind of crazy on that thing.  We make sure to watch out for toes.

I love what a good little thing Mark has turned out to be.  Not that he was ever a bad baby.  We're coming up on his 1st birthday and babies just get a lot easier after that for me.  He's finally crawling like a regular baby instead of army crawling.  I doubt he'll be walking earlier than the other kids but you never know.  Hopefully he'll let me keep squeezing him for a little while longer!

Secret to happiness...

Oh my children, do you know that I worry for you??  Do you know how much I want you to realize that good decisions lead to happiness??  I'm not saying the Lord protects us from trials if we follow Him.  I'm saying if we make good decisions, that support can carry us through our trials.  Maxine, I don't worry about you so much.  You're stubborn and follow the Lord because that's the road you've chosen and no one is going to tell you otherwise.  Jack, I'm a little afraid you could be swayed because you're easygoing and tend to follow what's going on because that's easy.  Juliet, you want so much to follow what's trendy that I worry you could go down a wrong path.  Please be an example my kids!  Make good friends so it's easy to make right choices. *sigh*  I've watched friends and family have to struggle and experience hardships mostly because of poor decisions.  The Lord sent us to Earth so we could have our agency.  It's such a beautiful gift.  He and I want so much for you to be happy.  So just remember, good decisions=happiness.

Labor Day at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes...

We, or I guess Merril, was invited to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes on Labor Day and we all tagged along.  We piled in the RV at 6 a.m. and headed out. We have a large RV from a trade deal, different from the one we took to Yosemite, and decided to try it out.   It was super nice to have a refrigerator and stove when it came time to cook breakfast.  And getting Mark to take a nap in the A/C back room was pretty awesome as well.  How do they sleep like that?

The kids are fascinated with motor homes.  Julie wanted to sleep in it but we didn't camp, we just drove out for the day.  We had chips and homemade salsa!

Mark was a happy kid after his nap.  He loved to peek out the window at whomever happened to be outside.

Merril was able to ride dirt bikes and came back for lunch and to hang out.

We took the old 3 wheeler and rode it for quite a while until it broke.  We think it's engine rebuild time.  :/  

It felt like camping, but without the sleeping bags.  We have to get rid of the RV though.  Merril and I don't fit on the beds.  It's a huge RV but I bet my feet hang off 6 inches on 2 of the 3 beds.  It was such a nice day out there.