Fall Break~

After we touched down in Phoenix from conference, we loaded up the kids and headed off to Flagstaff for cooler weather and relaxation. We have been so blessed with the use of "Grandma's cabin." It has been a tradition ever since our babies were little to go up a couple times a year and have "Thanksgiving" at the cabin. We always stock up on Turkey around November for this purpose. Grandma's parents had a double wide trailer hauled in and built a two story addition to the back of the cabin. Grandpa Morgan was very handy and loved the outdoors, he loved to garden and build all sorts of little gadgets! Before the kiddos get to run off and play they know they have to work first. This is one of our favorite chores. The pine needles are always thick on the ground this time of year. After our chores were done the kids were off and we relaxed for a bit...We took the kids to the Lava Tubes near Snow Bowl... If you ever get the chance it is an awesome place to hike. It is a tunnel under ground caused by lava that cooled in the shape of tunnels. Two miles of complete darkness!! Be sure to bring a flashlight for everyone!! You literally can not see your hand in front of your face! At first the kids were a little nervous, as I was on our first trip...but they quickly got used to it, we couldn't keep up! After spending an hour and a half in complete darkness, it was awesome to see the day light again! We spent some time talking to the kids about the importance of having the light of Christ in our lives and the blessings that come from having that light. At times in the cave we would turn off our flashlights to complete darkness. One at a time I had the kids turn on their lights each time the result was more light with each flashlight. So it is with life, when we find ourselves in darkness, the light is within our reach all around us, all we need to do is just reach out and turn it on.

DAD SAVES THE DAY

We were driving back from the lava tubes on the forest road when Mike stopped the car. Wondering what he was looking at we sat there for a minute. Smoke was making its way through the trees, we drove around until we could find the source of the fire. We found a camp site that had not had its fire properly put out. The fire had made its way along the tree line and up several tree trunks. We called the forest ranger, they sent a truck out and extinquished the fire. Mute blog music for an important message! After all the excitment we took the kids up to Snow Bowl to go on the ski lift tour. As luck would have it, the ski lift just closed until the ski season. The kids didn't care though, they ran all the way up to the top the lift until we couldn't see them anymore. We sat on the ski lifts and enjoyed the peace and quiet! Granpdpa came up on his motorcycle! That was the highlight of the week! Audrey and Brenna were able to go on motorcycle rides with Grandpa. Audrey was so excited when they got home. They saw deer and elk on their ride. Audrey is our Harley photographer! She is very good at what she does! We had lots of fun shooting things. Thank goodness we all came home with all of our eye balls and teeth! We had tons of fun hiking in the canyon with Grandpa, even though we almost lost him a few times. I was worried about the kids falling, its a good thing Grandpa has go go gadget shoes and arms or we would have been in a world of hurt! In the meantime dad was off galavanting in the forest on the quad with one of the kids. They usually see lots of animals and go off some pretty sweet jumps, sometimes dad even makes the kids get off so he can really go crazy! Dad and Audrey were having a sword fight with sticks of sorts. Audrey had an awesome shot, in the violence of it all Audrey broke dads stick and it flew up and hit her in the eye. To top off the weekend we had our Traditional turkey feast and a smores roast in the broiler with giagantic mellows from Aunt Lori! My cousin Scott lives in Falgstaff, he always joins us when we have our turkey feast! We had a great week! We are charged and ready to take on whatever the next six months before April conference brings our way! We are so grateful for all of our many blessings!