a little glimpse of...

what happens when Mark does Ari's hair and he has also just watched the new Wolverine movie

what happens when Mark thinks his pen is out of ink so he hands it to Taj to "write" with

what it looks like when Ari is raising the roof!

woot woot!

The Subway, Zion's Park

This weekend we visited Cathy's big sister Jill and her family in St. George, UT. Cathy's nephew Chase graduated High School Friday morning. Then Saturday Cathy volunteered to hang out with Taj, Ari and cousin Morgan while the rest of us hiked the Subway in Zion's Park (another example of why Cathy is the best wife ever). The Subway hike was awesome, fun and really beautiful. Here are 19 of my favorite photos (I took about 150 photos in total). Thanks for being our Canyon guide "Uncle Steve."

Sea of Sandstone

Enter the Canyon

Steep descent

You need a rope in some spots

Tree surfing

Really cold water

Beautiful

Doesn't this look man made?

Dang tree hugger!

Waterfall

wow

sweet

The water cuts a lot of interesting features in the rock

me and Jill and Ranger Steve

Backside rock wave

gnarls barkly

it just doesn't end

mossy falls

honest to goodness dinosaur track (with associated dino expression)

disclaimer: slide appears fun but not responsible if you break your coccyx.

Seize the Elgin!

On our drive home from St. George this weekend we stopped at the Carp Elgin exit about 30 minutes outside Vegas. Cathy was feeding and burping Ari so Taj and Mark did some exploring. We threw some rocks. Picked and threw some highway trash/debris. Lifted a large piece of concrete together. Commando crawled down a large pile of rocks.

Learned a new trick.

If you are driving through Carp Elgin, NV we recommend you stop and enjoy some of the fine recreation that is available.

Beatbox Betty

I consider this talent to be "of good report and praise worthy." I hope Ari "seeks after these things."

Just a lot of pics...

Taj learned to "click" on the computer! It is his new very favorite pastime.

My sister made mention that the Ari fix I posted before wasn't cutting it anymore so here are a few more of our girl Ari! Don't look so concerned Ari...they are all cute pictures!

All that hair is holding out strong (even in the back where she sleeps on it) so here's hoping it sticks around!

All fuzzed out and cross eyed (lets not tell Ari this one is on here! ;)

This is the outfit my friend Hannah gave us. I LOVE it on her!

This is her first Sunday dress.

and this is her doing a mean impersonation of a squeaky door. You don't need to watch the whole thing...there is no big finish, but it does sort of get funnier the longer she goes!

Ok...more to come soon!

Whipple Cave

Our Elders Quorum had a camp out this weekend to Whipple Cave near Lund, NV. Friday night we shot at jack rabbits with flash lights and a hand gun, burned magnesium shavings, and played with gasoline in the campfire. Saturday we rappelled 90 ft into a cave and then explored it before climbing out on a homemade rope ladder. It was all pretty fun.

This is some sort of geo tag that is at the entrance to the cave.

Rappelling into the cave (no hands, trusting the rope)

View from inside the cave of the rappel.

Sweet Stalagmites!

To get all the way to the back of the cave you have to squeeze through a small opening and kinda jump over a gap thats about 15 ft down. This picture is of us climbing up and out of the cave.

This stalagmite looks drenched with french vanilla frosting.

In the cave looking up.

Rope ladder cave exit.

We found a couple scorpions and centipedes in our camp. Don't worry, this scorpion was already in the spirit world when I took its picture. My high school mascot was the scorpion.

By the way, Cathy also did this same rappel and cave exploration when she was 3 months pregnant with Ari. Woot! Woot!

Happy Mothers Day Nickelrock!

Nickel you are the best mother our children have ever known. And I like you a lot. And I like dinosaurs a lot too. :) Happy Mothers Day.

To help you get your Ari fix...

I didn't want to fall off the blogging map again so lets call this cliff note blogging. I snapped some shots on photo booth of our girl Ari (approx 11 lbs now and 6.5 weeks old) and calling it good. I still can't believe that I get to keep her. I adore her.