Just hangin' around!!

Two little monkeys just hanin' around! The kids just love fall time, especially playing in the leaves! But they love climbing and swinging from the trees all year long!!

Carder wasn't too sure about this! We put him high in the tree and said "Hang on tight for a picture!"

This picture reminded me of a quote from General Conference by Elder Kevin. W. Pearson:

"Enduring to the end is a hallmark of true discipleship and is essential to eternal life. But when trials and challenges come our way, we are often told to simply “hang in there.” Let me be clear: to “hang in there” is not a principle of the gospel. Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him."

A fun day in Reno...and back to Utah!

We had one day in Reno to explore and play. Nate had meetings and training so the kids and I were on our own for the day, but we found lots of fun things to see and do. 

Rancho San Rafael Park

We discovered a really awesome park and arboretum in Reno. It was huge, we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, played at the playground, and even saw a some dinosaurs!

 

 The Wilbur D. May Arboretum & Botanical Garden was beautiful!

The Blakey Conifer Grove reminded us of our Uncle Blake! 

Along the dusty trail we found a little pond with ducks!

We found a fun playground and we all played tag, even other little friends wanted to join in the fun! 

 

The kids had such fun having races down the slide! 

It wasn't a huge playground but perfect for the kids to play and they loved it. 

 

Ty loved this old tractor! 

Carder kept saying "I hear something!" Sure enough we went exploring and found some big turkeys! 

Yup! Two crazy turkeys right there! 

Ahh, that's way better! 

This place was amazing! Not one but TWO playgrounds! 

 

It was even a dinosaur park! 

 

The boys thought this place was awesome! (Mara liked it too!!)

 Ever wonder what it would be like to climb on the inside of a dinosaur!?! Ty did it!

What fun to climb on huge dinosaurs! 

Scheel's 

We found a Scheel's close by in Reno and thought it would be fun to ride the ferris wheel (or turny-wheel as Carder called it!) Carder was finally big enough to ride this time! 

 We checked out all the animals at Scheels, Carder still LOVES animals so he thought this was the greatest! 

 

Check out Ty driving the jeep--scary thing is this will be real in 5 years! 

 

 It was fun exploring the camping things!

Sparks Nevada

Right near Scheels was a little lake and playground. We thoroughly explored this are until it was time to go home!

 The big kids spent most of the time on this tire swing pushing each other! They laughed and laughed together!

 Carder was sure glad to have playmates for a few days!

 Carder loved riding the ocean animals!

I'm so glad Ty has decided the park can still be fun! 

 We couldn't have asked for better weather on the trip. It started to rain on the way home so we planned it perfect!

 Awww love these kids of mine! 

 Jumping off the dock!

 There is just something about throwing rocks in the water that boys love!

 Before we arrived there were every kind of bird on the shore, but the kids had so much fun chasing them away!

Salt Flats

We drove to Elko and stayed the night. It was a long drive home! 

We stopped to stretch our legs near the salt flats by the Great Salt Lake.

 

We took a little walk around on what the kids thought was snow! 

Football Game

 We made it back just in time for the boys to go to the football game with Papa!!

 

They enjoyed a giant foot-long hot-dog at the game, it was so big they couldn't eat the whole thing!!

 

This kid LOVES hot dogs! Especially foot longs!! 

Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze in Reno

When we arrived in Reno we saw this pumpkin patch and corn maze and thought what better activity to do for fall break!

Carder loved picking up as many pumpkins as he could!

The maze was a lot of fun! The kids rode around the maze on their tricycles.

Carder loved this activity! He's getting really good at riding a bike!

Carder also liked walking along the bales of hay with his daddy!

Carder especially liked all the animals, goats, sheep, and chickens!

Caleb was a little bit nervous to get too close to the goat!

So many little baby billy goats!

This kid loves mini pumpkins!

Perfect night for playing at the pumpkin patch!

Then it was time for the corn maze!! It was just the right size for our family! Not too hard, not too long, but still was a challenge to get through.

Everyone took a turn being the leader, and it was a team effort to find our way through! Sometimes we got lost and had to turn around, and other times we went in circles, but we eventually found our way out!

That night we went downtown Reno! Wow, it was something else! After a few stops along the main drag we decided this was not where we wanted to take little family to eat! Casinos and kids just don't go together!!

So we found a quick bite at a more family friendly restaurant: Burger King!!

Elko Nevada!

Fall break!!! Yay! We love Fall Break! It always means a road trip, camping, trip or some sort of get-away for our family! This year it was a road trip to Nevada! Yes! Nate had work in Reno and we were able to join him on his trip west. It felt like a lot of driving, but it was fun to be together, explore a new area, and play and have fun. (Except for Nate who had to work instead of play!)

We stayed the first night in Elko. In the morning Nate had a few things to work on so we found a park nearby our hotel to play at.

 It was awesome! Such a fun playground! I would drive back to Elko just to play here again!! 

It was a beautiful morning to play at the park! 

Carder was a happy boy to have his brothers and sister playing at the park with him! 

The kids looooved the tire swing best!! 

Carder thought this swing was fun and new! 

I loved watching Ty push Mara and Caleb on the swings! 

You would think it was summer with the shorts and bare feet! It was actually a tad-bit nippy in the shade! 

 It was fun to watch four kids imagine and play together! Captain Carder and his crew!

 I was just glad to be with my kids, no school, no homework, no chores! It was a nice break!

We played hide-and-seek at this park and it was rather tricky with all the great places to hide! 

 We continued our drive to Reno, stopping along the way for lunch!