La Madre Springs-Red Rock Canyon

I know this is going to be out of order with all of the catching up I am working on, but I couldn't wait to try my blogger app on my new iPhone!  We had a fun family outing this past weekend (4/20) on a hike to La Madre Spring in Red Rock Canyon.  It was a beautiful day and we were happy to finally make it out to this fun part of the Las Vegas valley!
Camden enjoyed spotting the lizards sunning themselves on the rocks along the trail.  We tried (unsuccessfully) to catch some of them.

 

We all enjoyed getting out and giving our legs some exercise, including Spud!  Here was our cutie snack break.

Some of the views...

The last half-mile was a difficult one. We had to convince (pull) Camden to keep going to get to the rewarding end of the hike-the spring!

We were so happy to arrive and find that there really was a spring and some water way up in the desert canyon!  A small dam had been built by the previous owners of this property in the 1960's.  The Red Rock Canyon was designated as a National Conservation area in 2002 (from what I understand).  This spring is a water source for many animals, including big horn sheep.  We hope to go back to the canyon sometime to spot some!

Everyone enjoyed feeling the cool water!  The boys dipped their hats in to cool themselves off!

Spud had fun chasing rocks and sticks into the water, as long as he didn't have to swim to get them.

It was a great hike and so nice to get out and see the different scenery so close to our home!

There were wildflowers blooming all along the trail and even a few cacti.  The two flowers here are Indian Paintbrush and then you can see a few small pink flowers on the cactus. 

 

 

I hope you enjoy the first of many posts from my new phone!  This should make blogging a little easier!

Decorating the Tree

 

We had fun making a few new ornaments for the boys to hang on the Christmas tree! The boys enjoyed painting their wooden ornaments.

After our ornaments were ready, we spent a nice Family Home Evening decorating our tree!  As you can see, Camden was all about being silly for the camera!

We had fun getting out the mix of Mom and Dad's (Ashton & Calvin's) childhood ornanments, the ones I made for our first Christmas, and the ones the boys have made.

 

Our finished tree looked a little different this year!  We had to keep the ornaments all on the top half of the tree so that Coulton wouldn't take them off!  We were happy to have the tree up and to get into the Christmas spirit!  Our lesson was on the true meaning of Christmas, which Camden remembered all throughout the season.  He often remembered to say thank you for the birth of the baby Jesus in his prayers :)  It was a wonderful Christmas season!

Little Boys' Photo Shoot-Thanksgiving

We had a fun time at the Winders' house for Thanksgiving.  We were also able to see Calvin's sister Laiel and her little boy who were visiting from Georgia, so it was fun for the little cousins to all be together. We got the three of them together and worked for quite a while to get all of them to look at the camera at the same time!  

 

 

 

Apple Picking

 

We found a pick-your-own orchard here in Las Vegas!  The NW part of Las Vegas where we live has to be the best part of Las Vegas.  The boys had fun picking the apples from the trees, and we quickly had more than enough apples to fill our bag! 

 

 

Coulton couldn't wait to sink his teeth into the apples he had picked.  We had fun with our new hand-crank apple peeler, peeling and coring our apples for some yummy apple pie!

Nellis Air Force Base Air Show

We had a lot of fun one Saturday in November attending the air show at the Nellis Air Force Base here in Las Vegas.  We saw so many amazing airplanes and helicopters.  We walked through this huge carrier plane that opened at the front and the back. 

 

 

 

We got to watch all different kinds of jets flying over.  There were some that dropped parachuters, some that dropped flares simulating combat, and others that flew over in amazing ways, demonstrating the abilities of the different planes.  I wish I had more videos to share, but here is a short clip of some planes from different eras/wars flying over in a pattern together-and a goofy Camden at the end.

 

We all had a fun time!  Camden enjoyed wearing his newly acquired pilot's jacket as well!  It was a cold day, but we really enjoyed everything we were able to see, including the Budweiser Clydesdales on our way out! They were huge!

 

 

 

 

Cutest Brothers Photo

These two boys love each other!  They are already such great friends.  Camden is a wonderful big brother who looks out for his little brother Coulton and loves to play with him.  Coulton thinks Camden is the greatest and loves to follow him and do exactly what Camden is doing.  We took this picture in the fall when we went on a family hike to find pine nuts!  Unfortunately, we were a little late for the good pine nuts, but we had a great time hiking through the forest as a family.  We love you Camden and Coulton!

Hoover Dam Behind-The-Scenes Exclusive Tour

 

Calvin's dad and my parents came to visit us in Las Vegas before Halloween to see Calvin's swearing in to become a member of the Utah State Bar.  The swearing in was short and simple; however, it represented many years of hard work.  We were all so proud of Calvin and what he has worked so hard to accomplish!

 

While everyone was here visiting, Calvin's dad arranged for us to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Hoover Dam.  It was amazing. 

 

 

This was our tour-guide for the day.  He was an engineer overseeing some of the operations for generating electricity and replacing older equipment with new equipment (I think! Some of the tour was very technical).

 

 

We went into these special golden doors and down and elevator, into the dam.

 

 

 

Not just anyone gets to go through these doors!

 

 

Then we walked down this long tunnel, it has some famous tile work, I'm told :)

 

 

We came out into this area where there was some history about the dam and the turbines. 

 

Here you can see part of the turbines that create the electricity.

 

 

We put on our hard-hats and ear-plugs for proper saftety.  

 

 

 

 

Then we read this sign...reminding us to be healthy :)

 

 

Then we went on a tour all through the turbines and workings of this electricity-generating system of the dam.  I mostly smiled and nodded my head.  Calvin and his Dad got a lot more out of this part of the tour then the rest of us.

If you could see through these huge pipes, you could see the water flowing through them.  I was wishing for a window to see through.

 

 

The truly amazing part for me was outside.  The structure of this dam is just overwhelming! 

 

 

 

Probably the very best part of our behind-the-scense tour was walking down this tunnel, about halfway up the dam, and looking out the little slats.

 

 

 

 

Overall, it was a great experience!  We were so lucky to have Walter set up this tour for us.  Thank you!