Family Photos 2015

I had this post sitting in my "Drafts" column; which I meant to post right after the New Year!
Oops. 
We had a family photo shoot in Great Basin National Park. This was after the park's first snow storm (around December 20?). After that, it didn't snow again until January 30th.
Anyway, the snow made for some pretty pictures:

Today is a gift.....

...... when it's still a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
My friend's boys come over during the week to play with Isaac. I encourage them all to play outside when they can. Sometimes they are too tired from school (I can tell by their eyelids & attitudes) so they get some screen time. They always enjoy playing in my yard on the trampoline, clubhouse, swing sets, sand pit.... etc. But, if this weather trend continues ~ we are going to go on hikes and explore. We started last week. The boys were eager to go which made me excited too. There was a good energy and positive participation on everyone's part. I decided to go to the mountains that are close to Garrison because from the road, you can see the mouths to caves and cool crevices so I thought that would be a great place to go (plus, I can't remember the last time I was there!)
So, we loaded up and drove.......

You can see the from picture above of Jeff Davis and Wheeler Peak that they haven't experienced too much of a winter season yet.......

We had our eye on a large mouth of a cave up the mountain. That would be our target for the hike. I thought it would be challenging enough to get a work-out and test the boys ability of rock climbing a little......

The limestone rocks were really pokey and would hurt if you fell so you had to be sure-footed. I told them to think about where they would put their foot with each step. They also learned quickly that if they stepped on the plain rock it was an easier grip for the bottom of their boots versus stepping on little rocks that would roll like marbles under their feet.
They were a quick study :)

I handed Isaac the camera to get this shot. Willow is a great participant most of the time, even teething.

The next challenge of making it to the cave was climbing up really steep slopes and watching for cacti! Isaac is the oldest, and he knows it, and likes to lead the way giving his own instructions as Ben and Benjamin followed suit.....

Zeek knew that he was actually the leader of the pack and would stop and wait for the boys (who were studying their next foot and hand hold points) going up the slope.....

I hiked next to Ben and Benjamin a few times to make sure they didn't have a fall because some of the sections were pretty gnarly even for me. We neared the cave!

A quick picture to help show the scale......

The boys were so proud of their accomplishment, as they should be!
And, what a view!

We managed to find a small patch of snow (to my surprise). That was the highlight for Zeek......

If you look carefully at the photo below you can see a small dot that is my 4runner......

The boys weren't worn out yet and wanted to keep climbing up.......

Even though the hike got a little more challenging, the boys were excited to keep exploring.....

I had to make them stop because I realized the time and we needed to head back......

I think next time we will pack a lunch and head out a little earlier. We found another area nearby here that we want to come back and see.

Isaac played photographer again before we hiked back (which was harder than coming up). Thankfully no one ripped their pants or slid on a cacti ;) 

"Study Nature.

Love Nature.

Stay close to Nature.

It will never Fail you."

~Frank Lloyd Wright