Spud Lake

Last Monday was a beautiful fall day and we knew we should take advantage of it and get a good hike in! The trailhead is off of the 550, between Durango and Silverton so it took us nearly 2 hours to get there.

The trail was 2 miles round trip and marked as easy since elevation only changed 419 feet. The worst was that it had some very rocky areas so that made it a little harder but the children all managed just fine. Ethan even walked a good bit of the way, but only because he has decided that he's to big for the carrier.

The Aspen leaves were just changing to a bright yellow and against the brilliant blue sky it made a stunning picture! There was several beaver ponds along the way but we didn't see any beavers. No surprise really, we're fairly noisy hikers :) .

We ate our lunch at the lake and the children waded and played with "boats". After an hour of relaxing and soaking in the beauty we headed back down. This is actually a pretty easy hike, esp if you take your time! Emily made it with basically no whining so that says something :).

I'm so glad that we did this because ever since then it's been cool and rainy-not nice hiking weather at all!

Arriola Bible Church

One of our biggest cons of full-timing is the church situation. Growing up, our whole lives revolved around church so the very idea of not attending 2 or more activities at the same church each week could seem quite scary and unsafe. We have however, found it to be a huge blessing in visiting random churches and worshiping with other believers. 

I had asked a friend who has family in the Cortez area if they have a church to recommend in the area and she mentioned Arriola. The first Sunday we were here my sister and family went with us since they were visiting us. It didn't take us long to realize that we could most definitely be back. They were so extremely welcoming and we loved the solid Bible teaching and old hymns as well as worship songs.

The children were in love with the way they do church and we liked it too. The first thing we do is drop them off at their Sunday School classes. The adult Sunday School is all together in the auditorium and then we go pick our children up. They are with us for Bible reading, prayer, and singing then First grade and lower is dismissed for children's church. Children's church simply goes deeper into the Sunday School Lesson and we were so impressed with how much they have learned! There is also a nursery for 2 and under but my dear son decided he would not stay without his mother. I tried multiple times but he got so upset I soon realized it was not worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the nursery with him and made some wonderful friends with the nursery workers and other mommies. Eldon said he got more out of church then he has in years since he had no children distracting him :). 

The children attended VBS this summer as well. We've had a wonderful time and will miss all our friends here. One advantage of traveling like this is that you make friends in many places but then it's also hard to leave!

Hiking near Cortez......

In July we set a lofty goal of hiking 15 miles a month. July was no problem. August rolled around and we got less then 5. I'm not sure what happen other then Eldon started working nights and we got a little lazy. In the last 2 weeks we've managed to do 10 miles. I'm not sure if we'll hit our goal this month or not but it will be close! And our "hiking" miles also include when we walk and the children bike at 2 lovely Nature Preserves in Cortez.

Mesa Verde is a gorgeous National Park with many hiking trails. It's also only 20 miles from us so that is another reason to love it. This was the first time that we ventured far enough into the park to even see any Ruins. It was neat to see them but if a person is after Ruins, we would recommend Aztec in New Mexico or Hovenweep in Utah. These were a little to commercialized for us!

Saturday we did Bear Creek. The children did so well and the weather was perfect! 

Today was Eldon's last day off before we leave Cortez and it has been cold and rainy! We did manage a mile at Hawkins Preserve first thing this morning but it was pretty chilly. The mountains have fresh snow again. It's beautiful but the "hitch itch" is setting in :).

New Mexico!

For several months I've been bothered by how much time I spend organizing and scrapbooking our many pictures and how much time I spend writing a blog post and adding pictures. And since it takes time, I tend to push it off and it just piles up. BUT!! We may have found a solution! I'm going to try simply posting my scrapbook pages here and adding a few words to it. This will motivate me to keep current with scrapbooking as well as be a huge time saver. Let me know if you have any other brilliant ideas :) .

So, we wanted to spend a night in New Mexico. For some reason we gravitate towards Indian Ruins in this area and Aztec did not disappoint! We loved that you could walk into and through many houses. Overall, it was a great experience and we would do it again in a heartbeat. Another big plus was the Jr. Ranger program. It was simply a brochure and they only had to answer about 10 questions instead of do 4-8 pages. Very doable!

Farmington was a big hit with us too. Eldon and I were both stunned how people (especially the Native Americans) were SO friendly! It made us realize that certain people in Cortez are a bit more uppity then we thought :). The playground we went to had a lot of work-out equipment right beside the kids stuff. Pretty nifty set-up, really! Their whole park system is pretty spectacular. All along the River Walk was small picnic areas and small playgrounds. This is a town that we would love to spend more time in. Maybe 13 weeks or so sometime :). 

Life as it is

We've had an awful lot of normal going on around here, hence the lack of blog posts. And, I'm still feeling lazy. But just to catch you up, here is a lot of pictures and random happenings from the last few weeks. 

We bought a hummingbird feeder that attaches to the window. It's been a treat to watch them!

My bird lover. He would rather watch the ducks then play on the playground.

Cousins, hiking to Geyser Springs

3 more little cousins.

A co-worker told Eldon about an old orchard that we can pick at -for free!

We ate our weight in peaches :)

Amazing sunsets!

The legendary Sleeping Ute, right out our living room window.

Our backyard!

Mountains at the top of Lizard Head Pass

Enjoying the puppies at Evan and Kaylene's on Labor Day weekend when we went to Montrose.

These 2 are a blast to watch.

Ethan picked out this puppy and hauled it around all evening. No other one would do!

The Sunday we were at Brian and Michelle's, their church went to the bottom of the Black Canyon for the service and a picnic. We hadn't been down there since we were dating. It's so beautiful!

Excuse the dark picture but this is really special. One of my friends I grew up with, who now lives in VA happened to be visiting the same weekend. It's been years since we last saw each other and it was so fun to get all our kiddos together!

On the way our of the Canyon. The leaves are just starting to turn.

Picnic at Brian's pond

It's a good life!

Junk yard tour!

28 pounds of pop cans in each bale.

Crushing vehicles!

"Stink, stink", he says.

A puzzle of a picture with some of our best friends ever came in the mail last week!

Enjoying Brian's pond.

Michael's favorite position anymore.

In other news:

~Ethan is suddenly talking like crazy. He repeats nearly anything we say!

~We bought towing mirrors for the truck. I don't tow but I do love the big mirrors :). 

~The motel across the parking lot from us is remodeling the outside. It's been entertaining to watch the work!

~The leaves are changing color and falling!

~With only 2 weeks left to stay here, we discovered that RV park guests can use the much larger, deeper pool at the motel across the street. Free. And, there's a hot tub!

~Makayla's Sunday School teacher gave her a Bible as a farewell gift, even though we don't leave for 2 weeks yet. She is thrilled beyond words.

~It's been so windy the laundry blows right off the rack.

~Ethan had an ear infection and was an absolute grouch for a few days but he's on the mend now.

~Our diets have been a little strange because I'm trying to empty the cupboards as much as possible before our trip over the mountains. Can't wait to go to an Aldi again!

~Eldon had to visit the ER at work a few nights ago because a patient bit his arm. That's a first :). 

~Emily's new kindergarten book from The Genesis Curriculum came and she is busily doing pages and pages every day. I like it so far!

~Michael has spent hours carving points onto sticks and "making traps" with boxes, tin foil, and tape. He's going to be a hunter. I'm just thankful that medical tape is cheap! 

That's it folks! Have a blessed day!

Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon

Since we are only 4 hours from the Grand Canyon we thought it would be a shame not to visit it. Three weeks ago we headed South after church on Sunday. The landscape is so intriguing. It changes every mile or so and you never know what is going to pop up around the next corner!

We stayed in William's, AZ Sunday night. Since we were only gone 1 night we opted to get a motel instead of tow the camper down. I had made reservations but somehow the wires got crossed and they didn't understand that there was 6 of us instead of 4. Short story is we had to find another motel. No fun when you're in a strange town and everyone is tired and hungry. It was also more complicated because we are tight wads and try to find the cheapest motels possible. 

New Driver!

Eventually we found one that still cost to much but it was just as good as it was going to get! Once we got settled I took the 3 youngest and walked around the town. We had some miscommunication over what was going on or else Eldon and Makayla would have joined us but they had fun watching the Olympics.

Williams is a sweet little Route 66 town. Neon lights, live music, and lots and lots of amazing smells floating around. We found a train park and had fun there for awhile. By the time we started walking back it was dusk and Emily was sure we were lost and Michael thought we had walked 5 miles already. Nah, those two aren't dramatic at all. 

Much to our delight, a train came while we were at the train park!

God's masterpiece

Monday we slept later then intended but we had no schedule so there was no need to hurry around. After loading up on sugary carbs at the motel we drove the hour North and entered the Grand Canyon at the South Entrance. Next time we'd like to enter at the North entrance since it's much less busy and views are still stunning. We walked around to several look-outs and also rode the bus further into the park. The children had more fun on the bus then anything I think! There was a pressed penny machine so like good tourists we got our souvenirs. The lines at the visitors center were long so we didn't even pick up Jr. Ranger books. We did enjoy a short video they showed as well as the wildlife and plant displays. 

Eldon and I were completely wowed by the Grand Canyon in all its splendor. The children thought it was cool but were done after a few looks. We could have sat for hours soaking it all in but duty called.......

First day of school for most kids!

This is one place well worth visiting. Make it a priority and get it done if it interests you! As we were driving out we saw a huge bull elk. Sadly, we couldn't get any good pictures. 

And on the way home-more scenery!

Ethan did.......ok. I took his baby along from Grandpa Beachy's and it entertained him much better then I ever thought it would!

They didn't smile the whole way but they did good!

Stuck in road construction!

And.......we got to add a new sticker to our map!