Another planet...?

This is where my baby brother, the Paleontologist, works! Can you believe it's only like 4 hours from my house? I just LOVE these pictures!

A Family Field Trip

Lucky you!!! You get to follow the Carter family on a virtual field trip to Red Cliffs. Of course, it wasn't virtual for us. Ü Jarid was taken to this little beauty while he was Field Training for Sheriff Patrol. Gotta know where the action is so you can help all those suckas who get into trouble, eh? (P.S. Jarid passed his 3-month Patrol Field Training in just 3 weeks!!! That's my awesome husband for ya!)

Back to the story...The lesser known areas he's been introduced to, like this one, are great finds and he offerred to take us to see them! This one is only about 45 minutes from our house.

Here Jarid is showing his boyish spirit by seeing how far he can climb up this crevice.
Julian quickly decides to follow in dad's footsteps. No prodding necessary! Logan makes a brave attempt to follow and I stay behind to take great pictures.
With a little help Julian is successful! She LOVES it!!!
Just a pretty picture of an arch.
After we hike on some trails, we walk across the street to a wide, rushing river. It's overflowing the banks. We sit on what Julian correctly identifies as conglomerate rocks and dip our feet in the cool water.
Whoa! That's cold!!! (See Logan's face?) We also find some smaller pieces of red rock with quartzite veins. We pick a sample to add to Julian's rock collection.

On our way back to the road, Dad points out an abandoned,

beaver-felled tree. See the teeth marks? Cool!After crossing the road, we notice a picnic area with more trails. Look! A whole wall with quartzite viens. Pretty!
Up the sandy trail aways, dad sees a cave above our heads. I have to stand on a tree limb and hold the camera high above my head to take this picture. Fancy stuff, eh?
Since we can't climb straight up the wall to the cave, dad seeks another route.

UP...then OVER the top of the cave...
...then BACK DOWN...and...
VOILA!!!
Then, of course, the kids want to get up in there, so I hoist them up to my shoulders (I know, I'm so strong!) Then Jarid reaches down, grabs hold of their hands and pulls them on their bellies to the top of the wall. Man! We are SO adventurous!!! Logan was a real trooper. It's good to see how strong he's grown this year.

On the drive home, we say good-bye to what Julian dubbed

the "gi-freakin-normous" windmills.

Thanks for sharing our adventure. It was great having you along!

25 YEARS AGO...

If we were living 25 years ago, our little Logan would not have lived to see his 3rd birthday.

This week we celebrated his 7th!!! His immune system has been strong enough this spring to have a real "friend" birthday party! After the party, I woke in the middle of the night with such full feelings in my heart, there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. I felt incredibly blessed that Logan is still with our family here on the earth, that I can hug and kiss him anytime I want to...if I can catch him.Ü We get to watch him grow, learn, think. Wondering what he is thinking is currently a favorite past-time of mine. He says and does the most un-expected things! Part of that may be that I still see him as a little kid. He's a big boy!!! Crazy.

After school on Tuesday, Jarid and I loaded Julian and 6 of Logan's friends into our cars and headed to Chuck-E-Cheese. The really special thing about going to Chuck-E-Cheese was that the first, and only other time, Logan had been there was just weeks before he was diagnosed. He was 2 1/2 years old and wanted so badly to go back. We knew it would be around three years...too long for a 2 year old...but we didn't know was that it would be 4 and 1/2 years later!!! The anticipation had plenty of time to build. Ü

The party was a riot and wonderful. It's possible that I was even more excited than Logan. What better Mother's Day gift could I recieve than 2 beautiful, healthy children who hug and kiss me every day!