Carrie, the reason my house is a mess, and the one who always makes us smile

The Riverhouse

So about a year and a half ago we tried to drive to this ruin called "THe Riverhouse" on the San Juan river. It was summer and we had to go across+ a lot of washes. We got close, but didn't trust our car over a particularly tricky spot and didn't have time to hike since it was getting cloudy and we didn't want to camp, so we didn't see it. Over President's Day we tried again. The washes were dry, but really sandy which made it even more challenging as far as the offroading goes. We got to the same spot and parked, but Kelsey has a cooler car than us, so we piled in her car and drove the last less than a mile to the ruin. It was amazing. I figured people were exaggerating, but it was really neat, especially since it is all original and not rebuilt like in Mesa Verde- although those are cool too.

James is inside of a kiva

There were a lot of hieroglyphs, snakes, hands, goats, spirals

Carrie's hair always sticks up like this, I think she looks like a Cupie doll.

This was a storage place a little way down the trail.

Amazing, right? 

Some February Happenings

 Carrie is really cute.  It has been a really warm winter, so she hasn't gotten to wear her dress coat or super cute hat much, so we had to get a picture. 

 We went up North for Devon's birthday and a conference.  I took the boys to Sheel's, we rode the ferris wheel after waiting forever and went bowling, then they were crazy and made me never want to go to that store again.  Hopefully they have some good memories of it.

 Devon had a birthday, we opened presents here, but we got to go toh Bombay house for dinner and eat Sam's club cheesecake on the real day, so it was fun.

 We have a pretty good sand dune right behind our house that we like to go to when we get restless.  Carrie is learning to enjoys such things, I'm sure she'll be jumping off with her brothers soon!  Yes, her diaper was full of sand when we got home, but she had so much fun!

Boulders

Another new place we found recently is this huge field of boulders. There are no boulders before or after it, and then there are a ton of boulders. Very odd to me, but amazing. Spencer insists that Carrie said "Boulder" and that is her first word. I have my doubts, but Carrie and I were there too, we just didn't climb all the way up the boulder hill. Carrie and I (with the help of some neighbors) did find some petrified wood though- which is pretty amazing.

James, Spencer and Devon and Daniel, Samantha, Ephiny and Alexander did climb clear to the top.

On the top it was a Mesa, with grass and stuff.  I expected it to be solid rock.  That is one thing I love here, you really never know what you will find around the next corner, there are so many hidden amazing places.

Corkscrew Canyon

Over Martin Luther King Jr. day we finally got to explore something that I have been hearing about for years. There is a slot canyon here that we had heard a lot about, but no one could ever tell us where it was. Finally Devon's TA drew a map, but then it turned out she came with us along with her cousin and mom. Our friends Kelsey and Jenny came too. It was good to have so many adults because there were several rock piles/walls that we had to navigate, we mostly just lifted the kids over.

These pictures cannot do it justice, it was amazing (and right by our house if you want to come visit!)

Spencer was a mountain goat climbing on everything!  I think at least once a day I think "Wow, I actually live here with all this amazing stuff."  You should come visit soon in case we move!