Night ride in Hurricane

That evening, after we had taken some time to cool off and nap, we went on a little sunset ride. First, we traveled to a lookout point, which is on the edge of a large bluff, overlooking miles of desert. After viewing the sunset, we continued on to the dunes. Lights on, we barreled over the endless whoop-dee-whoops that were our path. Being completely jarred by the time we arrived at the dunes, Colleen and I removed ourselves from the ATV's in order to rest atop some large rocks. Chris gave it a go on the dunes, which made Colleen nervous because we could see his every move from our bird's eye view! Meanwhile, Dustin (sneaky as he is) stealthily crawled through the sand and around the rocks in an effort to scare us! Luckily, we saw him before too much fear was doled out! On our way back home, we saw about 5 ATV's in the distance....Colleen and I quickly began an imaginary game of cat and mouse! "Hurry! They are going to catch us!" This game made our adventure more exciting, but just made the boys roll their eyes! Until......a BANSHEE right on us!!! This kid was right on our tails! He had sneaked up unnoticed because he had NO lights!! Our game turned into more of a race at that point and he still had a lap to go....ha ha!

Lunch in Hurricane

Hurricane in June

For lunch, we packed a lunch of sandwiches, chips, grapes and drinks into a cooler. Then, we hopped onto 4-wheelers and took off into the scorching desert. Grant and I shared a quad with the cooler securely attached, while Colleen and Chris rode another one. Poor Dustin had to take the 80 (a kid-sized four-wheeler) because we couldn't all fit onto the large ones! He is so accommodating! We all wore tennis shoes and helmets, except for Dusty! He chose to don an Indian-style t-shirt on his head and flip-flops on his feet....yes, he was prepared for the rough terrain of the desert! Because his machine wouldn't travel as quickly as ours (we could cruise at about 53mph while his top speeds were around 40mph), he said he would meet us at a designated spot. We all assumed he would turn around and head back into the air-conditioned house, but we were delighted to see him come screamin' down the path, dust billowing behind him, with an 'Indian-boy' helmet and no shirt on!
Our designated spot was down a dry river bed where we found only a sliver of shade under which to enjoy our lunches! We parked our ATV's and sought relief from the heat under a large rock. The lizards had thought of the idea before us, but we quickly chased them (and tried to catch one) from our new location! Each of us removed our dusty helmets and wiped the sweat from our heads. We all agreed that our food had never tasted so delicious! I can't imagine living without the conveniences of our day!
After eating our lunches, we continued to travel up the river bed (giving Dustin a head-start toward home), but found that our machines were entirely too large to maneuver between the boulders that lay in our path. We had a great ride and lunch, which was followed up by a dip in the Morrison's pool!

Okay, I am going to post a little bit out of order here....A couple of weeks ago, Dustin and I were able to visit his parents' Sky Ranch in Hurricane, Utah! Their place is situated in the middle of the desert, just northeast of St. George. The "community" is basically two rows of homes with a runway between them. It's really neat because Dave (Dustin's Pops!) can land his plane and pull right into their attached hanger/home! Colleen, Grant and Chris were able to take a day off of work to come visit, too! (We really wanted to see Ricky, but since Dave and Eloise were still recovering from a recent auto accident, we knew 5 guests were pushing the limits. We think 7 [with Ricky's girlfriend] would have been overwhelming....) We had a great time! Here are some pictures!

Vegas Cont'd...

We walked to the Bellagio where we viewed an amazing flower garden! We also ate at a little Mexican restaurant called La Salsa!

More Vegas...

Vegas, baby!

Recently, Colleen and Chris met us in Las Vegas for a weekend! I love spending time with my family! I think Bean and I could have a blast in any setting, but this weekend proved especially enjoyable! We stayed at the Mandalay Bay, which has a wave pool, lazy river and lots of 'people watching' opportunities! Chris served his mission here, so he also got to see his Mish Prez and a couple of old companions! Colleen used her camera to capture our adventures and I just got a copy of them. There are a lot.....