FAMILY REUNION

THIS YEAR WE HAD OUR FIRST ANNUAL CURTIS STEELE FAMILY REUNION. WE DECIDED TO HAVE A CAMPOUT IN NINE MILE. WE ALL BROUGHT A GAME AND JUST HAD FUN ALL WEEKEND. THE WEATHER WAS GREAT.

WE DID A LOT OF POT GUT SHOOTING. A LOT! ON ONE OF OUR RIDES WE FOUND THIS WOOD PILE FULL OF ROCK CHUCKS.

ALL I HAD WAS MY 9MM SO I TOOK A WACK AT THEM. NO SUCH LUCK THOUGH, SENSE I AM TERRIBLE WITH HAND GUNS. NOT AS BAD A BRADY THOUGH ;)

DON'T BE MISTAKEN. THAT IS NOT CADEN RIDING WITH THEM. HE WAS BACK AT CAMP SNOOZIN.

AUDREY HAD A PILE OF GIRLS. TWO BEHIND HER AND SHE HAD TO GIVE ONE TO JAKE AND AMANDA. SHE WAS TRYIN TO GIVE THEM AWAY ALL WEEKEND! JUST KIDDIN.

AND MORE GUNS. DID A LITTLE SHOTGUN SHOOTING.

LIESEL DID NOT GROW UP AROUND GUNS, BUT YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW. SHE'S A DEAD EYE WITH WHATEVER GUN SHE IS HOLDING!

I LIKE GUNS.... I'VE BEEN SHOOTING THEM MY WHOLE LIFE, BUT LIESEL CAN OUT-SHOOT ME ANY DAY.

EVERYONE COMPLIMENTS LIESEL ON HER HAIR CUT (THAT SHE CUT HERSELF). WE KNOW AMY WAS SERIOUS BECAUSE SHE ASKED LIESEL IF SHE WOULD CUT HER HAIR RIGHT THERE WITH KITCHEN SCISSORS. AND THIS WAS THE DAY BEFORE OUR FAMILY PICTURES! GOOD THING IT TURNED OUT GOOD.

THE PUPPIES EVEN TAGGED ALONG. THEY LOVE RUNNING AROUND THE BIG OPEN SPACES, BUT HAD TO BE LOCKED UP WHEN WE WERE SHOOTING GUNS. WE ALL HAD FUN, GOT SOME SUN, AND CLEARED OUT A LOT OF POT GUTS IN OUR CAMP. GOOD TIMES......

WHAT?! WORK?!

I'M SURE EVERONE THINKS THAT WE ARE ALL PLAY AN NO WORK, BUT WE KNOW HOW TO GET DOWN AND DIRTY AND GET A JOB DONE. WELL, AT LEAST STARTED. THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN OUR HOUSE BEFORE US TORE OUT THE BACK YARD, SO WE'VE BEEN TENDING DIRT (WHICH IS WAY HARDER THAN TENDING GRASS) FOR THE TWO YEARS THAT WE'VE LIVED HERE. WE FINALLY DECIDED TO BUCKLE DOWN AND PUT IN A BACK YARD. I'VE DRAWN UP MY PLANS, SO NOW WE START THE DIRTY WORK.

IT'S FUN WHEN DAD BUYS ALL THESE SWEET TOOLS AND LETS US USE THEM. THANKS DAD! LIESEL IS THE FIRST (AND ONLY) ONE TO USE THE NEW BACK-HO ATTACHMENT. SHE DID AMAZING! WHAT SHE WAS DOING HERE WAS DIGGING UP WHERE A FENCE POST HAD BEEN CEMENTED 3 FEET IN THE GROUND. I'VE DUG UP 3 OF THESE IN THE FRONT YARD WITH A SHOVEL, AND THE BACK-HO WAS WAY EASIER.

SHE'S A NATURAL AT HEAVY MACHINERY

THIS IS HOW YOU TAKE OUT A SIDEWALK

ACTUALLY, THIS IS HOW YOU TAKE OUT A SIDEWALK

THIS IS NOT HOW YOU TAKE OUT A SIDEWALK. TOO BIG FOR THE BUCKET

WHICH CAUSES SOME MANUAL LABOR WITH A BIG HAMMER

TA DA! SO WE'VE SPRAYED FOR WEEDS, GOT RID OF THE CEMENT, NOW WE DIG TRENCHES. WE'LL KEEP YOU UPDATED (AS FUN AS THIS IS FOR YOU I'M SURE)

Negro Bill Canyon

For Memorial Day we decided to do a hike in Moab that is dog friendly. Tripp has been jeeping in Moab, but never hiking. Until now....

This is the trailhead for Negro Bill canyon and it goes to Morning Glory natural bridge.

Tripp was a good leader. Somehow she knew the trail the whole way (probably was sniffin out the dogs ahead of her).

This was Tripps first real experience with water. I want her to like the water, but she had a bad first experience. On the way up the trail there was a rock sloping into the water. Tripp wanted a drink, so she inched her way down it until she could reach the water with her mouth. She got a little drink, lost her balance, and fell right in. She put all fours out reaching for something to grab onto. She got out fine, but when we came to the next water crossing, she did everything she could to "rock hop" across and not ever touch the water. After a while she figured out the water wasn't going to hurt (but would actually cool her off) so she wasn't quite so timid.

Tripp goes so good with the Moab sand and rocks.

The shade made for some nice breaks on the hike.

Tripp is a little scared of strangers, so this is what she did when we pulled over to let other hikers pass. She is so cute! And that is the problem, she is so cute that people walking by want to pet her. When they reach their hand out she'll back away and not let them get close.

Morning Glory Natural Bridge is the 6th largest natural bridge span in North America.

We found some people repelling down it. How cool!

Tripp would watch closely to see what new people and dogs would come to the natural bridge while we hung out there cooling off.

So we decided Tripp is part deer. She looks like one, and she can jump like nobodies business! We were running down the trail, and this little part had rock steps up the side, but she went straight up and over with little effort. We're considering re-naming her Tigger. Boing....

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!!!

The morning hike in was very pleasant, but on the way back the afternoon sun would make the sand a little hot for Tripps little paws. This is the point where she started liking coming up to water crossings.

There were some long stretches where there was no water or shade, and she just couldn't take it. She would sit down and try to get all of her paws off the hot sand. Kind of reminds me of "footprints in the sand."

On one of our last breaks on the trail I looked up at the tree providing us with shade and saw this beautiful picture.

And of course we can't go to Moab without hitting up the local T-Shirt shops!

Tripp was a trooper, and she definitely got worn out. I love how cuddly she gets when she is tired. Or maybe she thinks the same thing about me ha ha

NINE MILE!!!

So guess what! We went somewhere else worthy of blogging. We had our annual memorial day weekend fencing trip. We headed out Friday night and spent Saturday messing around and doing a little fencing. We had Liesel's Dad, brother Beau, and sisters Kallie and Abby with us. We had Tripp with us too.

This is the beginning of the summer village.

Of course we had to do a little pot gut hunting. The 22's are a must out in camp.

The pot guts even turned Kallie into a mighty hunter.

Liesel just can't get enough of it. Isn't she CUTE!!!!

Beautiful country.....

Tripp was so much fun out there. She loved being able to run around with Chaco as fast as they could. They would do circles around camp until they couldn't run anymore.

Here we are doing a little work. Those dang Elk plow through the barbed wire like it isn't even there.

The dogs did so good sticking around, we didn't even have to watch them. We just had to watch that we didn't run them over, and that they didn't get caught up in the fence.

Chaco had blood on her head and we decided it was coming from Tripps mouth. We gave her a drink, then couldn't find where the blood was coming from. Whatever it was, it healed up quick. It was beautiful weather and we had a really relaxing, fun trip.

Same Place, Different Activity

Soooo.... Moab... haha. We had nothing to do this weekend, so we decided we'd test out our new bikes on the famous Slickrock Trail in Moab. It's nice enough to camp outside now, so we went down with camping in mind. We left after work, so we got there around 8:00pm. I had a few campsites in mind in case some were full, and we drove around for three hours only to find that every campground in Moab was FULL!!! Not one site anywhere. Good thing we have a backup building.

We got tired of flat air mattresses, so we invested in these sweet cots. They are actually just as comfortable and will never go flat.

We planned to roast hot dogs over our campfire for dinner, and no camp site = no camp fire. No camp fire = no roasting hot dogs. No roasting hot dogs = no dinner. So we imporvised.

Actually turned out pretty good, and we didn't go hungry. Before we left for the trail we rode our bikes down mainstreet and that was a blast. And of course we had to hit up the local t-shirt shops. It was fun to do that part on the bikes and not have to find places to park. In Moab there are bike racks all along main street so there is always a place to lock your bike up.

The Slickrock bike trail is AWESOME! You ride over the Moab sandstone and along sandstone cliffs. It was a little windy which made the cliff parts scary, but way fun.

The weather was really nice a warm. Got some nice sun burns and it felt good to wear shorts. It was really cold to come home to Price. Its amazing the temperature difference between 118 miles.

We decided from the very beginning that we would wear full face helmets when we do this stuff because of what Debbie Blackburn did on this very trail. She wrecked and had to have her jaw wired shut for months. We decided it would be much cheaper to just buy the helmets. We had a blast and definitely plan on doing this trail again.

GUESS WHERE WE WENT....

IF YOU GUESSED MOAB, YOU'RE RIGHT ON THE MONEY! WE WENT DOWN TO HIKE, BUT TO ALSO CHECK OUT JEEP SAFARI. WE WENT WITH JAKE AND AMANDA AND CADEN.

BEAUTIFUL CANYONLANDS, ISLAND IN THE SKY DISTRICT. WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE, BUT HAD TO COME BACK.

IT WAS JAKE AND AMANDA'S FIRST CAMPING/HIKING TRIP WITH CADEN. IT WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE SINCE NOBODY HAS HAD ANY EXPERIENCE WITH KIDS. HE DID PRETTY GOOD THOUGH. TURNS OUT BABYS DON'T NECESARILY SPOIL EVERYTHING.....

MY CUTE BABY MAKIN HER SIGNATURE PANCAKES :) WE'RE HARD CORE CAMPERS AREN'T WE.

THIS IS ALL CADEN SAW THE WHOLE HIKE. EVERYONE WE CAME ACROSS SAID THEY REALLY THOUGHT JAKE WAS JUST CARRYING AROUND A TEDDY BEAR.

AWESOME SCENERY IN CANYONLANDS.

THE BOYS ON MESA ARCH. WE TOOK THIS ONE TO FREAK MOM OUT. THE ARCH BOWS OUT OVER A CLIFF.

LIESEL AND AMANDA COULD NOT BE SHOWN UP. THEY HAD TO SHOW HOW DARING THEY WERE TOO.

OVERLOOKING THE GREEN RIVER. IT'S AMAZING WHAT WATER CAN DO TO THE LAND.

WE DID A HIKE CALLED THE AZTEC BUTTE. AMANDA NEEDED SOME TIME TO FEED THE BABY, SO WE DID THIS SHORT HIKE WITHOUT HER.

AROUND THE EDGE OF THE BUTTE ARE THESE AZTEC GRAINERIES.

MY WINDOW HAS AN AMAZING VIEW. HAHA

JUST LIKE LAST TIME I HAD TO FINALLY STEAL THE CAMERA FROM LIESEL SO SHE COULD BE IN SOME PICTURES. ISN'T SHE THE CUTEST!

MAN, I LOVE THAT GIRL....

MIGHTY JORDAN...

EEWWWWW.... BABIES....

IT WAS A FUN TRIP TO BE WITH JAKE AND AMANDA, AND TO SEE ALL THE SWEET RIGS AT JEEP SAFARI. WE ENDED THE DAY LIKE ALWAYS HITTING THE SHOPS ALONG MAINSTREET AND SPENT PLENTY OF MONEY. MOAB ROCKS!!!