Roller Coaster of the Day to Day.

We don't have to travel far for life to be interesting. Here is a little sample of our daily life:

Lost in the shadow of Maya and Mason is a precious little 5 month old girl named Ellie. Here she is.

I don't think she has cried more than 30 seconds in her whole life. She has slept through the night since she was 3 weeks old and she is content in almost any situation. Obviously she got a large quantity of her genetic material maternally.

Maya and Mason love to draw/color. Here is Mason taking some tips from his big sister.

Maya secluding herself with Barry (yes, he is a bear and his name is Barry) at breakfast.

Mason really loves car trips, especially the long ones to Utah. Maya goes incognito.

Speaking of Utah. Maya had a great time learning the ropes of horseback riding from uncle Cory.

Your average morning. The only sad part about this shot is that it was taken at 6 am. Mason is usually up at 5-5:30 am, followed closely by the other two... ouch!

Sometimes we go for hikes along the miles of trails around our house. The start out like this... Maya and Mason trudging up the hills with happy faces carried by their own happy feet.

5-10 minutes later Mason will decide his shoes are more of an annoyance than a benefit. Despite the fact that everything is sharp in the desert, including the fangs of rattlesnakes, he will remove his shoes. Then He'll look for rocks...

He'll find a few too.

He'll gather them while his Mama holds his shoes

Happy feet turn sad and want to be carried.

I put at least one kid down, cause I'm a runner/biker not a weight lifter. Plus, I need to take a picture because the spring desert is sooo beautiful!

Maya will commandeer the hydration pack.

Then she'll trek back on her own to the car... which is no more than 200 yards back.

How does that cactus stay alive anyway?

Sometimes our treks involve bikes. Especially now that we have a seat for the back of Jenny's bike. Then the other two can ride in the chariot behind me.

Maya wanted to play hide and seek. She hid. It took me a little time to find her.

Presenting another rendition of Maya Princess (M.P.)

Oh, and for those of you Northerners, it is swim time here down South.

Maya Lost her first tooth! At four years old it was a bit premature and she needed help from the dentist to get it out, and a huge pocket of puss gushed out behind it because the root was infected probably because falling into the fireplace and chipping it 3 years ago weakened the tooth predisposing it to infection...probably

Right after the dentist. Still a bit puffy.