Labor Day

Labor Day was our first chance go gather extended family at the cabin. One of Brad's sisters came down from Utah and one came up from the valley--I think there were 17 of us altogether.

When I dreamed of building a cabin, my dreams centered around finding ways to make memories as a family. And we made memories that weekend.

While we were unloading food, we discovered that the freezer had been open just a tiny bit, and it was filled with snow. Greg began emptying it out and de-snowifying everything. When Eve realized there was snow involved, she dug in to help. Good thing, too, because she was small enough to crawl into the freezer and reach the very back.

Saturday morning was beautiful for AZ in September--a little cloudy to take the edge off the sun, and not too hot (around 80). We rallied everyone together and took a hike to Tonto Natural Bridge, about ten minutes south of our property.

 These two developed a pretty cute bond over the long weekend. Tyler is the second of four brothers, and I think he enjoyed being around a little girl for a change.

 He looked out for her and helped her and played with her . . .

 . . . and she wrapped him around her finger.

The path to the bridge is pretty difficult, but these boys took every opportunity to climb rocks . . .

. . . and play in the water. Here they had found a bunch of crawdads and water skippers, all of which were too fast to be caught, much to Hyrum's disappointment.

 "Brad!" I think I surprised him a little.

 Can you believe this is Arizona? There are a few places like this here, and when you visit them, it's like traveling to a different world.

 A world with freely running springs and no cactus.

This isn't the best picture, but I loved Payson's face. Everyone had a great time hiking down to the bridge.

 Isn't is amazing?

 Pictures cannot do the size of this bridge justice. In this photo, we were still 50 feet from the entrance.

 Can you see Hyrum?

 Looking at the bridge from the opposite side.

 The hike out is never as fun as the hike in, is it? The south side of the bridge quickly reverts to desert--prickly pear, scrub juniper, and lots and lots of little rocks. The kids were hot and grumpy by this time. I caught this moment when we told them that we hadn't hauled lunch with us but that they would have to hike out in order to eat. Rum was not too happy about that news.

 The weather was beautiful. Lily and her cousin chose my favorite place at the cabin to sleep every night. One night, a deer walked past them a few times and startled them pretty good.

Lily used her handy flashlight to scare it away, but it kept coming back. I think it was finding yummy tidbits left behind by all the kids.

 Light rain fell Sunday morning for a little while, and the kids wandered around, enjoying the cool and the rain and the beauty.

We did have church that morning, but the little boys got impatient while waiting for everyone to get ready. Here they all are in their white shirts, ties and Sunday pants, taking turns shooting cans with the BB gun.

On Sunday afternoon, I looked around at everyone there. Small groups were playing games, trying to assemble the world's hardest 1000-piece puzzle, catching big bugs and moths outside, looking for snacks in the kitchen, and the house was filled with commotion and laughter. At that moment, I recognized the beginning of many memories made here as our family.

And I was happy.