a cast and a cabin

I am not sure how many of you have heard the story of Jake vs. the TV, but my adorable little nephew climbed on the tv in the kids' play room, which resulted in the tv falling right on top of him! A fractured heel and a blue cast were the outcome. Because he is so small he cannot use crutches, so he has had to learn how to crawl again. However, the cute little kid seems to be adjusting to life without the use of one leg quite well. I just think he looks so darn cute in his little cast! He did well when the Utah kids were here, but had a hard time understanding why he could not get into the swimming pool with them. Here he is playing on the rocking horse:

Cute right?? Here he is chillin' with Jackson underneath the coffee table:

And my fave picture:

Love those kids!

The week ended with the Utah kids, myself and my parents heading to the cabin. Because of the cast and because school started for the AZ kids, they were unable to make it with us. We missed them. The time at the cabin was fantastic! Most of our time was spent on the ATVs exploring the desert and all sorts of other attractions. There is this gigantic wash down the road from my parents' cabin that is stellar for riding 4 wheelers! I never knew it existed until this trip to the cabin. We also headed to the water tower to do some exploring and then made our way to the top of the Black Mesa. Here are the kids checking out the water tower:

Here we are exploring the Black Mesa. The pictures just don't do justice to the scariness of the scenery. At the very edge of the black rocks is quite a drop off. Eek!


And this, friends, is how the majority of the weekend was spent:

I only took the camera out when the girls went 4 wheeling. I was on a 3rd ATV taking pictures from behind. It was awesome! If you expand the picture below and look into the distance, right in between the two girls, is our cabin. It's a little brown spec in the trees:

It's funny because I used to think the desert was so ugly and my idea of a cabin was in the mountains surrounded by pine trees. Our cabin is in the middle of dirt, rocks, and dead-looking trees. However, it has quickly become one of my favorite places to go and I can't imagine having a more perfect place for a cabin (in AZ that is). Here are some scenery shots for your viewing pleasure. I am not at all a photographer, so the quality of picture does not do justice to the breathtakingness (it's a word) of the scenery:


And finally, some poor creature had a bad day in the desert, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon his remains. I put my foot next to some of the bones just so you can see the enormity of them. It was quite freaky:

My mom thinks it was a cow. I am leaning more towards dinosaur. Kidding...I am not that dumb.

All in all it was a great weekend! I am so happy for the time I got to spend with the family this last week. My family rocks and I love them all to death. And I must say that my niece Kensie is an amazingly talented ATV driver (she never let me drive unless we were going down steep hills), and that my two middle nephews took off their floaties and swam like champs! I will say it forever: I LOVE BEING AN AUNT!!!