Dennett Family Reunion Camping Trip

Let me tell you a little bit about the Dennett Family Camping trip. Unfortunately, Byron had to work and was not able to attend, he was very happy when we arrived home safely. My Family and I went camping on Cedar Mountain in Utah near Duck Creek. We all had so much fun! Below are just a few pictures from the trip.

Elizabeth (left) with some of her cousins.

Front Row-Left to right: Kelsey, Samuel, Luke

Back Row-Left to right: Owen, Dane, Elizabeth

Softball with the cousins...

Grandpa Dennett with new grandson Dalton.

Victoria found a stick!

Cody and Shane (Nikki's brothers) with Aaron (Nikki's nephew) and his friend practicing to shoot Shane's Bow and Arrow.

Family time under the little covered area.

Grandpa Dennett with Dansy, Dalton, and Victoria

Grandpa Dennett riding a 4-wheeler with lots of his grandkids.

Blake and Ty sleeping under the stars.

Elizabeth pushing Victoria on a swing.
Left to right: Shane, Dalton, Victoria, Grandpa Dennett, and Elizabeth
Elizabeth with cousin Jake.

More cousins playing in forts.

Some of the boys...

Echo Bay Marina (Valley of Fire Weekend continued...)

That night, after a day full of hiking, climbing, and sight seeing, we went back to our campsite for dinner. We had lots of fun roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the campfire. Elizabeth had never had a S'more before, but she thought they were pretty good. Although, she did prefer just eating the marshmallows as soon as she thought they were toasted enough. The stars were beautiful, and to calm the kids before bed we sat in the tent trailer and watched "Every One's Hero", an animated movie that the kids had never seen. It was pretty cute actually.

To finish our weekend at the Valley of Fire, on Sunday we went to the Echo Bay Marina. They have this neat little restaurant where the inside resembles a ship where we had breakfast. It was actually quite good. Then we went down to the actual marina. There are lots of ducks, black geese-like birds, and fish that are just waiting to be fed. We used our left-over bread and hot dog buns until they were gone. Then we went to the little gift shop/deli and bought popcorn to feed them. We had some too. Byron had lots of fun looking at all the boats that were being stored at the marina. Victoria was very tired and fell asleep, and Elizabeth just loved feeding every bird and fish she could possibly see. Our weekend was fantastic, and very refreshing. It was like a mini-vacation. On the drive home Elizabeth asked if we could go camping again. :) That made Byron happy. After all that, we went home and showered/rested and went to Nikki's parents' house to catch the last part of General Conference and have dinner (yummy barbecue ribs). We can't wait to go camping again!

Vallely of Fire April 4-6, 2008

The first weekend in April, we decided to take our family to the Valley of Fire. We left a little late on Friday night so by the time we got there it was dark and we were tired. The campsites were all full in Valley of Fire so we decided to keep driving since Overton was only a few miles away. We saw some trailers/RVs parked off the road so we pulled over, threw up the tent trailer, and went to sleep. By this time it was pitch black and close to midnight. When we woke up the Saturday morning, Byron counted 37 trailers/RVs that looked like they had been there for quite some time. Yep, we woke up in Nevada's version of a Tent City (which happened to be on BLM property). So we quickly closed up camp and decided to find an actual campsite before we did anything else that day. Since Valley of Fire was booked through the weekend, we were directed to Echo Bay by Lake Mead, only about 14 miles away from Valley of Fire. So we went, set up camp, had lunch, and went on our merry way. Nikki was determined to see some of the sites in Valley of Fire.

Our first stop was the Beehives. These are large rocks that have been eroded and wind beaten in a way that they create shapes looking similar to beehives. The family picture above was taken there. Elizabeth had so much fun climbing and hiking through all the nooks and crannies.

From there we went to Atlatl Rock. You have to climb this huge flight of stairs (see below) to go up and see petroglyphs made by Indian tribes long ago. It's called Atlatl Rock because there are petroglyphs of the atlatl, the pre-cursor to the bow and arrow. It was neat to be there when we were because there was an Atlatl convention going on so we actually saw people throwing these spears with a little hook that it rests on and you hold. It was a lot of fun. Behind Elizabeth you can see some petroglyphs.





After Atlatl Rock, we went to Rainbow Vista. It's beautiful to see all the different colors on the rocks. The pictures don't do it justice.
We did one hike after this that we only took one picture of. It was Silica Dome. We didn't get very far on the hike because it was like walking through beach sand. All the walls around and the sand were white. A lot of the rocks had this almost spider-web look to it. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see it on the rock that the girls are sitting on. Also, notice how big Victoria is compared to Elizabeth! :) We learned that quite a few movies were filmed there and that some of the set of the 1970's (?) movie The Professionals is still there along that hike. It got to steep to take the kids so we didn't make it the whole way, but the hike was nice (good exercise to). Next we went to a look out point where you can see the difference of where the rust in the rock is showing, and where the white silica is more dominant. It's almost a straight line that cuts the valley in half. It was amazing to see.










Last, we hiked a trail to Mouse's Tank. On the trail, there are all kinds of petroglyphs all over the sides of the hills. You just have to pay attention or you will miss them. At the end of the trail there is a basin where water collects and stores for months at a time. Mouse's tank is named after a renegade Indian who hid out in the are around the basin. The hike was pretty easy, which was good because it was getting toward the end of the day and we were tired. You can see Byron climbing one of the walls that has all these little hiding places behind the flat front of rock. The other picture is of Elizabeth trying to climb and hike on everything she could. Below is a sweet image of Victoria. Don't worry...Byron is behind her holding on tight (you can see his hat and shoulder).