Jeep Day

We got up in the morning and picked up the Jeeps that Mom rented for the day.  Mike asked for the green one because he knew Nate would love it.  I loved the color!  Now I want my future box Bronco to be that color green (I used to want orange, but I loved this green).

Anyway, our rental agreement was pretty strict about where we could go and we were on Chicken Corners wondering if we would ever get into 4 wheel drive.  Pretty soon, Warren (the lead Jeep) veered off into Kane Creek and we had a great ride.
We got into some fun obstacles and the kids were all having a great time.  We didn't have enough room for one of our kids in the Jeep, so Allie got to ride with Jenny, Grandma, and some of the other girl cousins.  We could hear their singing and screaming several Jeeps back.
My favorite thing was driving through the river so the water came up over the top of the Jeep.  We got to cross them a few times and each time made me laugh.

We kept going along the trail until we got to a spot that was tough for Warren's Jeep to get over.  The next Jeep took a different route and it just wasn't possible for the stock Jeep to make it over the rock.  On the other side, the hill started to slough away.  We all stopped to access the situation and it wasn't looking good.  I can't believe I didn't get a good picture of it. The only one I have is before things got serious.

We had to have a few people stand on the side to weigh it down so it wouldn't tip.  I went down the line of Jeeps and asked all the kids to say prayers.  We knew no one would get hurt, but we were pretty sure the Jeep was going over the edge and it would be a lot of money and a serious problem getting it back out again.
After the prayers were said and rocks were placed for the tires to grip, Warren was able to get it out.  I think we were all pretty amazed when it didn't tip...especially the guys who were weighing it down on the side.  Mike said he could feel it going, and then it just didn't.
I went back down the line asking for prayers of thanks because I knew that our prayers made all the difference.

After all that excitement, we turned around and went back to more boring (and safe) trails.  We had lunch at a stream and let the kids run around playing.

Jake was a trooper to sit with the two boys in the back. The car seats were bumping along and squishing him, making him pretty miserable at the bumpiest parts.  He was good about it though.  We switched things up after lunch and put the two car seats together so Jake could have one side free.  That seemed to help. Jason loved the ride.  Nate had a snooze for part of it.

We also drove up to a beautiful overlook and climbed around a bit there too.  I don't think there's a kid out there that wouldn't love the rocks of Moab to climb around on.

We're getting to be a pretty big crowd!

We made it back in time to clean and gas up the Jeeps so we could turn them back in.  The kids swam at the pool and played at the playground.  They loved all the cousin time.  It was a great day.  I love looking out at the red rock and the blue sky.  It seems like whenever we are at a place like this, I get Sam's song stuck in my head because it really is such a beautiful world that Heavenly Father created for us.  We're lucky to be able to be out enjoying it all.