Aaaahh . . . Pine Valley

We have taken a couple of trips up to Pine Valley in the past few weeks to do some picnicking. It is about an hour from our house and is like a magic land to me. We drive for 45 minutes in 110 degree weather, sagebrush, cactus and red dirt. Then when we round the corner into the valley, we drop into a open valley full of meadows, pioneer homes, and pastures. The valley is surrounded on all sides by real mountains covered in towering pine trees. Real pine trees and rocks and streams and sticks! The temperature is 30 degrees cooler. As the sun sets, it's literally too cold to sit around without a jacket. It is such a relief from August in St. George. Of course, the kids need no entertaining as the mountains are endlessly entertaining for them. I always wonder if houses are not the natural habitat of children. Maybe we were born to live in nature and have to be conditioned to live inside.










Here is Alisa's first ponytail. We have been waiting a long time for her to have enough hair to do different hairstyles.


Nicolas wanted me to put this picture on the blog because he said this is his favorite outfit. Apparently it is a "baseball outfit."



Diego took some pictures of the princess singing and dancing. She's quite talented, you know.