We began our trip at Devil's Den, where it was pretty cold and rainy the 2 days we were there. That was pretty disappointing because we were looking forward to lots and lots of hiking. The older boys and dad were able to attend an interpretive program with one of the rangers. She took them on a small hike to one of the crevices that is off the usual trails. All the caves are closed because of White-nose syndrome, so there was to access to the caves anyway. I totally forgot to break out the camera at Devil's Den. So these pictures pick up at Meme and Grandad's where we visited for the weekend, we got to attend Church at Clarksville Ward and visit our favorite people there. Love them all and miss them so much! We continued on to Lake Dardanelle SP and had great weather and a wonderful time. It felt like that was the beginning of our trip. The kids got to play in the water a bit, Eric was happy for another playground. A local calico cat adopted us while we were there. We liked the shower house, clean bathrooms and the more secluded campsite we chose. They have a GREAT visitor center, only Bull Shoals visitor center even compared. They are both great. The kids were pretty disappointed with the other State Park visitor centers after seeing this one. We all had a great time.

An Interesting Find

A homeowner in Boulder, Colorado found a cache of stone points ( arrowheads, spearheads, cutting tools) on his lot. There were DNA remains of horse and camel. 13,000 year old (Clovis culture) horse and camel DNA. That is exciting. Many Anti-Mormon 'scholars' believed that there were no horse or camels here on the North American continent as mentioned in the BoM. Gene has quite a collection of spear heads, some from that time period. It's really amazing to hold something in your hand that was formed by human hands 10,000 years ago. Just wanted to share.

Happy Monkeys

Last night we watched a Nova special on PBS about evolution.
The town of Dover was the focus. Their school board bought new books that taught "Intelligent Design" or creationism and pushed aside Darwin's theory. The "Christian" townspeople send death threats to people who fought against the new curriculum. How is that Christian?

As a Mormon we believe in the Bible, we study the account in Genesis of the creation. But, I think we have to be able to intermingle our faith with science. Is that possible? I'm curious what they teach at BYU.

I want my kids to be able to think for themselves and not be offended by others beliefs. I want them to know why they think what they think. I want them to express their beliefs, faith, and knowledge.

shattered

So, last night Gene called while the kids and I were doing dishes. We aren't set up with a dishwasher yet, so I wash and the kids dry. I ran out here to grab the phone and I'm saying hi and then I hear a huge crash come from the kids. Ellie's saying 'oh no'. And I tell Gene to call back 'cause something broke and I think Ellie broke it. So, I run back there and my 2 favorite pans are in pieces on the floor. Now, our floors are all concrete still, the granite tiles won't make for a softer landing, but. Ellie and Edward explain how Eric pulled the stack off onto the floor. So glad it was Eric, because Ellie would have been feeling terrible, crying even. So at least Eric couldn't feel the gravity of it all. He offered his 'sorry' though. One of the pans was just a Pampered Chef large jelly roll pan, but it's the second one I've broken. It was perfectly seasoned. I can't bake cookies without it. I don't like the way cookies turn out on any other pan, metal just doesn't work for me, I burn them. cost: $29.95 + $8 shipping. The second pan was a beautiful Polish Pottery oval baker. I love that dish. I use it more for serving than baking, but I love(ed) it. I bought it on eBay about a year ago. cost: $30+ $12 shipping.

So maybe for my birthday I can ask for some new pans. It benefits everyone, they can't live without my cookies. Well, they probably could, but why would we want to?

a little lonley

So Gene, Gene and Elliott are gone tonight. They drove down to Pine Bluff to take care of a few houses and list them with a Realtor. I don't like being here without him. But they'll be back tomorrow afternoon. So today my day included: cutting some firewood, installing a closet rod (for me, yea!), and doing a little sorting. I went through some tubs of my clothes, hanging up what I want to keep and assigning others to new homes. Hopefully they'll find more use for someone else. I'm so excited to have my closet. It'll probably, well, definitely, need to be redone eventually.

Frozen II

Okay. So yesterday Gene started fiddling around with the water pump (we've got a well). We had been able to push water through the pipes and into the house, but just for short periods of time (I did get a shower). He figured out that the pressure gauge was broken and that there was a small piece of pipe cracked. Thanks well guys for using PVC! The rest of our plumbing in our home is PEX and will not burst or crack when the water freezes. But this one vulnerable spot, outside, above ground is PVC--makes no sense. Gene replaced the bit of pipe and adjusted the pressure gauge and we're in business. Showers all around. Lots of dishes and laundry to wash. So grateful.

Frozen

Well, I am sick of winter. If I wasn't already sick of it, I am there now. We lost our power Tuesday morning just after midnight. I was already asleep when our fan and heater went off. Gene and I went around the house and made sure the kids were covered up and their doors were closed. All day we hung out in the LR and huddled around the wood stove, played board games and went to bed early. We cooked oatmeal and stew on the stove, too. Such fun. Today about 1p.m. it was restored. Yea! But our water is still frozen. So no showers again, flushing the toilet with water we stored up Tuesday night, no washing dishes. Hopefully it'll thaw out tonight.