Cousin Camp in Boulder City

We had the best New Year's Day spent with family who were visiting in Boulder City, NV, about 45 minutes southwest of where we live. My brother Devin and his wife Sarah, and their daughters Eva (2) and Sophie (3 months) are staying with Sarah's parents for the next week or so, so Saturday we headed out to spend the day with them! Lucy and Zach were in heaven playing with their little cousins-- especially Eva, and all three hit it right off!

First, Devin, Jon, me, and Sarah's sister Katie decided to do a bike ride up to Hoover Dam, which was about 15 miles away. It was a BEAUTIFUL ride with lots of downhill coasting (my favorite) and the red rocks and blue Lake Mead for scenery.

The trail goes through some old train tunnels which are really cool, the only problem was that it was FREEZING!! I couldn't feel my face or hands about 2 min. into the 30 min. ride, but we still had a good time.

Sarah and her parents met us at the end of the trail with the kids, and let us out to explore Hoover Dam for a bit. We hadn't been yet, and it was definitely impressive!!


View of the water level behind the dam, which is only 43% full-- the white band above the water is how high the water should be right now.


The new bridge that goes across the gorge is an amazing civil engineering feat, but I gotta admit, I can never look down from something like that without thinking about falling, so I was pretty glad to get the kids off!! You can see Jon hanging onto Lucy for dear life.

It was sure nice to check one more thing off our Nevada list of "Things to Do," especially since we had resident tour guides.

Afterwards we went back to Sarah's place to watch the TCU/Wisconsin football game, and Sarah's parents treated us to a delicious steak dinner. What a way to start the New Year off!! Zach and Lucy got to play a little more with the cousins and Sarah's dog Lexi. Anytime I couldn't find Zach, we just had to figure out where the dog had gone and Zachy was usually wrestling or trying to cuddle with the poor thing.

Cuddles with Little Soph!!

Lucy's turn!! This girl is super baby hungry...

Sunday morning Devin and Sarah decided to bless Sophie, so we got to attend and have Jon stand in (and yes, Harry Reid WAS there, but he did NOT stand in the circle).:) He gave a really nice blessing and it was fun to watch the CHAOS unfurl as the cousins tried to "reverently" play with each other.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!