Because this is what the boys do on the desert...

Our boys love the desert...
Well, the girls do too, but this trip was for the boys!
It's like a tradition or something...
It's a family thing. 
My dad used to mine flourspar on this desert.
We used to stay out on the desert in a camp trailer and I went underground
long before I ever went to school.
So put my dad out here, on this desert, and he is home...
Literally... he loves it and it's just like home to him.
It makes him really happy!!!
This year Matt was new to the experience,
Never experienced the whole desert and old mine experience,
 so of course they had to go.
The girls chose to stay home because well, let's face it...
taking 3 or 4 babies out on the HOT desert is not the most brilliant idea.
So we stayed home and played where we had air conditioning available!!!
Thankfully they brought us some pictures home,
so we didn't miss out on the experience completely!

They had a blast...
It's such a 'boy' thing to do but they enjoyed exploring,
and my dad enjoyed getting out where he is most at home!
Matt loved it... and so did Nate, it was his first experience too!

(Don't worry... we have a family FULL of miners who know what they were doing... if there was any doubt I would be the first one to say no way!!!)

Okay. yes... I realize my dad is, um, well, flipping the bird! 
You have to realize that this is NOT necessarily what it means to the rest of the world...
It's almost a token of love in our messed up family.
When I was a baby... like 18 months or so...my dad drove to work with a man that always waved at me and told me I was his little girlfriend, and that I would marry him when I grew up.

Every morning I would sit on the window sill and wave goodbye to my dad.
Every morning this man also waved at me.
My dad has a wicked sense of humor... I used to know he was teasing me when his mouth
twitched in the corner... my friends would think he was so serious but I always knew...
so at 18 months he spent a lot of time teaching me how to flip the bird...
and informed me that I should do it when this guy waved at me.
His friend had bright red hair and always blushed as red as his hair...
So imagine his surprise when he waved at me one morning,
and I flipped him the bird!
So really.... while most people would consider this BAD... it's more just very typical of my dad when he saw Thayne taking his picture!!!!

Matt's just taking in the sights...

Thank heavens for big brothers helping you down the hill...

The grave....
Well, this is one of their traditional stops, at the old grave!
None of them actually know what the truth is about the old grave and Thayne actually wants to find out the truth about it, but there are rumors. 
The one my dad knows is that it is the grave of the only miner killed on the desert in the mine...
Of course it had something to do with the mines! (haha)
Thayne heard it was the cook for an old sheep herders camp.
Guess I really should find out the truth.
But I guess speculation over who it is makes it more interesting and they stop here
every time they go out there.

Matt and my dad checking things out!