Family Outdoor Evening

Monday nights are usually reserved for Family Home Evening but tonight we did our hike and made it into Family Outdoor Evening.  And, ummm, we almost needed to call it Family Outdoor *Night* as here was our last photo:

                            And we still had about a mile left to go when this picture was taken.

So, it was perfect for Halloween and more than a bit spooky...I was expecting a deer or skunk to pop out at any time!

But, we had protection!  Let me introduce our canine bodyguards.......

This is Finley our lab!  He's my baby and the most hair shedding dog I've ever known in my life!  We got him at the pound and he was vicious at the door of the kennel to everyone that walked by.  Except for me....and then he whined like crazy and tried to push himself through the bars to reach me.  He's my baby...oh, did I mention that already! :-)

This is Sizzles our Dachshund and Corgi mix!  She is named after the Doxie in the wonderful cartoon, Charlie and Lola (My absolute favorite!  A cartoon where the children are actually good and loving towards one another-highly recommended!)  Sizzles belongs to Emily, only because she chose her over anyone else in the family.  We got her while I was working as a social worker in a teen pregnancy program.  I was working with a teen who told me that she was going to take her to the pound.  I offered to help her find a home.....and guess who's home she found?!?  It actually wasn't my fault!  I sent her picture around at work and then sent one home for fun.  My husband called me at work and asked when I was bringing our new baby home!

This is Cookie our King Charles Spaniel!  He is Amelia's dog...she actually picked him out as a puppy from a breeder.  He is our first pure-bred dog and we got him so that Amelia could train him to be a therapy dog.  He was so calm and sweet and for the first time ever, we found a puppy to be actually enjoyable.  The unfortunate thing is that we have been busy spoiling him and he now has a peculiar affinity for chewing shoes and underwear.  Yeah, ahem, not super popular in a house full of girls.  But, he is the cutest little guy ever and I really am in love with this breed....and him!


Oh, and we also have another pet that likes to go on our walks....can you guess what it might be???

This is Gwen our beautiful kitty that was our inheritance when Robert's grandfather died.  She likes to trail us on every walk.  She is good at going incognito....

                                              But she's always there!

Tonight was a particularly good night...it was the perfect temperature and.....

                            It was a good night to be silly....... 

                          And, put your face into holes to find frogs........

                              It was a good night to make sand castles.....

                                                   And smiley faces!!


                It was a good night to get dirty!

                                                     Or was it?

It was a good night to be loved by Finley (which unfortunately involved sand in the eyes)

                                                  And, for piggy back rides!


                                     It was a great night!
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We had two more donations today so the thermometer is continuing to rise!  Thank you so much!!!

We are excited to report that our daughter that is in the army has decided to walk on our behalf in Virginia and has already completed 30 miles over the last week!!!

We also heard from one of the followers of the blog that has gone one mile (with a promise of more!)

*And*, a family of 10 is going to be joining our Walk Across the World!

And, we put in another 20 miles as a collective group this evening!

So, we are now right on over that California border and well into Nevada....this is so exciting!

Here is where we are now....

We are just outside of Shurz, Nevada.  And, the most exciting part is that we are finally in a location that lists a population.  There are approx 720 people that live in Shurz Nevada and over 80% are Native American. 
They have a yearly Pinenut festival and even more importantly.....

They have a shoe tree!!!  I am not sure if it is intended that you go to add shoes to the tree or if you go to take them,  as the person who posted this picture found (and took) some Dorothy red ruby shoes and cowboy boots.  Maybe it is a shoe recycling tree?!?  Makes me want to actually go and see it!

Thanks everyone....til tomorrow......