Juniper Peak

When I first moved to Vegas, I remember being astounded by the beauty of Red Rock Canyon.  Since then, Kira and I have made every effort to get out to there as often as possible.  We love scrambling up to the top of different pinnacles, and we love crawling through wild sandstone caves.  It is an incredible place!

Family Portrait!

After having our baby, it has been a little harder to get out hiking. (Definitely not impossible, but it takes a whole lot more work! J)   We decided Mother’s Day weekend was the perfect opportunity to dust of the boots and hit the rocks. We wound up climbing Juniper Peak, which is one of the prominent sandstone formations.  Under normal circumstances it should have taken us about 4 hours to complete this trek.  However, with our 2 month old baby, it took us close to 9 hours.  It’s kind of tricky to keep the baby safe, fed, and away from the blazing sun for that long.  I also realized how hard it is to fit through narrow passages when you have a 14 pound baby strapped to your chest… (I can’t imagine being pregnant and constantly having to worry about this… unbelievable!) At the end of the day, Kira and I got pretty sore, sun burnt, and skinned up, but the baby was safe and protected.  We loved it!  It was so much fun to be out enjoying creation!

Our scripture today is from John chapter 17.  Jesus is praying that His disciples would be protected by the Father.  He prays they would know they are loved, and he prays that His followers would find life.  That is my prayer for all of us this week.  May we know we are loved, and may we all find new ways to come alive!

Blessings!

PB

Enjoying the ride...

Red Rock!  Juniper is the red capped peak on the far right. 

It's an amazing canyon, but our baby's cries were amplified to a pretty incredible level when they echoed off those amazing stone walls... :)