Valley of Fire

Our family recently took a trip to Las Vegas to see George Strait in concert. Before Chance leaves on his mission, we wanted to let him see George one last time.  George could retire before Chance has the opportunity to see him again as he will spend two years in England.

On our drive down to Las Vegas, we stopped at The Valley of Fire State Park. It is literally in the middle of the desert. And astoundingly beautiful. There are petroglyphs on colored rocks that stretch off into the distance. We went for a hike to a place called Mouses' Tank which is a basin that collects water each time it rains.

The pamphlet with information about the area explains it like this:

"Mouse’s Tank is named for a Southern Paiute Indian renegade (“Little Mouse”) who used Valley of Fire as a hideout in the 1890’s after he was accused of killing two prospectors and other crimes in the area.   It is named ‘The Mouse’s Tank’ because an alleged Southern Paiute Indian renegade named ‘Little Mouse’ hid out there in the 1890’s. He was accused of gunning down two prospectors and many other crimes. "


Our family climbed up and around the area that Little Mouse had inhabited over 100 years ago. There were pockets of water that had filled in natural basins created by the rocks and you could see why it would be a good spot to hide out.

We hiked up above the basin where water had gathered and found a crevice in the mountains. Chance climbed up inside the crevice and slid back into the shadow of the rock. Then he put his sheath knife that he had on his belt into his mouth and waited for me to go by. It was a little creepy I have to say. He looked like an outlaw hiding from the authorities.  And like he might just jump out and kill you as you walked by.

It was really dry with little vegetation, but it had a unique beauty and it was peaceful.

Where in the World is Chance Going On His Mission?

A few months ago, Chance sent in the needed paperwork to serve a proselyting mission

for our church,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Chance waited with anticipation for several weeks to see where he was going to be called to serve.  

    The call has arrived and.......

DRUM ROLE PLEASE

Chance has been called to serve in England!

Speaking Mandarin!

He is so excited.

He will leave for his mission on March 6th.

That means he will report to the Missionary Training Center on that date.

The Missionary Training Center(known as the MTC)

does just what it's name implies.

It is a place to train missionaries to be ready to serve missions.

In Chance's case, this means he will have classes

where he studies Mandarin along with

other classes and activities.

There is a lot to do to prepare when you are going to live overseas for

two years as Chance will do.

One of our main concerns with Chance's implants is that England is much more

humid than our little neck of the woods. 

Chance will need to take that into account when caring for 

his implants.

He will need to use his little Dry and Store dehumidifier a bit more 

than he does here. 

Maybe a lot more.

I am so excited for Chance to start using phrases like:

"A few sandwiches short of a picnic."

and 

"Bees knees."

The adventure begins!