"Where are the fireworks?"

Valley of Fire.

It's about 40 minutes outside of Vegas, the city which I have lived in my entire life. Yet, today was my first time EVER driving off the I-15 to go check it out.

My Sugar was teasing me about not ever going to any of these nature places around Las Vegas as a child. (His family regularly retreated off to enjoy nature anytime there was a break in the clouds up in Seattle. Well, as often as there actually was a sunny day.) He couldn't believe that I'd never been there, but I reminded him that I grew up in single parent household. My mom worked hard ALL week to provide for us, then did all the other life requirements, (cleaning, groceries, shopping, etc.) on the weekend. (It wasn't like I had 8 other siblings at home to help out around the house. Ha!)  She was busy, and nature was not on her list of things to squeeze into her/our weekends. It's not like I didn't ever see nature before... there are so many beautiful calendars and tons of great non fiction books out there. Ha!

I had a good childhood, and I was just fine with never seeing the Valley of Fire before, until today.

However, it was very pretty and quite interesting. It did look just like how it would look on a calendar, or in a book. :)

(IMAGE FOUND IN BOOK!)

Honestly though, it was fun to be there enjoying it first hand. My babies had fun climbing, scaling, and jumping off rocks. They didn't mind that I was about to have a heart attack, as I'm such a pansy, since I didn't grow up doing all these adventurous things. They continued to do crazy things, while I just held my breath and said little prayers quietly to myself.

But, turns out, they survived. They didn't get hurt, bruised, or broken. They got dirty and smiled. This experience was one I'm glad they had in their childhood. I'm thankful for my Sugar, who loves adventures and excursions like these in nature. He's teaching them, and me, to enjoy our Heavenly Father's creations.

When we were done hiking and exploring, I laughed out loud though when Afton asked in a disappointed tone, "Well, where are all the fireworks? It's the Valley of Fire, right?"

She sounded just like her mom. Not satisfied entirely with incredible rock formations, petroglyphs, or natural beauty around her, that look just like the pictures she would find in a calendar or in a book. She still wanted more. She wanted fireworks.