Steve's Volunteer of the Year Award

FIRST is a national organization which hosts high school robotic competitions across the country and then hosts a world's final competition in Atlanta. GA.  My husband Steve became involved several years ago when he discovered parents of these high school students coming in to his business buying bearing and belts.  Since then he has sponsored and mentored several teams in the Las Vegas and Kingman areas, he has traveled to several regional and the national event, and has convinced other adults to get involved supporting and mentoring teams.  This year at the Las Vegas Regional this weekend, Steve was awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award.  he was very surprised and honored.  Congratulation Steve!

Valley of Fire

I bet it has been at least 10 years since I've been to Valley of Fire.  So Steve and I decided to go and we invited our friend Nicole who is visiting from Paris, France.  This is a picture of Nicole and I.  We all had a great time.  We drove around the park, hiked a little at Mouse Tank and Elephant Rock and had a wonderful picnic lunch.  Nicole was super impressed with the beautiful colors and the Indian petroglyphs.  It seems to me that the facilities have been improved upon since the last time we've been there.  What a fun day trip to get out of the city and enjoy nature.

My friend Nicole

My friend Nicole who lives in Paris, France is visiting Las Vegas.  Last Thursday I decided to take her on a hike.  We ended up hiking to Hoover Dam.  This is the greatest hike to take Las Vegas visitors on.  We drove toward the dam but pulled off the road and parked at the Lake Mead Visitor Center which is on the left hand side of the road before you reach the Hacienda Hotel.  The trail is well marked and for the most part follows the old railroad bed which was part of the dam construction.  The trail follows through five tunnels without much elevation change for about 3 1/2 miles and ends up at the top of the parking garage at Hoover Dam.  We did a little sight seeing at the dam and had lunch at the cafe before heading back to our car.  Nicole throughly enjoyed the hike.