A-Quadding We Will Go

We have had 3 very fun... wait, 1 of them wasn't fun, so 2 very fun... family quadding trips with my family. Dad is the best and is always willing to take us out and let us play!

The first time (the not so fun time) was a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. We went out by Saguaro Lake (which is our new favorite place to go since Bushnell tanks is closed) and started riding around. We had 2 quads - the automatic, larger quad and the smaller, manual quad with the slow leak in the tire. Mike decided to set off on the smaller quad up the road. Now, you have to understand, we're not hard-core riders. We usually ride around for 10-15 minutes down trails and down a couple hills and then we come back and give someone else a turn. About an hour later, we realize that Mike is not back yet. Of course this is the one time that we forgot to bring the walkie-talkies. Jessie drives around for a little bit to see if she sees him. Then Dad goes for a while longer. By now it's been about 2 hours and Dad comes back without Mike. This is when I basically go hysterical and start thinking about worst-case scenerios. My mom keeps telling me that she thinks he's fine. She has a good feeling and doesn't think anything's wrong (my mom's amazing like that). TJ goes out for a while to look for him and my mom calls us all together to say a family prayer (again, my mom is amazing!). We have since asked several other riders around who know the area a little better than us to be on the lookout for him. After about 2 1/2 hours, my dad gets in the truck to go find the Sherriff and a ranger's truck pulls up. He phones the Sherriff's department and 3 different vehicles pull up. That was quite the sight. We described Mike to them - he was wearing a BYU t-shirt, an ASU sweater, and a USU hat. The guys (clearly 2 of them at least were LDS) asked if he was wearing any other LDS paraphenalia, if he was an eagle scout (to which I told them his mom was!), and whether he was a full tithe payer! Okay, that was pretty funny, even in my time of hysteria). They tell us that the fastest way to find him will be using the heliocopter. They wait about 20 minutes and right before they send the "bird" up in the air, an SUV pulls up and out comes Mike. Apparently he had gone down a pretty steep hill, but the quad's tire had gotten low and the battery was dying whenever he tried to go up the hill so he was driving around trying to find another way back. He got pretty turned around and didn't realize how far away he had gotten. For a while, there weren't any quads or vehicles around at all, so he got pretty worried, but he was blessed to be able to find some people in an off-road vehicle that he could follow out to the main road (so he didn't have to lead the quad in the middle of nowhere) and then they gave him a ride back. Mike explained what happened to the Sherriff's and we were lucky that the helicopter had never taken off (otherwise we would have gotten a BIG bill!). Talking about it later, we were remembering Elder Holland's talk from conference about angels on earth, and we both agreed that the people who found Mike were our angels that day. It was definitely a stressful day.

The next 2 times we went were much more enjoyable. Once we went with Jessie's friend and her dad, who brought 3 quads with them, so we got to go on some fun, longer trailrides (we actually went down some washes that Mike realized looked pretty familiar from when he was lost). Amy decided she doesn't completely hate the quads anymore, although it does take some coaxing to convince her to take a ride.

The next time we went quadding after Mike got lost, the Sherriff's department drove past, so we had to take Mike's picture with the truck in the background! We tease him that they were just checking in with him. The is definitely the most tease-worthy thing in our family right now - it even beats TJ running the quad into the wall! Way to go Mike!

Amy loves her Papa. Especially when he has pop!

Amy & Aunt Jessie

Happy Quadding Family!

The best was when Mike took Amy out for a ride (long after her nap time of course) and comes back with her dead asleep in his arms. So cute!

My dad got a phone call so he walked to the front of his truck for better service. Amy followed him and when he leaned against the truck, she totally copied him. It was so cute!
This is from our most recent quadding trip. We had just gotten back from the snow and Amy had finally grasped the idea of snow angels... she just didn't realize you needed snow. She just plopped down and started moving her arms and legs.

Thanks Dad for all the fun times! You're the best!