Saturday, January 7, 2017

Fall Break in Utah

So this post is a couple months late but that is how life goes sometimes.  Back at the beginning of October, Paul and I flew to Utah the Thursday before general conference so that I could attend a big Korea mission reunion celebrating the 60th anniversary of missionaries in Korea.  It was an awesome event with returned missionaries who served from before I was born to now.  There weren't a ton of people I served with but it sure was great to see the ones who were there. 

Janet had law school fall break, so we spent the week with her.  Paul had a blast with CJ and Julien.  They were so good to him and he loved playing and trying to do everything that they did.  We were also able to attend my cousin Kaya's wedding and see my parents and lots of other family who were there for the event.  
Then Saturday, Cliff's fall break started so he drove up to meet us and we had a reunion with most of our canyon crew.  We hiked to Willow Lake and had a lot of fun catching up with friends and watching all the toddlers run around together.
The whole group at Willow Lake


Paul loved chasing the ducks, playing in the water, and even did a side hike with Lucy.
 Then one day when the other dads had gone back to work, Cliff and us moms took the kids to Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.

 Paul especially loved the unlimited pony rides.  He kept asking to ride again and again.  I think he went 5 times and rode every pony.
After an awesome week (2 weeks for Paul and I) of friends, family, and fun, it was time to head back to Arizona.  Of course we had to drive the Alpine Loop first to see the fall colors we so long for in our new fall-less home.  
We did a stop off at Kolob Canyon, a less busy but no less beautiful section of Zion National Park.  We did a nice little hike and obviously, the 2 weeks of not sleeping caught up to Paul.  

Well after midnight and a run in with Wickenberg police for being a perdiddle, we made it home safe to Phoenix.  It was nice to have some cool weather and real fall and always great to see family and friends but it is always nice to be back in your own house where your toddler actually sleeps through the night.



Friday, January 6, 2017

Paul's First Camping Trip

At 19 months, Paul doesn't have a whole lot of firsts anymore but somehow or another, he has managed to avoid camping since the womb.  Could be because our glory days of camping on the side of roads for canyoneering are behind us, or at least aren't very conducive to bringing children along, or that daddy gets his share of camping on his nearly monthly trips with the young men.  But either way, this is definitely a blog worthy milestone that will hopefully be the first of many for this little adventurer.

We drove about an hour over to a free camping area in Buckeye Hills Regional Park.  As soon as we got there, Paul was loving the whole idea.  He was running around like a mad man, tripping over rocks and not letting it phase him each time he ending up face first in the dirt.

Collecting firewood


Just sitting around the fire

The whole family

Dinner time!

Paul was obsessed with the lights

Tin foil dinner

Paul roasting a marshmallow for his s'more. 
The weather was good.  It was a little chilly in the night (around 50*) but it was warm enough in the tent with sleeping bags.  The sleeping situation was alright, daddy slept on a camping pad and mommy and Paul got the air mattress.  We went to bed around 8 since it was already dark out but then Paul was ready to play at 3:30 am.  We probably could have rocked him back to sleep but it was cold out and there is no standing room in the tent so, he watched cartoons on the kindle so as to avoid yelling and waking the neighbors.

All in all, it was a fun time and we'd be up for taking him again.