Weekend Family Camping Reunion

The last weekend in July, we met up with Uncle Robbie & Aunt Katie (cute little newlyweds!) for a few days camping.   We looked for a campsite halfway between Provo & Denver and found Jumbo Campground outside of Mesa, CO.

We traded off meals-- Uncle Reebee cooked up some yummy coke chicken the first night.

Grant brought his new hammock and hung out with Baby Will.

Our trip fell on Rob's birthday and mine was two weeks earlier so we brought each other presents.  We both decided on Swedish fish, but somehow I got out-presented...

And of course, Will was the cutest.

Oh, and the dirtiest...

Uncle Reebee taught Bubby how to hit sticks together.

It quickly became one of Will's favorite hobbies.

We hiked the next morning.

Past the lake...

through a meadow...

and up to a big rock pile.

Will got some killer splinters that got infected.  There was some serious screaming when we finally pinned him down to get them out.  Bleh.

But splinters aside (as well as the torrential rain that kept us tent-ed all evening), we had a fantastic time.  Will loves his Aunt Katie & Uncle Reebee!

Devil's Head

A few weeks ago, we headed out for a hike up to Devil's Head, home of the last working fire lookout station in Colorado.  

It was 2.8 miles round trip and Willister hung out in the backpack most of the way up. He likes it pretty well, (no screaming or fighting), but sure doesn't mind when it's time to get out!

We had Grumsie, Uncle Matthead, and friends Monroe & Lisa for climbing buddies.

At the top of the hike there is a 100+ stair climb to the top of the lookout tower. The stairs are anchored into the rocks and it's pretty steep, but Will was up for the challenge.

Cute baby butt.

He made it!

There was a nice old forest ranger in the tower.  He lives up on the mountain and has been working the lookout tower for some 20-odd years.

The 360 degree view was gorgeous.

And Will was definitely all tuckered-out by the time we got down. We love our day hikes, but they sure do mess up regular nap times-- boo for that!

July Birthday Celebrations

July is birthday month around here.  Will turned two on July 14th and I turned twenty-five on the 18th. Last year we went all out for Will's 1st birthday.  It probably had something to do with the fact that I was still in recovery from surgery with nothing to do for the 4 weeks leading up to his big day...  Anyway, this year we scaled back and threw a little family party at Grant's parents' house.

Will is all about treats.

Our friends Alison & Travis came to celebrate with us.

As well as Aunt Cheech, Uncle Matthead, and Uncle Matthead's brother Kirk.

Mumsie and Grumsie rose to the occasion and supplied an incredible spread of food despite us telling them we were coming just earlier that day... You rock Mumsie & Grumsie!!

Will was quite pleased with his little shindig.

And we even managed to sneak in a little family picture.  (We're lucky if this happens annually, it seems!)

For my birthday, Grant convinced our friend Chris to take us rock climbing!  I was so so excited.

I wore my new Lululemon clothing from my mama.  Not the best climbing attire... but man, I looked good!

Our trusty guide.

Best birthday planner ever.

It was a great warm-up for my First Descents trip that's coming up in a few weeks!  I'll be climbing in NY for a week with a group of cancer survivors.  Hoorah!

It was gorgeous, and wonderful, and so much fun.  Can't believe my baby is two and I'm a whole-quarter century old!

Fourth of July

It indeed happened over a month ago... but here's the recap of our 4th of July.

We headed to Town Center for a few adventures.  Will loved the carriage ride and the horses.

He got a balloon animal; a dog, of course.

And then we waited in line for the bounce house for 30 minutes.

He was the 1st one in the bounce house and was jumping all over the place...

Until the big kids started funneling in...

And he had a mini-meltdown...

He refused to move from that spot in the middle.  The bouncy house was a little full, and a little crazy, and Will was frozen with fear.

We eventually convinced him to crawl over to the side and he felt much better bouncing over there.

After all the excitement, (and almost having to go into the bounce house ourselves to get Will to leave), we headed to Freddy's for a custard cone.

Man, that stuff is good.

Happy (belated) Fourth!