Travelog Time

This blog may turn into a travelog, and I just don't even care. I sort of, a lot, love that I have things "travel worthy" to blog about for the first time in a LONG time. Life is so busy during the school year, so fun weekends like the one we just had, don't happen ever.
This past weekend, like as in a few days ago, our little family went on a camping trip with our friends Cami and Brady. We went up high on the Rim, past Happy Jack, on your way to Flagstaff, to some of the prettiest country you've ever seen. And beyond the beauty, it was breezy (when I say breezy, I really mean pretty darn windy) and fresh and most of all cool.
For a lot of the 2.5 hour drive up, Avery was sitting her carseat saying over and over in a sing-songy voice, "Camping, camping, camping, camping!" She was pretty excited, especially since we got her, her own pink sleeping bag. Parents for the win!

 Do you see that little turkey sitting on that bed? She looks all cute and innocent, but when it comes time to sleep at night she wanted NOTHING to do with her pack n' play, but instead tormented Steve and I all stinking night long in our slowly deflating air mattress (which we are throwing away, we have patched that thing too many times). I would be fast asleep, and suddenly her little finger would be jammed in my mouth, and she would be playing peek-a-boo with her self, or rolling all over us, or simply sitting there, staring at us like a creepo. Avery, on the other hand, slept like a champ, but Steve and I, not so much. We just had to laugh and concede to the fact that camping with a kid who doesn't sleep is nuts, but so worth the memories.

Handsome man right there, naively smiling just before he had an hour long struggle trying to screw a small propane tank on to our portable grill so we could eat some delicious buffalo burgers.

Cami and Brady are in those ginormous -40 degree bags...somewhere...I think.

We brought Steve's hammock that he brought back from his mission in Honduras, and as you can see, he thoroughly bonded with his little girls in it.

 Giving her a red vine made her life complete.

 Steve's stoic side.

This little girl was obsessed with her "princess chair", and would literally just kneel down in front of it and gently touch the princesses' faces with as much adoration as an almost 3 year old can muster. By the way, when we were packing up and she realized we were leaving, she got really sad and kept saying, "No, I don't wanna go home!" Steve said that was like music to his ears because she loved camping so much. Both of the girls did, it was exhausting but totally worth it.

 Red vine aftermath. She looks like The Joker...but you know, minus the evil part.

 We found this cool tree all by itself in the middle of a meadow and snapped a quick one....the wind was blowing and little did we know Heidi's hair was doing some gravity defying tricks. I zoomed in on the picture and......

 Behold! I was cry-laughing when I discovered this after we got home.

Another fun surprise I got after arriving home and charging my dead phone, was to discover Sharla had her little girl while we were gone! So I showered and zoomed over to the hospital to meet my newest niece, Elizabeth. Such a cutie pie, and Sharla looked like she had just spent a week at the spa, she looked amazing.

Welcome Summer!

In our house, the season of "Summer" is usually not greeted with a smile and open arms. For the past several years summer has meant Steve working long, very hot days, spraying pest control. As a result I am  usually stuck in the house all day, because it is insanely hot in this place we call the Valley where literally, life should not exist, but I digress. I spent so many summer days and nights alone waiting for Steve to come home from a very tiring day, and once he was home, he would pretty much eat dinner and sleep, just to do another 10-13 hour day the next day. Not the happiest of times.
This summer, however, has been very different, so far, in the best way possible. Steve is not spraying pest control this summer, instead he is teaching summer school for 5 hours a day Monday through Thursday. Can you say, hello quality family time!! It has been amazing, so much so, that I don't even mind the blistering heat, seriously.
We have big plans for this summer, which include, but are not limited to, 2 camping trips, 1 trip to Ojai California, 1 trip to Disneyland, 1 trip to Utah, and whatever the heck else we feel like doing. Its pretty fun to actually enjoy the summer like all teachers and their families should.

^^^This is how Avery feels about this Summer too....mmmmwah!