2 BUSY 2 BLOG

The past few weekends have kept me far too busy to blog.

~My apologies~

But now we are back to our regular routine and catching up on some Zzzz's, as well as my blog....

Three weekends ago...

We joined our friends, the Hall family for a camping trip at Keen Lake in the Pocono's.

TJ and I had a great time sharing one of our favorite pastimes with our boys.

And our boys, of course, loved it. This cool swirly slide, near the camp office, was in a little playground that had all sorts of 'old school' playground equipment. I even took a ride down the slide myself--it was pretty c-r-a-z-y.

We happened to be at the right spot at the right time to catch a glimpse of these two beautiful rainbows.

While TJ went fishing with Kenn and his brother, I decided to try my hand at building a fire. We had some wood, a box of matches, and a roll of toilet paper...

Trever was so excited as the toilet paper quickly lit into flames and he exclaimed, "I can't believe a woman can build a fire!" Of course, his encouraging words were spoken too soon, because once the toilet paper was gone, so were the flames.

So, then we got a little wiser and decided to search for something more reliable. Luckily, the camp office was still open and they had little 'fire starters' for sale. So we bought a couple of those and had a fire going for a good 30 minutes until the rain got too heavy. ~I tried.~

The next day, though, was the highlight of the trip. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and TJ took us out on a row boat.

I was a little nervous about Nathan diving into the lake, but he was as calm as could be. It really was quite relaxing to slowly drift along the lake while TJ did all the hard work... ;)

Our little boat ride was definitely a highlight, but most of all, we enjoyed spending a wonderful weekend together as a family.

THEN...

The weekend after that, our boys and I flew to Utah to spend the week with my family in Park City.

(My parents with our boys in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake.)

We also happened to be at the Gateway Mall during a Brazilian Festival. That sure made me wish TJ could have been there. He served his mission in Brazil and often talks about the 'Capoera' fighting-dancers, which I took a little video clip of:

Pretty cool, huh?

In Park City, we went to their weekly Main Street Market where vendors and artisans filled the streets and live music filled the air. I love stuff like that!

My baby sister KyeLeah and I got new necklaces from one of the jewelery artisans.

And, what's Park City without a scenic ride to the top of the mountains? (The curvy white tracks are cement slides that you can ride down on waxed sleds; a.k.a. "The Alpine Slide.")

My mom, Trever, Nathan and I rode the ski lift together. I was nervous about taking Nathan that high above ground without a seat belt--but the smooth ride put him right to sleep!

Then, we hopped off at the top of the mountain, Mom grabbed our 'sleds,' and we rode the "Alpine Slide" all the way down to the foothills. That-of course-woke up Nathan. He was riding with me and as soon as we started down the hill, he awoke, and excitedly exclaimed, "Go Fast!"

We also found a cool playground for the kids one afternoon...

along with a hippie-style "Sound Garden" full of recyled materials designed for kids to bang on.

Who would have thought that these old hunks of wood & metal could make such cool sounds?

And, Yay! for ice cream! My mom treated the boys after we went to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" at the local theatre. (The film was in 3D--making it even more fun to see. We loved it!)

Saving the best for last, we visited Temple Square in Salt Lake. My boys, of course were far more interested in the many fabulous fountains than they were in posing for a photo in front of the temple. So, we ended up going on a 'tour-of-the-fountains' all across Temple Square. ~Kids.~

It was a great trip full of memorable moments and lots of laughs! The only thing missing was my dear TJ. He couldn't get away from school to join us. But he gladly let us go and have fun without him. Isn't he the greatest?! We sure think so--and we were all very excited to see him after our week of adventures.

Thanks for the fun trip Mom & Dad! We love you so much!

Now, back to laundry and dishes....ha ha