The First Camping Trip of the Summer!

We love to go camping, and we were really excited when Lins & Glendon asked us if we wanted to go over Memorial Day weekend. Our plan was to leave on Friday and come home on Monday. But... those plans didn't exactly work out!
Everything started off great - we were all packed up & Ryan & Glendon both got off work early. So we headed up to Strawberry on Friday afternoon. We had reserved a campsite on line, and even though none of us had actually been to that campground, we were sure it would be fine. So we drove through beautiful Provo canyon and into Heber. And then we kept going, and going, and going! Our campsite was a lot further away than away of us had known- it took about an hour and a half to get there. Now, that's not too bad of a drive for camping, but it was just funny because none of us realized how far away it was! (I know, I know... with mapquest & google maps, you'd think one of us would have typed in the location before we reserved the spot to see how far it was - but nope! It's actually more fun & adventurous this way!!)
Finally we saw a sign that said our campground was only 5 miles away. I looked out the window and said to Ryan: "This is just sagebrush! Where are all the trees?" We thought (hoped!) there would be more trees when we got to the actual campground...but we were wrong! Welcome to sagebrush camping! I was seriously cracking up when we pulled into the campground! It was just too funny that we had driven that far to camp in sagebrush!! And then, on top of that, most people there had trailers, and there weren't a lot of good spots to put up a tent. And when I say there weren't a lot of good spots, it's really not an exageration. Check out the picture! (love the sagebrush, huh? haha!)
As you can see, we did finally find room for Lins & Glendon's tent ( we had to move to a different spot than the one we reserved though, because there was literally no where to put a tent!), and we ended up putting our tent up on the pavement! How funny is that?! We were all just happy that we could find a place for both tents, though. At first we thought we were going to have to go somewhere else since you can't really pitch a tent on top of the sagebrush!
Everyone was still in good spirits, though! The kiddos started playing while Glendon got dinner started.

Here are Mauri & Scooter outside our tent. They are both in jackets because our next sweet surprise was that it started sprinkilng! It wasn't too bad, though! Luckily it wasn't a total downpour!
Mauri & Scooter playing in the sagebrush. Scooter fell down so Mar was helping him up!
Breaking in their camping clothes - it's just not the same if you're not covered in dirt! (check out their hands!!)
Glendon- aka "The Camp Chef!" He cooked tinfoil dinners for us that first night, and they were so good! G-man has had a lot of camping/scouting experience, so we were really lucky that he volunteered to be in charge of the food! I hope he doesn't mind if we "volunteer" him on future camping trips!
More dirt! Lins brought these really cute buckets & shovels that the kids a blast playing with! And it wasn't raining hard enough to make the dirt turn into mud. This kind of dirt brushes off so easily- so we didn't mind that they were getting really dirty!
Ryan, Glendon & Lins
After dinner it started to get a little bit chilly... and then a little bit windy. And then it got really windy. We got the kids cleaned up and in their jammies and then sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows. We were all kind of tired, so we didn't stay up & play games that night. We went to bed. And I was FREEZING! I seriously can't remember the last time I was cold when I went camping! Probably at girls camp! Our sleeping bags are so warm- and Ryan is like a permanant space heater! He is always warm - so if I'm ever cold I just snuggle up with him and Bam! - I'm warm! But for some reason I could not warm up. I kept falling asleep & waking up, and then finally I put on my hoodie and that helped a lot!
But then- Scooter started crying. This happens sometimes where he'll just cry for a minute in the night -but it's not like he's really awake. Usually it doesn't last long at all, but this time he woke up all the way and we couldn't get him back to sleep! We didn't want to wake up Lins & Glendon so we went to sit in the car for a minute. Scooter snuggled with Ryan and we were sure he would fall back asleep in a few minutes. But he didn't. So we turned on our portable DVD player because I was sure if we watched a movie for a minute it would distract him enough that he would fall back asleep. Now that I think about that - it doesn't sound very logical! But that's the best I could come up with at 3:30/4am! But scooter still didn't fall back asleep. Finally he said he wanted to go back in the tent so we went! Yay! And he actually fell back asleep...for about three minutes and then he started crying again! I don't know if it was just not being in our normal surroundings or if he was cold too! Or if it was something else! So he & I went back to the car & let Ry sleep for a bit. We were all so tired & I really felt bad for Scooter - he had been awake since 3:30 and he was trapped in the car with a mean, tired momma! He kept saying to me "Home! Home!"
Anywho... time passed and a while later Lins & Glendon woke up so we went to sit by the fire with them. One thing I forgot to mention- when we went to sit in the car in the middle of the night, we were afraid our tent was giong to blow away- so we put all our camp chairs and a big bundle of firewood in the tent. The next morning when Lins & Glendon got up and we were talking to them, Glendon was like: "Someone stole our firewood!!!" I said, um, woops! That was us - we put it in our tent because we were afraid it was going to blow away! Tee hee! Scooter did finally fall back asleep around 9 or 9:30 and he slept on my shoulder for a few hours.
Later that day it rained a little bit harder, but once it let up we let the kids come out and play! We were all going a little stir crazy playing in the tents! The only bad thing was that now the ground was definitely muddy - not just dusty! But we just let them play for a while & then we cleaned them up!

Here is a pictuer of Scooter playing in the mud!
Another muddy picture! I was really happy that all of the mud came out of his pants when we got home!
Once we got the kids cleaned up we let them play in the tent & then we held them when we came out to eat dinner. Scooter was so tired he fell asleep in Ryan's lap after dinner!
We had a really fun time camping - even though it was kind of crazy! And the three of us actually ended up coming home Saturday night - and then Lins & Glendon came home Sunday morning. We are looking forward to our next camping trip, though! But we're going to go somewhere a little closer... and hopefully it will be sunny!

Happy Birthday Scooter!

I can't believe our little guy is two now! His birthday started off a little...wet. I was doing dishes and suddenly I heard water running, and I thought to myself: what is that?! I came into the bathroom and this is what I found:
I guess turning two means you become more efficient in doing household chores - like having a bath & washing laundry at the same time!

Here's the happy birthday boy!
Opening some presents he got in the mail from Grandma & Grandpa Miyake!
Scooter's giant Elmo balloon that his daddy bought for him! Scooter loves Elmo & he was so excited when he saw the balloon!
Checking out the bowling set from Mar Mar!
Playing with the remote control car. Ryan recently got one of these & Scooter always wants to play with it, so he was thrilled to have one of his own!
Lindsay & the darling Elmo cake she made for Scooter! All day he kept telling me "Elmo Cake!" He loved it!
Riding on his new bike & looking cool in sunglasses from Katie & Steven.
Blowing out his birthday candle! He asked to do this again after he blew it out!
Eating yum yummy cake! What a fun birthday! Thanks everyone for making it so great!

I'd do anything for that smile!

Okay, how cute is that?!
His Daddy bought him some ice cream - and as you can see, it made him really, really happy! He is such a sweet little kid and I think that smile says more about his sweetness than I ever could! He brings so much joy into our family, and when I watch him I feel like I really understand why we're supposed to be like little children. He is so wonderful! And I can't believe he's turning two tomorrow! It seems like we were just bringing him home from the hospital! What a sweet, sweet little boy!

Zoo Day!

We love going to the zoo, and we were so happy that Amy, Tyler & Jadon were able to go with us last week! It was a great zoo day- warm but not too hot. We were afraid it was going to be super busy because the parking lot was full & there were tons of school buses when we got there! It wasn't too bad, though. There were a lot of elementary/pre-school kids, but it never felt over crowded, which was nice!

Scooter is ready to go & see some animals!
Glendon, Lins & Mar Mar
My Mom, Dad & Amy
Hello black bear!
Can't see the bears?! No problem! Daddy is strong & will just lift you up in the stroller!
By the giraffes. We always think of our Granny at the giraffes because they are her favorite! She loves them!
Kiddos sitting on the tiger.
Ice Cream! Yum!
Having fun on the merry-go-round!
A big group shot by the big elephant!
Tyler & Jadon by the gorilla.
Mauri & Derek by the gorilla.
The cool water ball by the entrance. Last time we went to the zoo Scooter was soaking wet after investigating the ball! He was pretty wet this time too!
Sleeping in the car...again! Two car naps in one week!

Congratulations Aubrey & Tyler!

We were so excited to be at the Salt Lake Temple with Aubrey & Tyler on Saturday! I think being in the temple with our family is one of my favorite things ever!

Here is sweet Mauri- the flower girl- waiting for Aubrey & Tyler to come out! On the way to the temple she asked Lins if Derek was going to be the flower boy, since she was the flower girl!
Scooter - happy as usual! Thanks again to Erica, Myke & Ashley for playing with the kids while we were in the temple!
Erica, Granny & Sue Ann - outside the temple.
Ashely, Lins, Erica & the Brockbanks cute friend from Spain!
The happy couple!! Aubrey & Tyler both looked great - and we are so happy for them! Congratulations guys - we love you!
Myke, Lins, Aubs, Erica & me.

Granny, my Mom, Tyler, Aubs, my Dad and Granmda Mecham.
Katelynn & Steven! We were really happy that they were able to come to the wedding! It was fun to think that just six weeks ago they were the ones getting married!
Our family!
Tyler's family! His family is all so nice - and we all hope that we will still get to see them often even though the wedding is over.
My mom & dad - happy that the day is here & the planning is over! Good job mom & dad!
Aubs, Tyler & Mauri. The flower girl wanted to be wherever Aubrey was pretty much the whole day!
Ashley hanging out with the kiddos!
Driving home from the temple! Isn't this a cute picture?! I thought it was so cute that Scooter & Myke both fell asleep in the car! After the temple we went to the luncheon and then had a few hours before the reception started. I brought my camera to the reception, but totally forgot to take pictures! It turned out so nice though. We loved being able to visit with everyone who came! I will have to see who took pictures at the recpeption and get copies to put on here!

Our First 5-K

So we actually did it - our first 5K! We joined up with our cousins (our inspiration and our "mentors" - since they've done many 5k's). It was surprisingly very fun! Lins slept over at my house on Friday so she didn't have to drive down early in the morning. Here she & Scooter are snuggling before we all went to bed!
We woke up on Saturday morning to pouring rain! Delightful! We had decided the night before that even if it was raining, we were still going to do the 5K! We met Nat at her mom's house (we pulled up next to her van & Lins said "Oh! The Robin Hood Gang is reunited! Ha ha. We always used to play Robin Hood when we were little! Such fun memories!). And then we headed to Fort Utah Park in Provo. We signed in and got our numbers and met up with Katelynn, and did some stretching. Actually, I think it was mostly Lins who was stretching - with her leg kicked up on one of the benches! Lins asked me several times before Saturday if we were only walking the 5K! I told her that yes, we were planning on walking, since we hadn't done a lot of training! (and when I say we hadn't done a lot, I mean, we really hadn't done any...).

So the race started and we were all off! The trail that we were walking - and sometimes jogging- on was really neat. It was under a bunch of trees and right next to the river. Once we got started the rain actually felt good - until we got close to the end and we all felt like we couldn't lift our legs because our pants were too heavy! It was a really, really fun thing to do! We all decided that we are going to do more 5K's together! And I think I'm actually going to train for the next one so that I can run a little bit more!

Here is a picture of our whole group at the end of the race. We were all quite soggy - but happy! It really was fun! (It'll be fun!)
Here's Aubs, Katelynn, Lins, Nat, and me
Erica, Aubs, Katelynn, Lins & Nat
We took this picture when I dropped these guys off at my moms house! Our dad actually took the picture for us! Way to go girls! Let's get ready for the next one!