Camping for one night....

 

I was so glad that our ward had a "ward camp out" this year. 

As much as Josh and I love camping, we never seem to get out and do it unless someone else is putting it together.

It's actually quite sad.

 

So anyway, we went for a one night camp out at Oxbow Regional Park which is only 30 minutes or so from our house.

 

I needed to make sure the tent was ok because we left in such a rush last time we went camping.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a yard, I think so.

I set up my tent in the family room and it barely fit.

The kids loved it of course,

and I successfully jimmy-rigged our tent.

(I also labeled all the polls with tape tags for later to make life easier.  Does that make me weird?)

 

The actual camp out was a blast.

We had friends there and the kids actually slept through the night! 

They woke up entirely too early, but what else is new?

 



 Here's Cohen with his girl friends.

 Have you ever seen a group camping area like this?  It was a little strange and new for me.

I'd rather be surrounded by trees and get some privacy. 

I do love the smores on Cohen's face!



We had some great impromptu entertainment for the night. 

We had Hawaiian songs to a ukulele and great percussion to add to the music.

I found out ukulele is much easier than guitar, and got to try it out for a few minutes.

It was fun!



 

Happy Camping!

Magical Syrup

One of the nights we were in Utah Chris and Teo took us out to dinner and then we headed back to their house where I saw something magical on their counter....

Ghirardelli Chocolate Syrup!!!

Teo and I both share a love for Chocolate, so I expressed to them how cool I thought it was that they had this in their home and thought we ought to use it that night for something... it didn't even matter what.

Sadly, the night got away from us, and it was time to go before we got a chance to consume Ghirardelli chocolate syrup.

About a week or less after we arrived back home I got a UPS delivery.

I was trilled, to say the least, that Chris had sent me my very own bottle of this magical syrup.



This is what I wanted to do with it.... squeeze it straight in my mouth.

But, instead I went to the store and got vanilla ice cream just so I could put the chocolate on top.

(I've only ever squirted it directly into my mouth once....)

Thank you Chris!!!

Parker wanted to "color" with daddy the other day. 

Josh was making a homework list and Parker wanted to be just like him.

May I just point out that Josh's eyes are beautiful? 

 They match the blanket behind his head.

I'm a lucky lady!

Utah trip part 2

Here it goes.  The second week of our Utah trip.

I'll try to keep the words to a minimum, and let you focus on the cute kids in the pictures.

The second week was mostly spent with my mom and family.

This video of Cohen and Karen about sum up how they feel for each other...

LOVE!

Parker kind of wanted in on the fun with Aunt Karen too, but you know, he's shy, so it didn't last long.

Visiting the duck pond at Brookstone is among the favorite activities.

Remember this?  Cohen was just 2 months older than Parker.... respectively.http://jajohnsonlife.blogspot.com/2010/07/utah-trip-part-1.html

All the talk while in Utah was the heat and the wild fires.

It was incredibly hot, but I seriously didn't mind one bit.

It was such a welcomed change from Portland.

It took me days to realize I didn't have to question how to dress the boys in the morning. 

It was ok to automatically put them in shorts and not carry a jacket.

I got a few happy laughs from Josh's mom, Debbie, when I asked her the forecast for the day.

Karen and I went on our sister trip to Iceberg... which I think is now a tradition.

I just love the shakes there.

We finally got the chance to hang out with Mike and his family on the 4th of July, and spent about 24 ours with them.  What fun!

We went on a ride to the copper mines, but took the back route to get a really cool experience.

This is what Parker did most of the time.  He was SOOOO tired.  We left him in the car with the air on, and I stayed close by.  He woke at the very end as we were about to leave.

Here's our 4th of July BBQ.

Cohen loved being with his cousins.

Parker loved the dog Sammy.

After much back and forth, we decided to stick with fireworks at home on the street.

This I love.

Silly, I know.

Can you see my tired eyes?

On to a fun time meeting up with my best friends and their kids.

We got most of them in this picture, but not all.

Cohen adores Isaac.

The 3 of us live in 3 different states... none of us in Utah. 

I was so glad to meet up with them!

These ladies are fantastic!



We met up with Josh's dad, Wes, and his wife, Dianna, for dinner.

By the end, Parker and grandpa Wes, were having a blast.

Do you see a peek-a-boo game here?

My kids love their grandma.  They have such a cute relationship with her!



Whew.  We made it through the week.  It was busy but worth it and so fun!

Utah Trip Part 1

I think it's fair to say that our trip back to Utah in June/July was our best since we moved to Portland.

In large part, I think it was because our kids are older and I'm not pregnant.

It's so nice to not have to nurse or put a baby down for a nap every few hours, or not get sick from pregnancy.

So we had fun!

The first day we were there, we got right into the spirit of Utah by going to a Real Salt Lake soccer game.

Here we are walking into the game.

Cohen was so excited to see his grandma and grandpa, and it didn't take too terribly long for Parker to warm up to them too.  They were thrilled to go to a real soccer game.

Cousin Kaiya was there with us too. 

Cohen and Kaiya LOVE each other.

It was so enjoyable to watch these little kids happily share this one snow cone.

They didn't ask for more, they just enjoyed sharing it.

.....and they loved to feed it to Parker.

So adorable.

Isn't she a doll?

By the way, grandpa made sure we all had Real Salt Lake attire to wear to the game.

Parker fit into Cohen's old outfit from before we moved, and Cohen got a brand new jersey.

He of course thought that was the best thing ever.

We stayed in Utah for two weeks, and for a few days of the first week most of the family dealt with the flu. 

 No fun. 

 I'm glad I dodged that bullet!

One of the days Josh was really sick I took the boys over to good old Flat Iron Park.

Here you can see that Parker has discovered he wants to have the nail biting habit.... I'm really hoping this doesn't stick around, but I have a bad feeling it will.



Silly me, I forgot that kids can't wear flip-flops and sandals and enjoy playing in the bark-filled play areas of parks.

So, we had a jumping contest, and enjoyed being outside in the warm, sunny weather.

Cohen made note of the weather almost every day we were in Utah, almost in shock at the continuing sunshine and warmth.

Grandpa (Wayne) was so thoughtful to get us passes to the sports center, and took us swimming there.

Can you tell we live where the sun doesn't shine?

Parker was really afraid of the water at first, but ended up loving it in the end.

Wheeler Farm seemed like a good thing to do with the kids. 

Parker had just really starting becoming more adventurous with climbing and such.



He loves slides!

We picked a VERY hot day to be at wheeler farm, so we got tired in the heat after probably an hour or so.  The kids loved going around and seeing the animals, even if it was hot.

Don't worry, I made sure we got snow cones right after wheeler farm to refresh and cool off.  I was so happy for the snow cone places! 

 I LOVE SNOW CONES.

The Severinson family invited us over for Taco night.



Josh grew up with Robbie, and will always be the best of friends, I think Lillian (Robbie's wife) is fantastic, and our kids are about the same age.  It's just a great time to be with them.

It was so cute to see Josh with their baby girl. 

Yes, I want a baby girl of my own.

Hopefully that happens one day.

Back at grandma's house (Josh's parents) the kids had a tea party one morning.

Little Kaiya loves tea parties (she's a 5 year-old girl.... of course!)

I was surprised at how much my boys loved the tea party!

Parker mostly liked the aspect of pouring, drinking, repeat.



Cohen loved it too, but he was more into the pretend aspect.

Kaiya was little miss hostess.

More Utah fun to come.

Thanks for visiting our blog. 

Hope you enjoy it.