charlie gets ready for bed . . .

At least, that's what he thought he was doing.

(So sorry for the sideways camera, there should be a way to turn the video, like you can a photo).

And yes - I did make the hat and the shorts, but not at the same time. He usually only wears them in public.

a new trick

curls

Little Luke has them.

it has begun!

This is one of the before pictures of the kitchen. We're going to rip out the whole thing on Saturday, but I couldn't wait to start . . .


So I took out the windows and some of the trim. Notice in the top picture how the left window has a huge crack in it (one that's been there for at least 4 years).

The reason I took the trim out was to get to the ropes and weights (which need to be replaced because they've been cut or broken). There's another way to get to them, but I think this is easier.

other faves from the trip

I guess it was a great trip because this was the car ride home.

one more

How can you not love Jack Black?

tired

I hardly got any sleep, and yet I can't stop blogging! More pics tomorrow (if that's too many for you, you can just skip them.)

I heart rocks

Really - it's true.

friday afternoon . . .

after resting (not really) for a little bit we decided to go check out Little Wild Horse Canyon. It's one of those narrow canyons that I've dreamed about hiking, ever since I saw a photo like this (which was I believe is in Zion's).

Little Wild Horse wasn't quite as orange and red, but it was still gorgeous. There's a hike where you go through this canyon and come back through Bell canyon, but that was 11.5 miles, so we just went a few miles (maybe just short of 2) in and then came back. Towards the end we ran into a lot of water because of the rainfall the night before. I wish we could have done the whole hike, but it would have been impossible with kids. Dan and I will just have to go back sometime by ourselves!

Jack and Sam blazed the trail pretty much the whole way. I was at the very end trying to get Charlie to hurry up. Luckily there were lots of other people there to help us keep our kids from getting into too much trouble.

friday morning . . .

we went to check out the actual valley (of Goblin Valley). It was pretty amazing. There were lots of little caves and cool rocks to climb all over. I kept getting nervous I was going to lose someone, but it would have been a great place to play hide and seek.

ps - I guess it used to be called Mushroom Valley until someone decided Goblin Valley sounded a lot cooler. And, if you were wondering, Luke was an excellent little camper. He mainly spent his time eating sand and rocks, being carried around by dad, and sleeping on a soft mound of sleeping bags.

first real camping trip with the boys

We did go camping once on Mimi and Papa's property, but it was in the field, and it took 2 seconds to set up, and if we forgot something we just drove up to the house to pick it up.

This time we went to Goblin Valley. We went with about 10 other families, which was great because there were lots of friends to play with. The kids climbed all over these rocks where our campground was.

We brought WAY too much food, didn't get any sleep the first night because it was so rainy and windy, didn't take showers (even though they had them there), rode bikes on the road, hiked all over, lost our 1 toothbrush, and had lots of fun! I would go back again. It was a fun place for all ages.