Colorado Peeps Part 2

part two

My parents got a new tent trailer last year and they decided to drive it out so we could do some "camping."  They reserved an awesome spot at Soapstone Campground up Samak Canyon.  It was only about 20 minutes from my Grandma's house.  Mabel and I would come up to the campsite each day and then go back to my grandma's house for a bath and bedtime. My kind of camping!! :)

Cattle crossing on the way up the canyon!
I rolled Mabel's window down and they passed right by her - she was stunned!

~Setting up Camp~
The PERFECT spot right by the river.

Grandpa Kraig got Mabel a cute little camp chair!
She loved that it had a cupholder spot for her rocks.

Jacob and my mom decided to build a dam
(they called it a dang...ha. ha. ha.)
Here it is the first day:

The proud Dang builder with the finished product!
(I kept thinking about how it was messing with the river's ecosystem.)

While Nate and I were watching Jacob move huge rocks around Nate said,
"I can't think of a worse way to spend my vacation. Hauling huge rocks all day."
I agree! But Jacob loved it.
He also had to take Ibuprofen every night because his back was killing him.

 

Jacob consulting with the Dang engineer. Mumsie.

Happy Campers!

Mabel was in heaven playing with the mud and rocks.
This girl has a thing for rocks right now. 

She would get mud all over her hands and then
pretend like she was washing her hair.
So cute. So dirty.

...Relaxing...

I really wish squirrels wanted to be domesticated...look at those tiny little hands!
Who wouldn't love a pet squirrel?

Mabel really bonded with Uncle Jacob...
she would look for him and give him hugs and kisses.
(Grandma was pretty jealous that Jacob could get a
kiss from Mabel anytime he asked!)

Jacob took this picture of Mabel trying to kiss him through the camper screen.

 

Out on a walk with her BFF:

It was so nice being right by the water.

We spent a lot of time playing by the shore.

 

 

When I was a kid and we would go camping I loved pretending I was a Native American.
I would go to the river and get different colored rocks and grind them into pretend food.
(because that is what Native Americans do right?)
I would put them on different rocks or wrap them in leaves.
Gotta love the 10 year old brain.

I decided to make some to show Nate:

 Haven't lost my touch.

Nate went across the river to explore.

Kraig chillin' in a shady spot.

Here is the camper in all her glory!

It rained pretty hard the last afternoon and it was very convenient to
be able to go inside and stay dry, play games, and let Mabel run around.

Outdoor camp stove.  Kinda weird.

Changing diapers in the camper. Good times.

Mabel loves to pretend.
She would pretend the rocks were food and bring them to her mouth...
but sometimes she just couldn't resist putting one in.
My mom caught her RED HANDED!

Dirty Hands. Dirty Face.
I had to ignore the urge to wipe her down every 2 seconds.

On Saturday evening we had a big
dutch oven dinner with everyone that could come:


Grandpa was really happy to be out of the hospital and
out in the fresh mountain air.

 

My cousin Daniel's girlfriend Anna, their baby Jack,
and my Aunt Kristy:

Grandpa with two of his greats:
Mabel and Jack

Jacob and Kraig drove back Sunday and my Mom didn't leave until Wednesday morning.  She and my Aunt Koreen spent the day Monday making freezer meals for my grandparents. Then Tuesday she came swimming with me and Mabel.  

We had so much fun having the family around...MOVE BACK PLEASE!

See ya soon!

Colorado Peeps Part 1 (of 2)

 part one

 My Colorado peeps came to visit, including my little sister and her husband! We had quite an eventful week. Started out with my grandpa getting sick and visiting the hospital; found out his heart is working at less than 20%. Not good! He had a heart attack 5 years ago and his health has been pretty rocky since then. We are just glad to spend as much time with him as we can.

 (No pictures of grandpa...he wasn't looking too pretty!)

 

 Saturday night our friends from Sweden, who were in the states on a cross country road trip, made their way to West Jordan for a visit! It was so great to chat and catch up with Terry and her two boys. Nate and I have added a trip to Sweden to our bucket list of travels! That night there were 10 people and two cats sleeping in my house.  I am so glad that we finally have the extra space, it was a lot of fun!

 Terry and her boys left Sunday morning and the rest of us went to the hospital to visit my grandpa.  He was really happy to have the family around him and to receive a preisthood blessing from my step-dad and Nate.  Right when we got there two of the main heart doctor's arrived and wanted to discuss things with my grandparents and their kids.  They basically told my grandpa that he is entering the final stages of this life.  Not exactly what you want to hear. My grandpa is so funny though, after the doctor's left the nurse brought in his lunch and he asked her if this was his last supper. Still has his sense of humor. LOVE YOU GRANDPA!

Grandma left the hospital for a few hours to come to the celebration. 

 The dinner was to honor the new bride and groom: Kelsey and Josiah!

Since they decided to get hitched without telling anyone (let's just say my mom had a bit of a hard time with that!) we thought that we would have a little after party for them with the family from Utah.

Tasty Cafe Rio style salads...

 

 and I made HORCHATA! Yum.

 

 Mabel in the Middle.

You can't get married without feeding each other cake right?

Josiah wasn't shy! How does that cake smell Kelsey?

 

 He got her good.

The next morning I picked a yellow bell pepper from our garden

 and Mabel begged for it!

I'm not going to argue with a girl who wants vegetables for breakfast.

 She carried around her prize!

Grandma Sherrill took Mabel out to play in the rain!

Even though it was sprinking it was still a million degrees out.

Mabel loved getting her feet wet.

Jacob, Nate and I stayed up one night playing Spicy Farkle. 

Jacob had an amazing 12,000 point roll!

We went up to Kamas and I took some pictures of Jacob for his yearbook shot.

A few of my favorites:

 

Plus some country lovin' shots:

 He was the cow whisperer.

 This one REALLY LIKED Jacob. Hence the drool.

How you doin'?

We also had some family pictures taken (see here) and then Kelsey and Josiah had to get back to Colorado for work.  We missed them the rest of the week!

Part 2: Camping

Coming Soon...