It's been a fun and busy week! They opened one of the gates in the canyon, so we can go up and use the day use areas, but free camping is not open yet.
So we went somewhere else to camp this weekend. But the day I found out the canyon was open, we went up for bratwursts and s'mores.
It was SO fun! Brice and I both get so excited to be out there cooking over the fire.
You know, we may not do a great job of keeping our house clean or mowing the lawn (and I'm sure our neighbors can attest to that! Sorry, guys! We need a new lawnmower...) or teaching our kids to do chores or dozens of other things that most families just do, but I LOVE that we are a family that gets outside and spends time away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
I'm glad my kids will know how to build a fire before they know how to sort laundry or change the sheets on a bed.
I love that they know a lot about animals and trees and waterways and the life cycle (they found a dead cat by our picnic spot) and that they don't know much about Dora the Explorer or Spongebob.
Obviously I don't expect this to be everyone's way of living, but it sure makes me happy that Brice and I both love to take our family out for a campfire dinner or a walk in the forest.
(Love the hair, Alaina!)
I'm sure lots of people would balk at the thought of a spur-of-the-moment trip up the canyon for dinner and s'mores with three little ones in tow, but I love that we all get excited and find it worth the effort to drop everything and go. And I love that we almost always have the stuff on hand to make it happen.
Alaina kept going towards the road and not listening to Brice or me when we warned her to come back. Eventually the distraction/repeatedly removing her thing just got old (it doesn't work with my kids anyway--they are much too determined and they don't forget what it was they were after) and Brice scolded her (I recommend clicking on this picture to enlarge it and see Alaina's little "I'm in trouble" face better).
While it's extremely effective at this age, it is also so pitiful when she gets all sad and cries. But so cute and funny at the same time.
This weekend we went out to Five Mile Pass to camp with Gina and Toby. My parents joined us the next morning. Toby and my dad brought their ATV's and we all got to ride and play around the campsite and eat good food. There's just nothing better than camp food. At least, not in this family. For dinner we had foil dinners and they were fabulous as always. Definitely a favorite! Poor Alaina was SO tired! She hadn't had any naps to speak of that day and she'd fallen asleep about 5 minutes before we got to the dirt road, which woke her up. So she was kinda fussy about being put down. I love baby carriers! They are a lifesaver! Dinner gets done and the baby stays happy!
My sister brought a big pad out of my dad's RV for me and Brice to sleep on. This late in pregnancy, sleeping at all is a stretch, so sleeping on the ground was not going to be much fun. The pad was AMAZING! I don't think I've ever had such a good night's sleep camping! And I didn't even have a pillow (I always forget pillows).
Alaina did great; she'll be a pro camper like the other kids in no time. She slept well, ate well (duh, she always eats well!), and stayed out of the fire. She got good and dirty though! The dirt there was really fine and it clung to everything! What a mess!
For breakfast we had pancakes, bacon, and some really yummy eggs that Toby made. When my parents got there midmorning, my dad started making pineapple upside-down cake and Brice had bought a fresh pineapple which he sprinkled with brown sugar and roasted over the fire. Mmmmm... So good!
We had also planned bratwursts for lunch, but the cake was good enough! So we had bratwursts for dinner at Gina and Toby's house. Stew was planned for dinner, but we just saved it for a different night.
The kids (and grown-ups) had a blast riding the ATV's. I even went out for a while! I'm kinda a party pooper about riding. I think I'm a little intimidated by ATV's and motorcycles and the like. But they convinced me to take Toby's out for a spin and I have to admit, it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be!
By about 2 or 3 in the afternoon I was getting sunburned and needed to rest more comfortably. This weekend has been a bit of a turning point in this pregnancy. I've just gotten to the point where my belly is too big to sit comfortably for long and laying down is not much better. But I at least need to trade off. But I'm also always hot when I'm pregnant, so laying down in the tent in the middle of the day was not an option. So we got things packed up and headed home. I think the kids and my dad were about done too.
Brice and Raelin and Ryker went to our house to get new clothes for all of us for Sunday while Alaina and I hung out at Gina's house. Alaina and I took a bath in a HUGE bathtub! I came up to the top of Alaina's chest when she was standing up and she LOVED it! I don't think she stopped talking or laughing or bouncing for a good half hour. She was so brave--no fear about going under the water!
We spent the night at Gina and Toby's house and in the morning, Brice made strawberry shortcake for Mother's Day. Then we went up to my cousin's baby blessing. Afterwards we had homemade Cafe Rio-style burritos that were amazing! We headed home for a bit of a rest before my parents joined us at Gina and Toby's house for a BBQ chicken dinner and a little Mother's Day celebration. What a fun weekend! And, of course, everything revolves around the food. I'm still full!
And just for fun, here's some random pictures I took of Alaina's yogurt mess:
It was worse before she gave up on the spoon and just used her hands; a lot of the mess that was on her face from trying to use the spoon got pushed into her mouth when her hands took over. But she's just SO happy about it!
And here's the finished product on the playhouse Brice and Toby built last week. The homeowners painted it and added all kinds of fun accents. I didn't get any pictures of the inside because it's too small to get a good perspective, but it is really something! They textured the walls, painted, put in fancy light fixtures and carpet and painted a paw-print trail all over the walls. Some serious BYU fans! It turned out so cool! I really wish it was in a better spot for picture taking, but it's too close to the fence.
So we went somewhere else to camp this weekend. But the day I found out the canyon was open, we went up for bratwursts and s'mores. 
It was SO fun! Brice and I both get so excited to be out there cooking over the fire. 
You know, we may not do a great job of keeping our house clean or mowing the lawn (and I'm sure our neighbors can attest to that! Sorry, guys! We need a new lawnmower...) or teaching our kids to do chores or dozens of other things that most families just do, but I LOVE that we are a family that gets outside and spends time away from the hustle and bustle of city life. 
I'm glad my kids will know how to build a fire before they know how to sort laundry or change the sheets on a bed. 
I love that they know a lot about animals and trees and waterways and the life cycle (they found a dead cat by our picnic spot) and that they don't know much about Dora the Explorer or Spongebob.
Obviously I don't expect this to be everyone's way of living, but it sure makes me happy that Brice and I both love to take our family out for a campfire dinner or a walk in the forest.
I'm sure lots of people would balk at the thought of a spur-of-the-moment trip up the canyon for dinner and s'mores with three little ones in tow, but I love that we all get excited and find it worth the effort to drop everything and go. And I love that we almost always have the stuff on hand to make it happen.
While it's extremely effective at this age, it is also so pitiful when she gets all sad and cries. But so cute and funny at the same time.
It was worse before she gave up on the spoon and just used her hands; a lot of the mess that was on her face from trying to use the spoon got pushed into her mouth when her hands took over. But she's just SO happy about it!
And here's the finished product on the playhouse Brice and Toby built last week. The homeowners painted it and added all kinds of fun accents. I didn't get any pictures of the inside because it's too small to get a good perspective, but it is really something! They textured the walls, painted, put in fancy light fixtures and carpet and painted a paw-print trail all over the walls. Some serious BYU fans! It turned out so cool! I really wish it was in a better spot for picture taking, but it's too close to the fence.
And even though this one's not the cutest picture, I'll throw it in because her hair was so cute that day too and you can't really tell from the previous pictures.
Congratulations, Brice! It's such an accomplishment! A bachelor's in civil engineering is no picnic, and to do it while raising a family is quite a feat!
I love Raelin in this one:
Kisses for the college grad!
There are lots more pictures, but my camera wasn't doing so hot indoors, so all the indoor ones (with all the extended fam) were taken with other people's cameras. I'll post them when I get them.
If you recall, I just posted this picture a few posts ago:
The first one was taken at 30 weeks pregnant with Alaina and the second was taken at 28 weeks pregnant with no-name-baby (yeah, we're struggling with a name. As usual). I thought it was interesting to note that I have the same farmer's tan in both pictures and I'm wearing the same shirt (my maternity clothes are in short supply at this stage). I think I look a little bigger in the current pregnancy picture (especially since it's from two weeks earlier in the pregnancy) and I look more in shape with Alaina's pregnancy (swimming during pregnancy is great! So long as you can hoist yourself out of the pool--it stops being great when it requires a crane to get you out). The other thing I noticed is that I'm carrying lower this time. I thought I was carrying super low with Alaina, but maybe not... So what's the superstition about how you carry and gender? Is carrying low supposed to be boy and high is girl, or vice versa?
It actually looked way worse the day after I took these pictures, if you can believe that!
She was playing on the top of this firetruck and took a dive off the back, landing face first into the rocks below. I thought her forehead took the brunt of it, but then her nose developed this huge scab over the course of the day (at first it was just a little raw looking) and the bruise on her forehead was minimal.
But as you can see, her spill didn't scare her away from the firetruck entirely. But she hasn't attempted to get on the back of it again... Smart girl.
(In case you can't tell, this is half of an Easter egg and she holds it in her teeth to make a funny green nose for herself.)