Two Good Weekends

I hate to waste the best hours of a good vacation day. So, I was totally bummed on Memorial Day when we slept in, and watched time tick away as we went through what seemed like a long process of getting our family ready for the day and making plans for a picnic and hike. I'll admit, I felt all pouty when 11am rolled around and Chris was at the store picking up lunch supplies and he informed me of a hike that I was certain would be lame.

Chris was kind enough to pick a cooler sounding hike for us, but it still took a portion of the drive for me to rally my spirits, knowing nap time for Thomas was too close for comfort. 

Finally, I decided to be happy our little family was together and exploring the great outdoors. Luckily, Thomas napped on our drive and it was enough to get him through the afternoon, and we had a really fun day together. 

We stopped at a campsite in Sedalia for lunch and Thomas loved watching all the dirt bikes and 4-wheelers pass by.

We then made our way up to our hike, Devils Head. It was beautiful, and shaded, perfect weather, and rather steep. :)

It was a pleasant surprise, but kind of terrifying experience, when we reached the top of the hike. We had no idea that we'd find the Devils Head Fire Lookout! We climbed the wooden stairs (built in 1912!) up to the little cabin/lookout. Portions of the stairs had nothing but two bars to hold onto to keep you from falling hundreds of feet. We pretended we were brave and packed our kiddos safely to the top.

Pictures can't do the view justice. You can see 100 miles in every direction!

Side note: I was under the impression this hike was 1 mile. It was over 3 round trip...and I left the diapers in the car! Evy loaded hers just as we reached the lookout. I told Chris, "At least it's not a blow-out. Let's just hurry down." At the halfway point, we realized it was in fact an explosion of poop, up to her shoulders!! Thank goodness, the girl slept the whole way down until we could give her a full body wipe down. Yikes!

After our full afternoon in the mountains, we drove home and BBQ'd with some friends in our back yard. Gotta love last minute shindigs. We all planned this that morning. I really like all of these people! :)

Emery Saige's Blessing 

This last weekend, our crew of four flew to Utah to attend niece Emery's baby blessing. As usual, the kiddos loved the extra attention and seeing their family. Thomas' prayers are much longer after this visit! "Please bless Spenny, Grandpa, Grandma, Dog, Jayme, Daddy, Mommy, Tommy, Evy, Spenny, blocks, hoop, Spenny, Grandpa's lawn, Jayme, Spenny..." Thomas looks out for his favorites, I guess.

The blessing was beautiful, and of course, Miss Emmy was, too! Again, perfect weather, and after church we all gathered in Mark and Judy's (my inlaws) backyard for great food and company. (I always feel I have to mention the food when I blog...maybe that says something about me...)

Evelyn says, "Wuzzzup!" (Throw back to how every note started that I wrote in the 6th grade).

I've got a thing for beautiful yards. My phone pictures couldn't capture it all, but Chris' parents' yard is incredible! Had to document all the hard work so our posterity will know what they have to live up to!  

Four generations. Grandma Young recently broke her knee and is recovering in the hospital. We were glad we were in town and able to make a visit. It was Evy's first time meeting her.

Grandpa helped Thomas overcome his intense fear of lawnmowers! 

 Evy chills with Grandma. She loved the extra hands to hold her and people to love on her.

We made it home safe and without incident. The kids did great on the plane. As we waiting to exit the plane, a long-haired, bearded man stood behind us. Thomas proclaimed for all around us to hear, "Jesus! Hi!"Thomas will repeat whatever he says until someone else repeats it to acknowledge what he said, so again he yelled, "Jesus!" Gratefully, he stopped there. I'm not sure how much this rough-looking man appreciated his new title. A few of the passengers had a good laugh though. :)

Thanks again to the Youngs for having us this weekend! We had a great time and I know Tommy  will be talking about it until we see you next time!