From my journal: John took his last final ever and of course aced it! To
celebrate we went up Payson canyon and had a little overnight camping trip. It
was fun to do it just us. We had a great time and I think the girls did too,
despite Ellie wanting to play in the car most of the time. One cool thing was
that because we went on a Tuesday night we had the whole campground to
ourselves. The next day we had breakfast
and went up to canyon. We hiked to a little waterfall and grotto, which was
surprisingly fun. Afterwards we went up to the Payson lakes, had lunch and
threw rocks in the water. It was really fun! Miriam did really well for her
first time camping. She had to have the binky put in a couple of times, which
was funny because it would wake up Ellie and she said, “I am awake guys.” And
we would say, “Okay, go back to sleep.” She was pretty tired the next day, but
it was well worth it.
We took Ellie to a speech therapist to get evaluated for stuttering
therapy. It went okay, but we have to talk a lot slower and smoother at home,
which hopefully will help.
Here are some great quotes from Ellie recently:
Miriam is a itty bitty teenie weenie. I am a big teeny
weenie. Daddy is a big, big, BIG teenie weenie, and Mommy is a medium.
Daddy singing, “Don’t go breaking my heart.” Ellie said, “I
won’t. Don’t go breaking my tree.”
“There is hair on my arm!” said a very alarmed Ellie.
“D-D-double-you” (Ellie said trying to figure out the first
letter of words. This was a funny joke since W is a different letter!)
“Miriam, don’t show my panties!” This was yelled during the
middle of the Sacrament Meeting opening prayer, followed by, “Miriam was trying
to show my panties, don’t do that Miriam.” (Said again and again.)
“Cords are not toys for babies. They are toys for laptops.”
“We thank Thee that I can sleep dry. We thank Thee that
Mommy and Daddy can sleep dry and Miriam too.”
“We thank Thee for Jesus and how great he is.”
“Can I be a mommy tomorrow?”
“I went to the hospital yesterday and had a baby, and she
went pee-pees all over and I had to clean it up.”
Blog: Our baby went camping for the first time a month ago or so. We went to the canyon by Payson. Here are some highlights of our trip.
Hanging out in the tent is a fun activity. Its also cool to go camping on Tuesday night. We had the whole campground to ourselves.
Here is the manly side of the campsite.
Little Miriam needed some supervision when using the camp chair, but it was still a useful place to deposit her.
Some delicious food that we partook of. Camp food is best if slightly charred. Later, after the girls were sleeping, we ate some banana boats for dessert. If you don't know what a banana boat is, just know you are missing out.
No fire restrictions yet!! These coals were perfect for cooking delicious treats.
We went on the short walk to this nice waterfall the next morning.
We also visited one of the lakes so we could throw rocks in. We may have made a few fishermen angry. I can't think of an activity Ellie likes more than throwing rocks in the water.
Keeping clean isn't on Ellie's list of priorities on a camping trip.
We also went on two other camping trips this Summer. One with the Guinn's in a little campground by Squaw Peak and another one that ended up being just our little family near Tooele.
Journal: We actually went camping again, in theory with the Guinns.
It did end up happening as planned because my phone ran out of battery, and
there was a fire restriction in the area (with good reason, there have been fires
all over the state). So when we got there we called them and only had time to
say (before the phone died) that we couldn’t have a campfire (I was intending
to ask them to pick up food that we didn’t need to cook on the fire), and Julie
said she wasn’t even sure she wanted to go camping then and the phone died.
Apparently they kept trying to call and text us (doesn’t work when the battery
is dead). Anyway, they never showed up and we stayed cause we didn’t know if
they were coming or not. Fortunately I was providing most of the food anyway.
Ironically they ranger said that we really could have a fire, so we were able
to cook our hot dogs and stuff. Yummy! It was a really great campsite out at Deseret Peak and we all had a good time. The next day we stopped at Pearson’s
on the way home and gave Jeff his father’s day present. The next day was Father’s day. I gave John a racquetball bag
and a card. I made him a big ol’ breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, and
hashbrowns. He is such a great dad and deserves to be treated a lot better than
I treat him. I am trying to work on that. That evening we went to Marc and Miriam’s for a father’s day
dinner. It was fun and good to see Dad and Grandpa (who just got home from an
African Safari).
That week
we took Ellie for a follow up appointment for stuttering and was told that she
didn’t need to come back! Excellent news! We just need to keep practicing slow
smooth speech with her. Last night John and I went on a fun date to Olive Garden and
frozen yogurt. We went back to the place that he proposed (Rock Canyon Park.)
John and I also got tickets to a Chris Cagle concert in Eagle Mountain! It was really fun to hear some live country music, although Chris Cagle was drinking an adult beverage from a red cup and was pretty emotional. It was funny, but I'm not so sure the chicks dig that! We took little Miriam with us and she was delightful. I love her new little teeth! We had bad traffic going out there, and the concert took
forever to get going, but it was really entertaining. We snacked on banana
chips and played with Miriam while we were waiting. Uncle Matt stayed home with
Ellie and fed her dinner and put her to bed. It was very nice of him.
The next
weekend we did a fun date too of going out to the Orem City carnival and
getting food and walking around. It was really interesting to see all of the
rides, since they’re collapsible. Next we got some frozen yogurt. One of our
favorite things to do!
