St George Getaway

Visiting the temple

a little bit of shopping

hiking and exploring the red rocks, sand dunes, lava tubes and petrified dunes at Snow Canyon

swimming {and playing around} in the icy pool

playing at the park

discovering delicious, hot doughnuts at Fractured Prune Doughnuts 

watching part of the marathon and being inspired by all those runners who were pushing through at mile 23

relaxing

listening to general conference.  

What a fun weekend.

Up to the Mountains

Friday afternoon Marcus got home a little bit early so that we could head out and do something fun.  We were debating between boating and backpacking.  We kept going back and forth because we worried it would be too cold to go backpacking or that we didn't have enough time.  Just before 3:00 we finally made our decision, and in a whirlwind we loaded up our backpacks with our gear, some ramen and instant oatmeal, and headed for Ruth Lake.

I'm pretty lucky that I get to carry such a cute little bundle while poor Marcus just had to carry our gear.

The lake was absolutely gorgeous as we got there, with the evening sun on the mountain behind it.  Such a beautiful place.

Asher loves hiking (being carried in the backpack while we hike) and later he was in heaven running around collecting rocks.  We hiked in, found a spot for our campsite, set up our tent and quickly made our ramen dinner.  It was just getting dark as we ate.  It was chilly when we hiked in, but by dark it was pretty dang cold.  We made a fire and bundled Asher up. 

Our delicious dinner by candlelight

I am a little embarrassed about this picture, but I was so glad we decided to bring the iPad.  When Asher woke up in the morning it was still so cold outside and really windy.  He was happy to stay inside the tent if he could watch a little Daniel Tiger.

Asher loved the tent and with the exception of not wanting to go to sleep, once he went to sleep he did great.  He slept all night and woke up at 8.  We ate our breakfast, enjoyed another fire and some hot chocolate, and then hiked out.  We had a frisbee game in Orem at noon that we had to get to, so it was definitely a quick camping trip.  

This boy...

I can't imagine that Asher will ever be cuter, sweeter, or any more fun than he is right this moment.  

He's growing up and he isn't a little baby anymore.  He is definitely my little boy and he keeps me so entertained.  I love all of our time together, but I especially love our afternoons together - exploring outside, running around barefoot, looking for beetles and potato bugs.  There isn't a thing in the world I'd rather be doing.

I love this little boy and I'm not taking any of this for granted.

The Beach House

I've been putting off writing this post because as I was loading my 200 or so pictures from the trip all but five of them were deleted.  I've been somewhat devastated by that so I have been ignoring it all.  Luckily Marcus had quite a few pictures on his phone and Scott and Julie got lots of fun pictures on their camera as well.  Really if I had my pictures too this post would probably be miles and miles long anyway...

We had a dreamy vacation staying in a fun beach house near San Clemente, in Dana Point with Marcus' family.  It was pretty much perfect.

For the most part, every day was a beach day.  It was so nice to wake up in the morning and head right out to the beach. Talk about nonstop entertainment for the kids!

Some of Marcus' family went to Disneyland but we decided to wait until Asher was a little older and just spent another day at the beach.  We did go to Sea World one day though and we all had a blast.  Asher absolutely loved all of the animals and the shows, and he says his favorite was the Sea Lions.  What really surprised us was how much he loved the rides.  He rode them over and over and over, until all of us were too exhausted to stay any longer.

Back to the beach...

-Marcus made his skim board just for this trip-

those babies! 

On Sunday we drove to see the Newport Beach Temple.  It was beautiful.  The grounds were closed so we couldn't go in, but it was still pretty just to be there.

We did some shopping and ate lots and lots of fish tacos.  One night we got to meet up with my good friend Sarah and her husband, John, who just happened to move to Newport Beach about a week before we were there.  We got tacos at Wahoos which was delicious and so much fun to see them.

We rented stand up paddle boards for the week and everyone had lots of fun on them...even if several people did end up getting hurt...

Asher was basically in heaven on that beach...and although he loved the ocean too, he would have been content to dig, build sandcastles, and play with army guys in that sand forever.

It was such a fun time getting to spend time with everyone - staying up late and talking and just hanging out for the week.

We were especially grateful for everyone who played with and made the trip so much fun for Asher.  He had a blast with his cousins and still is talking about it today.  He was constantly wanting to play with each of them - Neia, Natalie, Karlie, David and little Stevie.  He loved getting to ride in the car with James and Scott & Julie and they were so sweet to entertain him. Laura spoiled Asher with attention and Marie was so generous to watch Asher several times so we could run off somewhere without him.  

Thanks Dave & Marie for such a fabulous trip!