Family Fun Weekend!

As a family, we actually took a break this weekend and had so much fun! It is one thing after another, and it was so wonderful that Jon had a three-day weekend and got to participate with us in our family fun!

Starting on friday night, we went camping. This is the first time Jon and I have gone camping with kids. It was definately exhausting, but totally worth it. We had a great time together. Right when we arrived at our camp site, Jon and I started unloading the car and setting up our stuff, and Brad and Emily ran around with pure excitement. Then, Brad and Emily found the fire pit. They were having so much fun together, that Jon and I really didn't worry about them. However, when we looked up, Brad was putting handfulls of old ashes on top of Emily's head, and they were both laughing the whole time. Needless to say, they were both a mess in the end. But, overall our kids did great. Jon and I stayed up and enjoyed the fire in the evening. Emily fell right to sleep, and Brad spent about 40 minutes at the door of the tent trying to convince us that he could leave the tent, or we should go inside the tent. Finally, we gave in and let him sit by the fire for 20 minutes as long as he stayed in his camp chair. He did great, and soon we were all snug in our beds. (I forgot how very, very hard the ground is.) We slept pretty well, and it didn't even rain on us all night, despite the forcast. However, about 20 minutes after waking up in the morning, the rain began, and it rained on and off the rest of saturday morning. We were able to roast hot dogs and s'mores for dinner on friday night, and then on saturday for breakfast (in the rain) we were brave and made pancakes and eggs. It turned out great and we had a marvelous time together as a family!

Saturday we enjoyed a very wet and rainy day... so we watched BYU football! We had a family party in the basement and even ate dinner on a blanket in front of the game. (We have discovered that we can watch the game on our TV by hooking up Jon's laptop to our TV, using an HDMI cord. It is very fun and then we can all enjoy the game together.) It was a little rough in the first 3 quarters, but during the 4th quarter of the game, BYU pulled it together and won the game. Horray!

Sunday we attended church, and then took a family nap. My new calling is a nursery teacher, and I am tired every sunday... even though the kids are great. After nap time, Jon's parents arrived at our house. They visited for the evening, and then spent the night. Brad and Emily LOVE having them here! Also, because we had parents to watch the kids, Jon and I had the opportunity to go together with our ward missionaries to teach a discussion to a wonderful family, the Kalins. They are amazing people and we feel so blessed to know them and feel their strength in the gospel.

On Monday (today), we all packed up and got ready to go to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. They had a special dinosaur exhibit at the zoo, and today was the last day. Since Brad loves dinosaurs, we decided it was a definite must! It was a perfect day at the zoo. The weather was perfect, which caused the animals to be perfect, and it was perfect that Grandpa and Grandma could come with us... it was all just perfect! We will definitely post pictures soon, and they will show all the wonderful things we got to do and the wonderful time we had together with our family! Brad loved that his dad was able to come with us all day. After the zoo, we drove around Des Moines and looked at a couple homes... (Jon's parents are moving to Des Moines within the next few months and so they are trying to find the right home for them!) We loved spending time with them and we were sad when the day had to end and we both drove our separate ways home.

What a great day. What a great weekend! This is what I call a SUPER weekend! We are so grateful that Jon works so hard every single day, and we are so grateful when we get to spend time with him as a family! Wow... I am so tired... but I am so happy! I love my family!