Father Sons, Mother Daughters

A month ago our ward did their yearly Father & Sons campout, and Rus was happy to attend because it wasn't 20 minutes away at the over-used Cedro Peak...it was up in the beautiful, not over-populated Jemez.

My dad had fallen in love with the Jemez back in September at the first annual Chones expedition and so he jumped at the chance to go back there with Rus and the boys. Rus loves having him come along because he makes terrific dutch oven food! They were spoiled Saturday morning with eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, spam, and pancakes!

That morning they went on a hike into the Jemez box canyon. The weather was nice but the water was COLD! Rus said the boys were miserable whenever they got wet.

Beau's favorite memory was being able to use his knife.

Jacob loved going to the river.

"Oh, me too!" said Beau.

 I encourage Beau to wear that florescent shirt whenever we are in the wild or in a crowd...you can't loose him!

 The boys also really liked the bridges over the river. Rus said the logs seemed freshly cut, there was even sawdust still on the ground where the forest service had recently put in some stairs!

I have a favorite picture of Beau from this trip that I am waiting for Rus to email me... Rus said he asked Beau to go stand in the water for a good picture. He took the picture, thinking that Beau was smiling and happy, but when he looked up from the camera, he was actually crying! The water was just so cold!

Meanwhile...the girls were enjoying a different kind of socializing. On Friday night, Bekah and I went to my SIL DeAnn's baby shower. I had to restrain Bekah from wanting (and voicing it loudly) to win every game, but after she calmed down we had a great time.
My mom stayed at home with Marianne and spent the night with us. The next morning we had a whole bunch of women over for Mother & Daughter breakfast. We provided waffles and buttermilk syrup and asked everyone else to bring a dish to share, and we had a fantastic time! Girls of all ages enjoyed our zip line (Go Kristine!), and playing with the turtle while the moms sat and visited. The morning was beautiful and the company was terrific...oh and the food...oh yum. One of the husbands told me the next day that his wife and daughters enjoyed themselves so much, he's considering ditching the men next year and just coming to our house. I told him he wasn't invited. :)

Here were two of our happiest participants:

Don't be deceived, Marianne did get dressed that morning...this was her outfit of choice. And who wouldn't want to lounge in silky pjs?
I'm grateful for a chance to have some girl time, and for a husband who enjoys taking our boys out for an adventure.