Much Needed Time, After Much Needed Work

Starting about 6 or 7 weeks ago, John has been able to work overtime nearly every weekend. It has been a much needed blessing! But, with those long hours comes a lot of longing for him by me and the kids. We really miss him. So, this weekend, we spent a lot of time together and we had loads of fun.

Friday night after dinner, we "did fireworks." This consisted of some poppits and sparklers. Then, John and the 3 (Wynter, Hunter and Micah), slept out on the trampoline while Mark and his friend, Max, slept up in the treehouse. Savannah, Lincoln and I slept indoors. Hey, I'm no dummy--or maybe I'm just not adventerous; Lincoln is a baby; and Savannah? Well, she had no place to sleep, so decided to stay inside. The kids thought it was great. As for John? Uh, not so much. He was the only one without bug spray on and had to swat a few mosquitos during the night. The kids laughed at him in the morning when they discovered 2 smashed mosquitos on his forehead.

Saturday, John and I went on a quick date and then, when we got back, decided to have a family activity. We loaded into the suburban and headed to Provo Canyon where we parked and walked to Bridal Veil Falls. We took our shoes off and some of us just sat by the water with our feet dangling, while others (Wynter and Micah) decided to try to climb up the waterfall. Micah didn't make it too far, but Wynter did and we had to call her back. I didn't take my camera (darn it!) so I have no photos. But, let the record show, it was a success. No one complained! Then we came home and had some corn on the cob and watermelon for dinner and it was surprisingly filling!

Then on Sunday, after church (which gets out at 4pm), we had a simple dinner of sandwiches. Then we followed tradition and watched "Funniest Home Videos" together. We had rented "Where the Red Fern Grows" and watched that as a family while eating popcorn that I had popped on the stove (another tradition). Yum-o! My mom had purchased some ginormous marshmallows for us and we decided to toast (and burn) them over the grill outside. The kids had so much fun doing this. We then used the rest of our poppits and sparklers.









Once kids were bathed and all were in bed, John and I talked about what a great day and weekend it had been. We didn't do anything really fancy or expensive, but the time we spent together was priceless! I am so glad we had this weekend to be together and replenish the feelings of love and togetherness that we had been missing. I love my family!