A wonderful trip to Parowan

The boys and I just had a wonderful trip down to Parowan last week. My doctor doesn't want me to go anywhere after I hit 35 weeks, so I wanted to fit in one more short trip before I was "grounded" close to home. We went down on Sunday afternoon and had a relaxing dinner out on the deck that first night. On Monday night, my sister and her family came over and we took dinner up the canyon. My mom had made tin foil dinners which we actually cooked on the grill so we wouldn't have to wait to build a fire and get coals up in the canyon. We also had corn on the cob, marinated cucumbers, breadsticks, and the rest of them had scotcheroos for dessert. We went up to the 5-mile, which is just up the canyon from my house, and it was a PERFECT night. My mom would bring dinner up the canyon occasionally when I was growing up and it was one of my favorite things to do, so I LOVED doing it again. Below is a picture of Cooper and Grandpa taking a little walk when we first got up there. I really like this picture.

Here is a picture of TJ and his cousin Addie. My sister and her family might be moving to Nebraska soon for pharmacy school, so we wouldn't see them much if they did, which is another reason we wanted to make a trip down to Parowan. Addie is such a funny little girl who is just bursting with personality. She and TJ play so well together, and they are just 3 1/2 months apart.

Here is a picture of Cooper and his cousin Kimball. Kimball is 6 months older than Cooper and he is just adorable. He is seriously one of the cutest kids I have ever seen, and he's been that way from birth. This picture is deceiving because it makes Kimball look a lot bigger than Cooper, but that is NOT the case. Cooper definitely outweighs Kimball by a good 5-10 lbs and I think they are about the same height.

Below is a family shot of everyone but my brother-in-law Ammon who was taking the picture. I sure do love my family!

There were a few other highlights as well from my trip down south, which I didn't get pictures of. My neighbor had given me some apricots which I took with me, and my mom got some apricots from one of her neighbors, so I was able to juice all of those and make 12 quarts of apricot nectar. Juicing the apricots brought back so many memories from my childhood - I don't know how many hours were spent in front of that juicer when I was growing up. And it was the first time I had ever really canned apricot nectar (as an adult who cared about learning what I was doing), so it was really fun. I was also able to sleep out on the deck two of the three nights I was there, and the boys slept with me out there. I think that was one of TJ's favorite parts of the whole trip. When I was growing up, sleeping INSIDE during the summer was a punishment.

I also started on making a ladybug baby quilt while I was there just in case this little one inside of me is a girl. I have loved ladybugs for a long time, so if I have a girl I am going to decorate her room in lady bugs. My mom is like the master quilter, so she was helping me learn. This is my first quilt I have made - I did make a wall hanging at Christmas time that I quilted, but I am still pretty clueless. I don't think I will actually get the quilt all the way done before I have the baby, but at least I have a good start on it. Overall it was a wonderful trip down to Parowan and I am so glad that I went. I have such a wonderful family, and I hope that when I "grow up" I can be just like my mom.