Monday, September 21, 2009

First Annual Neighborhood Campout

We gathered together some of our neighbors and went camping at the Spruces this last weekend. We hope to make it an annual tradition. We need a good name for it. Any ideas?

Our wonderful husbands set up camp in the drizzling rain Friday night. Setting up and taking down camp is always the hardest part, so I'm grateful for a husband who does it well, even in the rain. And if you know us, we don't camp "light." For our small family of four we had two large tents--one to house our sleeping bags, port-a-crib, and tent heater, the other to store our gear like my guitar and rocking chair. Yes, my sweet husband wanted me to be as comfortable as possible, so he brought along our wooden rocking chair!

Saturday we hiked to Doughnut Falls (Jill and Nate and family joined us for our morning breakfast and hike) and just enjoyed the amazing weather and beautiful surroundings. It didn't rain again until Saturday night when we were snug in bed. And then did it ever rain! The nights were cold and we got good use out of our tent heater!

The kids did great for the most part. C.J. slept through the nights and Eli didn't wake up any more than usual. We had a few incidences--like Aubrey throwing up, C.J. falling and getting a bloody nose and goose-egg on his forehead, time-outs due to fighting over toys and trikes, etc., but overall I think they loved the adventure of sleeping in a tent and throwing pine cones in the stream.

We definitely want to do it again next year!

Aaron and Ryan cooking breakfast. Yum!
C.J., Aubrey, and Ella playing ball
Jill and Baby Josh being cute
Margaret, Eli, and Barry hanging out at camp
Baby Eli being cute
Aldo drying his son's socks over the fire

Monday, September 14, 2009

Tree Trimming

We've had an overgrown tree in our backyard. Barry and C.J. made a visit to Home Depot on Saturday to get tree trimmers and Barry went to work. C.J. was a big help -- he picked up the stray branches and moved them to a pile. I don't have a good "before" picture, but this is near the beginning of the project.
And this is after! Now the Brinkerhoffs will be able to see the Draper fireworks!



Thursday, September 3, 2009

Photoshoot with Eli

One of the great benefits of working at Close To My Heart is that I can take my babies with me until they are 6 months old. Amazing, I know. Getting all of my work done can be a challenge--my to do list seems to just grow and grow. But I love being with my little one all day long.

Another benefit of my job is that there are some great, on-site photographers. Eli and I went outside with Katie today to get some photos while the weather is still good. Here are a few.





Other outings with Eli this week include a visit to our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Valentine, for Eli's 2 month old checkup. He weighs 11 lbs even and is 23 inches long. Thats 30th percentile for weight, 50th for height.