Utah

Well, i had this week off so we decided to take a short trip up to Utah to take Gareth camping for the first time and to just hang out and relax.  We drove up Monday and went up to Pine Valley to set up camp.  Our camp site was right next to a stream which made things a little difficult b/c Gareth always wants to get in water whether it be a lake, a pool, a bathtub or in this case a stream...haha  He had so much fun though, he was all over the place and he got soooo dirty.  There were rocks sticking up here and there out of the ground and he kept tripping on them and skinning his legs, so he got lots of battle scars from camping.  Micah started a fire and we roasted hot dogs and some marshmellows, it was a lot of fun but Gareth wanted to play in the fire and he didn't want to hold his hot dog over the flames so we ended up giving him his own poker just to hold.  After dinner he and Micah went down to the stream and threw rocks and sticks in the water for like 45 min, Gareth thought that was the coolest thing.  It started to get dark and it was cooling off so we washed Gareth down and put his pj's on and he sat in a chair with Momma and watched a movie.  He was sooooo tired.  So, after we put Gareth to bed Micah and I were finally able to enjoy some alone time just sitting by the fire and talking, it was great.  A few hours after we were asleep Gareth started crying so we pulled him out of his pack-n-play and layed him down with us....BIG mistake.  He never sleeps good when he lays with me, 30 min after laying with us he sat up straight and was ready to play.  He was talking and laughing and walking all around the tent.  Oh and i failed to mention that i forgot to pack our air matress so we were sleeping on these foam pads that were like an inch thick so needless to say neither one of us had slept the few hours before Gareth woke up.  It's still dark outside and so we are trying to get Gareth to lay back down, so we put him back in his pack-n-play and put his dvd player in with him and he lays down and starts to relax.  So, i'm curious what time it is plus i have to go to the bathroom, i'm thinking it's about 4:00 am, i get up and go to the truck and about fell over, it was only 2:30.  We had planned on hiking in the morning but after Gareth waking up and us not really sleeping anyways, we decided that we'd just pack up in the morning and go to our hotel room and Micah could sleep and i'd take Gareth swimming in the pool.  So, Gareth woke us up at about 7: 15 and he and Micah made a fire while i laid there a little longer, we packed up and went to our hotel.  Gareth and i took a bath and then went swimming so Micah could get some rest.  Gareth only wanted to swim for about an hour so we went back to the hotel room and he was soooo tired, he was crying and crabby so we laid down and took a nice 3 hour nap....yay!!!!  We woke up and ate dinner and went up to Grandpa Kim's to visit for a few hours.  Then on Wednesday we had planned on going up to Zion and hiking so we loaded up and went up there and it was like 11:30 when we got up there, so an hour into our scenic bus ride Gareth started fussing, it was sooo hot and he was so tired, so we had to go back to the car and just drive around ourselves.  At this point we realized that we could no longer plan trips around what we wanted to do but we would have to plan trips and activities around what Gareth would do...lol  It ended up being nice, we drop up to duck creek and navajo lake and just had a nice drive.  That nite we got to go visit with Jackie (Micah's younger sister) Deron, Rylen and Ammon.  It was our first time seeing their new house and they hadn't seen Gareth since he was like 8 mos old.  All in all it was a great trip and we had fun but it was a learning experience too.  It's so hard trying to do things you want to do with an 18 mos old.  

4th of July

We didn't have any real big plans for the 4th.  We went to the parade in the morning which Gareth loved, it was his "first" parade that he actually could enjoy.  He loved it, he was sooooo amazed, he just sat there and stared the whole 2 hours!!!  It's so freakin hot here that they have what they call "water floats," so the last 7-10 floats have water guns and blasters and they spray people down and you can spray them down.  It's pretty cool, so Gareth and I got sprayed and cooled off at the end of the parade, he got the biggest kick out of that.  We went home took some naps and then we went to the Shamo's for a little Rock Band on the xbox 360.  Micah was rocking it out on the drums, they were all so amazed b/c he was playing expert after only 2 songs and they've been playing the game for like 8 months and nobody has ever played expert.  I was like duh, he is a real drummer...haha  Gareth loved watching his dad play and was in complete awe.  We hung out with them for about 2 hours and then went over to the Jorgensen's for dinner and the firework show.  Micah had to work so he had to leave around 7:30 so he didn't get to stay and see the fireworks with us, it was really hard for him.  He called me from work almost in tears b/c he could hear the fireworks on the strip going off and he couldn't be there for Gareth's first "real" firework show.  Gareth sat still for about the first 10 min then he thought he could chase them down and was jumping up and down yelling at the fireworks, it was so stinking cute.  He was so tired, it was an hour and a half past his bedtime when we got home and he crashed.  I'm off work all next week so we are going to go up to St. George and take Gareth camping in Pine Valley and probably go to Zion Nation Park and visit with some of Micah's fam.