The Grubers: June 2017 - Almost Camping and Summer Fun

We excitedly got a new tent from REI! We got it plenty big, 8 man, and got it with credit card points. We got it in hopes of many camping adventures this summer. Our first attempt, however, turned out to be a flop! We failed to reserve a camping spot early enough so we were left with the sites that are first come first serve. We didn’t leave until 5:30 pm on a Friday night. We drove up to Salamander Flats, but it was completely filled! We tried Timpanoke and Mutual Dell; they were all full. We had to camp at a facility that at least had a bathroom for my womanly sake, and most likely Colson’s sake as well. By this point it was 7:30 pm. The boys were crying, tired of driving around the canyon in the car. They were hungry and car sick. We had food ready to cook in the back for dinner. We finally decided we would get out at Hanging Bridge to at least have our dinner and then we could head home after that (a hard decision since we had spent a good time packing up all our gear and we had such high hopes). So we made up a fire, heated up our Beef Macaroni dutch oven (luckily everything was fully cooked and just needed to be heated) and then switched out the foil liner to cook our dessert: peach cobbler. We even did homemade shake bags of vanilla ice cream. The ice cream actually turned out really good! It was a little bit stressful trying to hurry all of this along, but the boys still had a fun time climbing the rocks and exploring. We got home around 10 pm. Since we didn’t get to officially camp anywhere, we still made the most of our next morning and took the boys to Vivian Park for a picnic, fishing, playing, bike riding, and more exploring. That evening we set the tent up in the backyard. We were still really excited about the new tent and wanted to see it in action. The boys were so hyper and excited about it. Thanks to the high energy and excitement they just couldn’t sleep. They ended up going into their rooms to sleep and I was the only one who slept in the tent. Pretty hilarious!

Oh, and Goofy....

We celebrated with the Arbons at the beginning of the month; June is always a family-busy month. We celebrated Kim’s birthday, Mom’s birthday, and Bryan’s Seminary graduation.

Amy came with me and the boys to the Alpine Poppy Fields. This was a first for me and I was really excited!

We also attended Bryan’s high school graduation. The boys stayed with George and Nancy and had a fun day in the sun in their backyard. Bryan’s graduation was at the Huntsman Center at the University of Utah. After graduation, we celebrated with dinner at Tucanos.

Jason went on his Young Men’s High Adventure; I will have him write a post about that next.

While Jason was gone that week with the young men, we stayed busy doing lots of fun summer things. We hit up the Springville Splash Pad, it also happened to be their city Art Days so we got to observe some of that going on. We went swimming at the Lindon Pool with my friend Amy. It was also Orem’s Summerfest and I got a babysitter for Friday night so I could go to the Dance Showcase going on at the park. Amy came with me to that as well. It was a lot of fun. Saturday morning I took the boys to the Summerfest activities at the Scera Park before Jason got back that afternoon. That evening we all went to Kamrie Lambson’s reception (our neighbor’s daughter) and then partied at the Summerfest carnival and fireworks. The carnival was absolutely nuts, just packed with people. But the boys had a blast and surprised us with their bravery and willingness to try some kiddie rides. We were glad to have Daddy back with us.

Jason was asked to speak at the Stake Priesthood Meeting.

We fed the sister missionaries.

We went to Granby, Colorado with the Arbons. It was an amazing trip. I will post the details in another post.

We attended an Appreciation BBQ for Arive Homes for all of the subcontractors. It was held at their Mapleton Parade of Homes.

Speaking of Parade of Homes, Jason (Everlast Surrounds and Glass) did two showers for the show, one in Mapleton and one in Vineyard.

Roman’s family started a new summer hiking group for moms and their kids (Roman is Charlie’s best friend from preschool). This group met every Thursday morning throughout the summer and explored different family-friendly hikes in Utah County. We started with Battle Creek Falls and also did Big Springs in June. These weekly hikes proved to be the highlight of the summer for the boys! They loved it! They would say, “Let’s do a hike every day!”

We had a Dutch oven Ward Activity at the park. We made a buttermilk cake with pecan topping. It was so good! It was our first time trying it and it turned out great!

We had a birthday celebration with the Grubers celebrating Charlie, Elsa, and Karl. Charlie’s actual birthday came while we were in Granby with the Arbons, so more details will be in that post. Father’s Day also fell during that time, so that will also be covered then.

I started a “weekly” So You Think You Can Dance watching with Jaleah. She would come over while Charlie was at school and Colson was napping. She would bring Conrad. We would watch it on Hulu. We had a fun time watching, chatting, snacking, and sometimes we would even have lunch together. It was a really fun time.

We had a play date with our old PG friends. We got to see the Provosts new house in Saratoga Springs. They have such a beautiful home and beautiful view of the lake and valley.

Jaleah, Bryton, and I celebrated Jaleah’s birthday by going to dinner at Sweeto Burrito.

I went with my parents to the Gentri concert at the Thanksgiving Point Ashton Gardens. It was a beautiful evening and a fun outing with my parents.