Halloween in Park City
This year, we dressed the kids up as Spiderman and a ballerina (and an elephant). Noah and Trinny were able to go to the Gateway Discovery Museum and two kids’ birthday parties with their costumes and ALSO go Trick-or-Treating on Main Street and in Blackhawk Station.
There is a place by the Jordanelle that offers walk-in camping. There is about a one-mile walk on a neat boardwalk into the campground. The campground lets you borrow giant wheelbarrows and you can haul your stuff to the camp. Trinny was sleeping when we arrived, so Noah and Mommy loaded up the wheelbarrow and hiked to camp. At the very end of the trail, the boardwalk ends and there is a gravel area…so….wheelbarrows don’t go very well over gravel, especially loaded with camping gear. Noah and Mommy got to pick up the camping gear about three times before we made it to our tent site. Our friends, Mike and Brandee Macci (with Ryder and Easton…and also their neice and nephew Sage and Ivy) were also camping that weekend, and we were thrilled they let us in on their secret about this place. It’s right next to the Provo River and super relaxing. Ryder, Easton and Noah wanted to watch Backyardigans on Mike’s iPad. They all snuggled up on the cot and enjoyed the show. Haha…roughing it, right?
So, we ate hot dogs, s’mores (Joe has a sneaky secret technique to make the PERFECT s’more so Mommy splurged and had chocolate–YUM), and other yummy camp food at the fire with the Maccis. Noah and Ryder wanted to play in the tent and they were “Tired” most of the evening so they could go play in the tents. Mommy made Trinny a bottle and we all settled in for a good night’s sleep…..THEN we remembered we were camping and “good night’s sleep” and “camping” don’t even belong in the same book, let alone sentence. The air mattress worked okay, but we were all squished. Mommy kept worrying that Trin’s head was not covered, and Noah was super wiggly and somehow ended up with Mommy’s thigh as his pillow. Daddy woke up and said, “Mommy, SCOOT OVER” but there was no room. Trinny only woke up once..Noah got sleep, and Mommy and Daddy pretended to sleep.
In the morning, it was super chilly. We all went for a walk on the boardwalk to warm up. The sun felt AMAZING on our backs and we walked around for a while before breakfast…or maybe after breakfast? Daddy cooked eggs and we had to wait until the Macci’s woke up with their coffee before we really woke up 
. Daddy went fishing while Mommy packed up camp and he caught a GIANT rainbow trout. Noah and Ryder discovered a “stage” through the woods. It was actually a wooden platform for a tent in the next campsite, but we used it for a dancing stage. Daddy and Noah and Trinny danced ring-around-the-rosy!
We went to the State fair this year. We saw cows, sheep, goats, and almost pigs (They were too stinky!). We got to ride lots of rides, dizzy dragons, the helicopters, a fun slide…and almost the Ferris Wheel (it was being repaired and we lost all confidence in that ride). We got an expensive lemonade and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There were seals there, and a fun band at the beginning. Trinity liked to dance to the music. Noah’s favorite part of the fair was the ferris wheel “when it broke.” Mommy braved a carnival ride with Andy, Mike and Josh. It was ironically called “Thunder Bolt.” Mommy kept thinking the ride was going to break apart and she’d fly off into the crowd.
Last summer, we bought an annual pass for the Utah State Parks. This includes Jordanelle State Park. After work, we’ve been visiting the lake to fish and enjoy the early autumn air. We’ve had a lot of fun, but NO fish live in this lake–we’re pretty sure. Trinity likes to walk over all the rocks…Noah likes to find a forest to explore (aka any tree) and is getting really good at casting his fishing pole. One evening, we took hot dogs, marshmellows and some snacks to have dinner at the lake. The weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing. We’re blessed to live in such a gorgeous area.
We played with the Jacobsens (Pat, Becky, Caden and Gabe) and Noah got to play on the bouncy trampoline! He got all hooked up and then jump jump jump! He was even a super hero!! It was amazing watching my little man be so big. Trinity was not about to be showed up by her big brother–she walked all over the resort, toddle toddle toddle… 
Mommy and Noah rode the lift up (Chickadee run–super short lift). We were excited to ride the Alpine Slide. Pat and Caden came with us. When we got to the top, we got to wait in a giant line for a sled…Trinity, Daddy, Becky and Gabe were NOT happy campers waiting at the bottom with their cameras ready! Trinity would rather have walked around or had a bottle. Gabe was sleeping. Finally, we got in line for the Alpine Slide…1, 2, 3 ZOOOOM Noah and Mommy went FAST FAST FAST down the mountain!
Trinity’s birthday was Saturday, August 7th! She is a beautiful and bright baby girl!
The party was scheduled to be at Willow Creek Park on Saturday evening. A giant soccer tournament took over Park City parks and Daddy drove around to three or four parks before we found a place to relocate the festivities.
Our friend, Jennifer Biffert, staked out the park by her condo and we set up camp there. The picnic tables were far apart and there was not a pavillion to decorate with the cute butterfly-y things we had planned and dark ominous rainclouds hovered above us…but all of our friends were there and we had a blast anyway!
Kristy Brown helped Mommy learn how to (FINALLY) bake a cake in the mountains! Nicole Snyder graciously let me borrow her frosting “gun” and I need more practice and need to allow more time to decorate cakes, but this turned out pretty okay as a three-tiered butterfly with bright stripes and polka dots.
For food, I made chicken salad with croissants, a green salad, veggies and hummus, and chips and yummy Farmer’s Market salsa.
Friends at the party were:
the Maccis (Brandee, Mike, Ryder and Easton); the Jacobsens (Becky, Pat, Caden and Gabriel); the Boerbooms (Susie, Aaron, Brecklyn and Rachel); the Bifferts (Jennifer and Stori); the Snyders (Nicole, Jim and Bradley); the Kinsingers (Jeanda and Ayden); the Browns (Kristy, Aden, Hannah and Aaryl); the Baileys (Shawn, Rob and Hannah)
Trinity loved crawling around and we were really able to celebrate our beautiful baby girl! At her doctor’s appointment for her one-year old well-child visit, she measured 90% for height and 10% in weight. She’s our little peanut!
Welcome to our blog! I am thinking of this blog as an on-line scrapbook. I hope to keep our followers up-to-date as well as back-track and post about the past as well. It’s not practical for me to delve into the colorful paper world of scrapbooking–and most of our family lives far away and couldn’t appreciate printed books. This way–I hope to have something more concrete than Facebook, easier to follow than Kodak, and my creative flair that brings our family to life!
