Father's Weekend!

Just a bit of monkeying around with Lavea'i. Cliff is such an amazing father. I couldn't have asked for someone better. He absolutely loves to play with the kids and the kids in turn absorb all they can.



Cliff had told me a few years back that all he wanted every year for Father's Day was to head out to the mountains and camp. So, this is exactly what I planned this year with some of our friends in the neighborhood, the Graybill's. They have 2 girls that always tell Maika hi. Here are their girlies.





We went up early Friday morning to Silver Lake Flat to get our spot, but the road was closed off because of erosion from the creek. Unfortunately, we headed back down out of American Fork Canyon so that we could get a hold of the Graybill's before they paid the fee to come into the canyon. But, we ended up back in AF Canyon in a different camp spot that had a little creek right behind our tents.

We couldn't have asked for better weather, shorts during the day and pants at night. It was fun not to have to worry about dirt being dragged into the house after they played in it ALL day. The kids LOVED being able to play in the dirt and not get hollered at for getting messy. The only time I wiped their hands off was right before dinner and bed. Other than that, more power to them. They were all troopers playing baseball on their own, sitting in a chair, swinging in the hammock, or playing in the dirt. You would think our children were on the commercials for charity to donate money.

We bought a kids bat and wiffle balls to let the kids hit a few. Both Kalena and Maika are getting pretty good.







When Tula'i makes contact with the ball, he hits it pretty hard too. After letting the kids hit a few, we adults played a very short game...one inning short. Erin and I against Cliff and Riki. We won, at least that is what the ladies decided.

After playing SO hard, Tula'i acted like he was going to die of thirst. So I had to get a picture of him drinking his cup of water because of the look on his face, OR should I say it was the puckering of the lips.



Time for dinner...tinfoil dinners were the easiest route to take, but not the best tasting route. In fact the kids wouldn't eat it so we ended up giving them the hot dogs we were supposed to eat for lunch, but didn't. After dinner, it was time for smores. My kids LOVE those things. I opened the chocolate bar and it was just melted enough to easily spread it on the graham cracker with my fingers...I don't think anyone minded the germs cause they were eaten up.

After smores, it was bed time for the kids while the adults stayed up and talked for a few more hours. It is always nice to sit in front of the camp fire and just relax while the kids sleep.

I wasn't anxious to go to sleep because I never sleep good while I am camping. We even purchased cots for this trip and I still failed to sleep good due to my feet freezing and Lavea'i not sleeping much. So, needless to say, it took me 3 days to recover from that one night of camping. I always tell myself I will never do it again, but off I go ready to conquer the camping each time and never coming off conqueror. One of these days I will be the winner.

Just some cute pictures that I was able to get:





The drive back home was not a peaceful one where the kids will usually fall asleep. Yes, it was one full of laughter and talking.





This was the end of the camp trip, but not the end of Father's weekend. I ended up going to the store with Erin and bought steaks for his Father's Day dinner, which were so YUMMY!! I also made a dozen cinnamon rolls for the father's in our ward, which Cliff got his fair share when they were nice and hot out of the oven. And for his gift I bought him a card for his Xbox 360 which we found out cannot purchase much. And you can't return the card after the number has been scratched off, so he ended up purchasing a race car game for the kids. SO, I do need to get him something that he can really enjoy for himself.

But, I want all of you to know that Cliff is so amazing that even on Father's Day morning he got up and did all the dishes from the mess I had made from making the cinnamon rolls and continued to help out the whole day!! Not once did he pull the Father's Day card. Thanks Cliff for the wonderful father and husband that you are to the kids and myself. You are indeed a GREAT Dad and I know that when you have to go back to work every day, both the kids and myself will miss you being able to hang out with us.