Big Red

At long last we decided to cut our one big red pepper from the plant! It was a momentous occasion! It was the first pepper I'd ever grown and the first one I've ever SEEN grown!

It was a wonderful deep red and tasted just okay.

As soon as we cut it off, the plant started growing more than ever before. Flowers started showing up and now there are several tiny peppers showing their bottoms. :) Hmm, I wonder if they will all grow large and red or if we'll just end up with lots of baby peppers.....just wait....I'll let you know The REST Of The Story as soon as it happens! :)

Sly Park Adventures!

Last weekend we got to go camping for the SECOND time in one year!!! That's a first for us! AND we were so excited to get to go WITH some friends- the Searles. We've gotten to know them through our church and they are quickly becoming great friends.

Here's our campsite (i don't know why this is blue and underlined). The campground is less than an hour from Folsom and well known around this area. It was the craziest set-up I've ever seen in a campground. Each site was crammed right up next to the ones around it. We were pretty much camping with the two sites next to us. It actually didn't end up bothering as like we thought it would.

This is Gabe- husband and dad! He and Matt enjoy playing around on guitar and have lead worship together at church.
And this is Jaime. God has definitely directed our paths together as we were both in need of a good friend. We enjoy getting together to just talk about life every few weeks.

And here's the kids!!! Can you tell that they are full of fun!

They are helping to get the corn ready to cook in the fire!

This is London. I think he's in 2nd grade this year. It was especially fun to watch him discover all kinds of new things on his first ever camping trip! Playing with sticks in the fire was the most exciting....and of course giant s'mores!
This is Adalaide (spelling is off I'm sure), or Addie, who is just as adventurous as her brothers! She's in kindergarten this year and is very social and full of love.
Porter is the youngest and quite the spitfire! We really enjoyed getting to know and spend time with the whole family! Lots of fun and far more entertaining than when we camp alone! :)The first day I was REALLY grumpy since the weather went from being 104 degrees on Wednesday to about 68 on Saturday! BLA!!! As you most likely know, I get pretty miserable when I'm cold, so I spent lots of time by the fire, took a nap in warm blankets or tried to be a bit active...skipping rocks is always fun! Again, this was a first for London and he LOVED it!
Gabe found some wood on a trail and Matt enjoyed chopping it up to use for the fire! The group and their finds!

And I fully enjoyed the results with Addie!

Gabe brought along some harmonicas and Porter joined in with his dad!

They were all quite entertaining!

We all went on a hike before they had to leave on Sunday!

One last pose for the road...all with their "staffs"!

Matt and I had the afternoon left, so drove around the lake to check out the other campgrounds. Here's a view from the end of the lake.
Havin' some fun campfire time doing some Mad Libs! The campground was pretty eerie since it was almost totally empty Sunday night. Hmm, not sure we like that feeling, especially in bear country.
I was SO glad that we had one more day, since camping just doesn't feel complete without sun and swimming! We spent the afternoon on the beach with just the sun, water, a bit of wind, and the ducks!!!
and MORE ducks! They weren't shy at all. Here's mama with her teenage ducklings!

And some good time to worship and get our perspective on track.

Even though the sun and heat was absent for the most part, we're glad we went and are thankful for a break from normal life. We hope that next time we'll get to go with some family!!:)