Day Camping

Camping is one of the best ways to spend time as a family. As Everett gets older and even more kids come along camping will be a summer favorite every year! This summer we didn't do any camping because of how little Everett is. So we were really excited that while in Utah we got to go day camping and canoeing at causey reservoir. It was so much fun. Everett took a long nap on his grandma the whole time we were all canoeing. Then for dinner we had amazing dutch oven enchiladas and played games. The weather was perfect and the day couldn't have been better. 

The picture on the right was taken while we were dating. We tried to recreate it on this trip with Everett but got a few details backwards.

Utah Trip

Everett got to have his first trip to Utah and was finally able to meet his grandma and grandpa Peirce and his aunts on Stephens side. The two of us flew alone without daddy and I was pretty nervous about the flight but Everett was amazing. He didn't cry once and we had an open seat next to us which was so nice. Instead of heading straight to cache valley after the flight we stopped at Stephens parents house and had dinner with them. Grandma Peirce was so excited to finally meet her little grand baby. It was a pretty great night for Everett and the whole family.

The next week and a half Everett and I hung out in Logan and had a lot of friends and great grandmas to introduce him to. The two hour time change wasn't the easiest for him to get used to and neither was the Utah weather. We got there during a cold front and we were freezing. We actually had to go buy Everett some warm clothes and put a heater in his room the first couple nights. But besides that it was a lot of fun being home and spending time with family. Grandma and grandpa Carman were sure happy to have little Everett visit. They set up an adorable little nursery just for his visit. He sure is one spoiled grand baby.
Being back in Utah was a lot of fun but being apart from Stephen gets harder and harder. Everett and I missed daddy a lot! Stephen was finishing up his family medicine rotation before joining us in Utah. The day before his exam for it he was rear ended on his way home from work. If I haven't said it before I'll say it now the drivers in Atlanta are insane. It's not a matter of if but when you'll get in a wreck. Luckily Stephen was fine but the car needed to go to the shop for the next couple weeks. So after the stress of the wreck and his extremely difficult exam Stephen joined us in Utah for a much needed weekend break. 

Once the three of us were all together again we spent the rest of the week in Kaysville with the Peirces. It was so much fun. We went day camping, spent a day doing legos (which is starting to become tradition I'm afraid), Stephen and I went to his spot up on the mountain side and watched the sunset one night (and almost stepped on a rattle snake)! Then on Sunday we had a beautiful morning with Stephen blessing Everett before we headed back to good old Atlanta.

Dahlonega

A few Saturdays ago we took a fun little road trip to the north side of Georgia. The plan was to drive by all of the orchards and pick some peaches. Along the way we drove through the adorable little town of Dahlonega. It was so adorable we quickly flipped back around and decided to stop there for lunch. We ate at smokin gold bbq and it was greasy and delicious. Then we walked through the town a little bit, stopping for some taffy, then stopping to listen to some bluegrass and old time string music. Every Saturday afternoon a group of locals come and play at the square. After our stop in town we headed to find the orchards. About a half hour after we thought we would have seen them we realized we took a wrong turn. It was time to feed Everett so instead of continuing on we pulled off at a memorial park. It was then that we noticed the poonami. Everett's hand had almost dry poop covering it and he had gotten poo all over the inside of his carseat. The next 20 minutes was spent with Stephen cleaning him up on the grass while I cleaned up the carseat. It was a messy adventure.

Once Everett was clean and fed we found the best route to get back to the orchards. We ended up finding a few of them but none of them let you pick your own peaches. We ended up spending way to much on a bushel of peaches anyway and headed for home. Overall it was a really fun day and we got to see some beautiful countryside and even found some mountains.  

100 posts later

I have reached my 100th post since starting this blog just four months after Stephen and I got married. There are a lot of reasons why I wanted to start writing down our family stories. One of those reasons has to do with my grandpa. After he passed away I found out about all of the journals he had kept throughout his life. Some days he would only write a couple words but he kept written records of everything. I've never been good at journal writing but I've always felt like it is so important to write our memories down. I started this blog when Stephen and I had just started our huge adventure in Dominica. I originally started it just to have memories of Dominica but I have no intentions of giving it up because it has been incredible to look back and read about our adventures and life together so far. I love looking back at all of the things we have done. I have even started a separate blog that starts when Stephen and I first met and ends right up to us moving to Dominica.

I hope to someday start journal writing in addition to this blog so that I can record more personal life experiences. But for now I am happy with my Peirce family stories and can't wait to see what adventures await in the next 100 posts.

 Margaret Atwood said "In the end we'll all become stories." I wrote this quote down a long time ago but have always remembered it. I just love it and I hope someday these stories are read not only by my children but by my grandchildren and hopefully they will enjoy them.

From Bees to Braves

Stephen and I have done some pretty amazing things and have had some really fun adventures but one of my favorite things ever is going to a baseball game as a family. A few weeks ago we finally made it to our first Brave's game and it was just like we thought it would be...amazing! We won't ever stop loving our Bee's team in Salt Lake but the Brave's have found a permanent place in our hearts. It was hot hot hot but we luckily weren't sitting in the sun. We sat almost at the top of the stadium but it ended up being perfect seats especially afterwards when we got to watch the fireworks. It was a close game at the end and the Brave's won making it even better. Everett was such a good baby the whole time even though we knew he was exhausted. We definitely won the bad parents award that night because we didn't get him to bed until 1:00am. As he gets older we will definitely make it a tradition to go to as many baseball games as we can!