The Longs!

I still pinch myself... our friends FLEW during a pandemic across the country to visit us. We didn't tell the boys and pretended to "look at planes" at the airport. Then their best buddy shows up. It was nothing but smiles and good times from there. 

I met Stephanie 13 years ago at a church function. I remember her as the girl who doesn't like to cook and she remembers me as the googly-eyed newly wed who had been married for 3 months. We ended up in the same Sunday School class, went through life working as teachers, then pregnant together with boys that would become best friends, and now walk life together as homeschool moms. We've been together through hard and good times in marriage, pregnancies, Bible Studies, play dates, holidays, field trips, girl's weekends, vacations, and the list could go on. JT also found a best friend in Jason sharing interests in sports, work, spiritual walks, and imitating the pittsburgh Dad. Not to mention Caleb and the girls fit right in to our crew. Our kids can play for 12 hours and leave asking for more. These 2 have supported us through everything and we couldn't be more thankful for them in our lives. Now we have Utah in the book of memories... we love them!

We started the weekend with a campfire in the woods near the river (same spot we were at a few weeks ago). The boys explored the woods and we had the Long signature smores with Reese cups. It was a great time!

How are they 8 already?!

JT and Jason got to play a round of golf and since we're staying right on the 18th tee box the boys got to go through the path and watch their Dad's tee off. We love this part of where we stay! 

On Sunday we went to some Gardens here where the boys love to feed the fish. It was so fun!

(These flower pictures are specifically for Erin :)

 I didn't take too many pictures because I think I was enjoying the moments :) Not pictured is an entire day where the guys watched all the boys while Stephanie and I had a shopping day together. We took a very long drive through the Utah mountains and just enjoyed the fellowship of each other's company. I'll never forget it! 

Up to a waterfall!

Remember the campfire in the woods? Brian, who showed us the spot told us that if you keep going about 2 miles on the path you'd get to a waterfall. I knew immediately what our next hike would be :) Last Saturday we packed waters and snacks and decided to brave the trip which would be about 5 miles round trip. I immediately knew we were in for a challenging day when Cruze started complaining of his legs hurting about a quarter mile in. In his defense, it was hot and steep! Onward we pushed!

Trip is usually at the front of the pack so you know that if he's dragging it's hot!

We had to start making rules.... "we must go half a mile before more snacks." Otherwise it would have taken us 12 hours with how many times these guys wanted a break😂

This was the scenic view of the falls. It was "only" about 20 more minutes from this point but I was dragging!

When you walk through water you know you're close! This water is snowmelt so it was very chilly and refreshing. On the way back I was getting a bit overheated and JT told me to dunk my hat in the water... genius!

To get to the actual waterfall you had to go down this very steep hill. There is a black "slack line" to help with balance but I think it was a bit too loose to help anyone with balance. Nonetheless we made it down.

This rock was a bit dicey but we had come too far! 

I just can't get over the views. They're incredible.

We made it! We were hoping/thinking there was a reservoir to swim in but we arrived to no such luck. We didn't stay as long as hoped because it was slippery and dangerous at spots. We're wondering if we missed a spot but it was hot and hard to climb down. So we took some pictures and headed back. 

This snack break was more stressful than the picture captures😁

The way back was full of complaining and tired bodies but we're building character here :) MVP goes to this guy who carried both Pace and Cruze the last quarter mile. Both were asleep so it was dead weight. 

 Back at the car we're always glad we pushed through and had yet another family adventure. Not sure about the boys' opinion but they'll thank us one day. Off to get take out, showers, sleep like babies and wake up feeling like old folks😂 These are the days!