Weekend in Paradise

This last weekend we were able to go to Alpine to the Mortensen Family cabin and spend a nice relaxing weekend. We left early afternoon on Thursday and got there early evening. We spent Thursday night getting the cabin warmed up, yes it was cool enough to run the heater. Dave and his Dad went out and did a little fishing before it got too dark and Mary, the girls, and I stayed at the cabin and got dinner ready. Thursday night my Dad also arrived. Friday morning the boys got up early and went fishing at Nelson Resevoir. Around 7:00 my Dad and Dave drove into Springerville and picked up Dave's brothers John and Tom at the airport. John is a pilot so they decided to fly instead of drive. That was the day that Clay caught the big one, a 20in. rainbow trout. While the boys were out fishing we (the girls) enjoyed playing at the cabin. We went for a nice walk around the loop which is about a mile. The girls really enjoyed it. I made the mistake of not taking the stroller and so I carried Emmabelle most of the time, but burned that many more calories, yeah for me.

It has been a long time tradition at the cabin to feed the squirrels. Grandma always had unsalted raw peanuts just for the occasion. We had so much fun with them. This is the friendliest little squirrel you will ever meet. He gets up on the picnic table that is by the windows to the cabin and will just peak in and beg for you to come out and feed him. He just waits by the door and almost comes in.

You are seeing this right. He actually will climb up your legs and take peanuts from you and I just got it in my head to try and feed him from my mouth. It was so neat. Dave gave it a try too.

This is a miracle in itself. For those of you that know Avery you know she isn't much for the animals. She had no problems with the squirrel. She had such a fun time feeding him.

Emmabelle just couldn't wait for the squirrel to come back after he had taken a peanut. She would just repeat back, back. She is not one known for patience.Of course Emmabelle just loved the swing. Even though she couldn't ride it by herself she still had a blast swinging in my arms.
Dave, Grandpa Hartman, John, Tom, the girls and I all went down to the river to go fishing. Emmabelle had so much fun throwing rocks into the river. I don't know how much that helped the actual fishermen, but she just loved it. I am so surprised she didn't fall in. She would bend over, but wouldn't bend her knees for some reason and end up on her head. I had to catch her a couple of times.

This is Avery's first time fishing. She wanted so bad to just catch a fish. She didnt' catch a fish, but she managed to snag a crawdad. She thought it was so neat and everytime her line hit the water she said, "I caught a fish" and would automatically start reeling it in. I don't blame her thought I am not patient enough to fish myself. I like to just cast and reel.

Dave just put a bobber on the end of Emmabelle's line and she had so much fun just playing with the ball. My mom arrived on Friday night and since we had all the Grandparents together we decided to celebrate Avery's third birthday. She has been so excited for her birthday for months.

Grandpa Hartman's birthday was also this month so we decided to celebrate for him also. Avery was so cute about her cake she insisted on it being chocolate and there was no persuading her otherwise.

We bought some party blowers for her and it was so fun to watch her try to work them. It took her awhile to learn to blow on them. If you look really hard in the picture you can see her sucking in. It was hilarious we kept telling her to blow and she would just suck harder. She eventually figured it out.

She got so many great presents. Her absolute favorite was the mailbox though. She has been begging for months for a mailbox. Grandma and Grandpa Mortensen were kind enough to get it for her. I would have had they not, because that was the only thing she would tell you when you asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She also got some books, a movie, clothes, a game, and a little princess keyboard. She was very pleased with her loot.

Jared Thompkinson and his Dad Greg also joined us this night. They were also up in Alpine on a hunting trip. Jared is an old friend from EAC when I went there, but he is also a good friend of Tom's and that is why they came. It was really good to see him again. It has been about four years or so since I have seen him. It was fun to catch up.

Saturday was much of the same activites. Clay and Mary had to go home early so Clay could speak in Stake Conference. The remaining boys went fishing on Crescent Lake that morning with the intention of taking John and Tom to the airport around noon. Lucky for them it was too stormy to fly out so they got to stay the remainder of the day. They came back around lunch took naps and went back out to the Black River that evening. Uncle Jim and Aunt Marie stopped by and visited for a little bit and then when they went home Dad, Mom and Avery followed them so Dad could drop off some tin. That left Emmabelle and I alone at the cabin for a few hours. It was fun to get some one on one time with her. We took a walk, and then just played in the house.

Sunday morning John and Tom left early to fly out. The rest of us got up and got ready for church. We usually go to Luna for church, but decided to go visit Uncle Wil and his family in Eager. After church we came back to the cabin, had lunch, cleaned up and headed home. It was such a great and relaxing weekend.

It is tradition to take pictures on Sunday morning before going to church. We have just always done it. So here are the pictures we took.