The Inaugural Camping Trip of 2018

A few months ago we decided to buy John's parents' tent trailer, the one he spent his entire childhood camping in. We have big renovation plans for it but decided to take it out on our first little family campout over Memorial Day weekend. Everett spent the weekend running around like a wild man with his face caked in dirt/apple juice/toasted marshmallows (in other words, all the quintessential "little boy" staples) and when we asked if he wanted to go home he said NO!  Every night we snuggled together in one bed under piles of blankets and laughed and munched on snacks and it was kind of perfect minus the times Everett sleep-smacked us in the face.

We took a walk at least once a day to hunt for moose. Everett had no clue what they were (he alternated between saying "neigh" and "moo" when we saw them) but he begged constantly to see more. Moose hunts with your baby are WAY BETTER than snipe hunts with the girls at girls' camp.
One afternoon we had a heavenly family nap with the windows open, then drove up to Silver Lake, coincidentally where John and I had our first date, to stroll around the boardwalk and grab an ice cream. Really that's all too great to even be allowed in one single sentence but I have to memorialize that perfect Saturday here.
And then Everett supervised John's attempts to get the heater working.
This is the face of a child who never gets juice boxes at home. I'm only a nice mom when we go on vacation apparently.
Our entire camp was surrounded by patches of wild strawberries. So if heaven was a campsite, it would clearly be this one.
He didn't care for the fire and covered his eyes for the first twenty minutes or so then squinted at it the rest of the time. Gotta protect those retinas. He did warm up to it a little once he discovered he could throw pine cones into it.
We cut the trip one night short because the temperature dipped a little too low for our taste (especially Everett's) and went home Sunday night instead of Monday, but we ended the long weekend with a barbecue and a second round of s'mores in my parents' backyard for good measure. So all in all, I'd relive the whole thing at least 20 more times if that were an option.

In case you’ve never been to a county fair

Last night we went to the County Fair, which is sort of low on the rung of fairs in general (with the State Fair taking the cake). The County Fair is pretty small, with less animals to see and less games to play and less rides to ride, but there are always Navajo Tacos and funnel cake so I really can’t complain. Plus September is State Fair season so it’s right around the corner. (I was the kid who asked to go to the fair every single year for her birthday and always wore overalls and pigtails, so that should give you some idea of how much I enjoy the Utah State Fair).
I don’t know why some chickens win prizes and some don’t, but I intend to find out and I’ll keep everyone updated. Is it better looks? Better personality? Redder combs? 
This little guy was so cute. I almost begged John to steal him for me but he’s been begging me for a puppy for a year now so I figured if I did we’d end up with some crazy compromise where we had to get a rabbit and a dog and I just don’t think I can handle that. Sidenote: I had a guinea pig named Petunia when I was growing up and I always wanted to enter her into one of the small animal contests at the fair but I wasn’t actually sure what distinguishes a prize-winning pig from a normal pig.
And this is the king of all fair foods in my opinion: the Navajo Taco. I don’t know why they’re called that and I don’t know if Navajos actually eat them . . . but they are delicious. I’m sorry if you’ve never had the chance to try one. Can you tell that only one of us likes sour cream? (Hint: I love sour cream).
And there you go: an entire blog post without a single picture of John or I. Sorry. We were too busy eating greasy things and lamenting that summer is almost over. To make up for it, here’s a picture from fairs gone by (my brother has the awesome overalls in this one--I’m the one in the back--but trust me, I had a few pairs myself).

summer bucket list 2015

Every year John and I make a summer bucket list. Last year we’d just gotten married and somehow thought we’d fit in one million activities. We finished a grand total of five things (maybe a slight exaggeration but still), so this year we kept things a little more simple.
I realize that it’s a little hard to see the categories in these photos (my bad), but we divide our activities into “go”, “make”, and “do.” (“Go” is typically bigger trips, not just afternoon activities, so that’s how I differentiate).
Just in case anyone else wants to create a summer bucket list, I’m offering a free blank version.

Click here to download your own!

Sunday Picnic

On Sunday I convinced John to go on a picnic with me to test out the new picnic basket he bought. We took chicken salad sandwiches, watermelon, juice boxes, and of course potato chips and ate them by the lake on a blanket we got on our honeymoon. And it was great. John said we should make it a Sunday tradition while the weather lasts. Sometimes the little things are my favorite.

Summer Bucket List 2014

Now that summer is more than halfway over I'm finally posting this Summer 2014 Bucket List I designed in June (I'm really on top of things). John and I filled it out and unfortunately we've been so busy we haven't accomplished many of the things on it -- but we still have a little while left.

I pinned it up on our bulletin board so we'd look at it and remember to do the things on the list.

We used the "Go" column for trips/activities that would take more travel and planning. The "Make" column is for new food we wanted to try and projects we wanted to work on. And the "Do" column is for summer activities that aren't really difficult to plan. They're somewhat interchangeable so you could really fill them out however you'd like to.

I decided to share the file for this summer bucket list, so I took out the "Coles Family" on the little flag and left that blank. You could write your own family name in pen or with Photoshop. 

Click [HERE] to download the Summer Bucket List PDF.

A Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord

I figured I'd better start this post out with a picture of food, since there was no way I could resist taking my post title from this (Charlotte's Web, anyone?) Other than the navajo taco, this post has pretty much nothing to do with food (although there were about a billion things to try, including chocolate-covered bugs) and we didn't stay until after the gates were shut. We also didn't meet any talking/singing rodents. Kind of unfortunate in my opinion.

We actually went for FHE on Monday, but I haven't gotten around to posting about it until now. The State Fair is one of my very favorite things -- when I was younger, we went every year for my birthday. It had been probably over 10 years since our last visit though, so it was about time to go back.

We saw miniature cows (John's favorite/the only animal other than a dog I've ever heard him say he needs)...

And of course regular-sized cows too (I'm referring to the scenery here, not the people).

John and Rachael and I played some games, which are ridiculously overpriced but really fun. Rachael really wanted to win a fish, but sadly even the combined efforts of her and John didn't succeed.

Rachael did win a cute little stuffed lizard and duck/platypus thing, which is impressive since I didn't win anything at all. John played a basketball game and won this giant giraffe stuffed animal for me.

I wish I'd asked someone to take a picture of the whole family together (minus Kristen who's in Provo at school and Jared who's obviously on a mission), but I'm not good at remembering stuff like that [Edit: my mom sent me one of everyone except John because he took the picture. Glad somebody's on top of things].  

I already can't wait until next September. There's nothing like breaking out your cowboy boots once a year to show you're a real country girl.