Jonathan's Firsts...

June 12th - Jonathan's first trip to the zoo.

Every year the University of Phoenix, my mom's employer, takes it's employee's to the zoo. They also pay for unlimited train and merry-go-round rides. (I have only been in attendance once since this is generally the same weekend I am off on my high adventure canoe trip with the girls. Michael has been several time because he is always looking for something to do that weekend.) The day rolled around again this year and Michael, Jonathan and I were ready to go. The family gathered at our house to enjoy some pizza before heading up to the zoo... in the down pouring rain. It was pretty cold but worse than that was the torrential down pour. We all kept talking ourselves in and out of going but finally geared up and headed out, nobody was going to rain on our parade... except the zoo. After bundling Jonathan up tight in his stroller we pushed him through the gates of the zoo only to discover everything was shut down due to inclement weather. The new scary creatures exhibit was closed up tight. The new baby elephant was tucked away inside. The animals all seemed to have sense enough to get in out of the rain. We finally saw birds getting the oil cleaned off of them from the Salt Lake oil spill, a Red Koala Bear, some giraffes, the tigers and some creatures in the creepy reptile building. We hit the merry-go-round several times but couldn't ride the train because it was shut down due to the rain. It was a pretty sad day at the zoo but hopefully Jonathan won't remember too much anyway.

June 25th -26th - Jonathan's first ward camp out (& first time camping).

Michael came home from work early, we packed up the car and headed out for a night of fun. We weren't sure how Jonathan would do camping but the camp site was up past Park City so we figured we could head home quickly if it didn't work out. We arrived in camp and started setting up. Jonathan had some dinner and then we headed over to the zip line. I went first and then Michael and Jonathan followed... it was great! We did that several times and then headed back to our camp to start a fire for dinner. After starting a roaring fire we tossed our hobo dinners in and enjoyed our first campfire of the year. (Also our first campfire as a family.) The dinners were delicious but after finishing up we figured we needed dessert. We changed Jonathan into his PJ's and headed up to the main fire pit to enjoy some smores and conversation. As the fire died down we said our good nights and headed down for bed. Jonathan slept in a play and pack full of blankets. (I was so scared he was going to be cold and keep everyone up all night.) He went right to sleep and so did Michael and I. The next thing I remember is waking up at 5:30 am wondering if Jonathan was still alive because he hadn't moved all night. He was fine so I went back to sleep. Finally at 7:30 am Michael and I got up and had to wake Jonathan up so we could get ready for breakfast. Clearly he had enjoyed his adventure in the great outdoors. We headed back up the hill to eat and enjoy one last zip line run before headed back down the hill to pack up camp. It was short and sweet. We had so much fun we plan on doing it again soon.

There were quite a few firsts on the camping trip...

• First time on a zip line.
• First time sitting around the campfire.
• First time sleeping in a tent, in bear country.
• First time seeing mom with a head lamp (he didn't quite know what to think about that).
• First time finding a Tick on his clothes (and hopefully last).

Michael and Jonathan on the zip line.

Kim on the zip line.

June 26th - First time meeting the Beadles.

Immediately after the ward campout we heading down to Orem to the Beadle house because there was an open house bridal shower for Vicky's future daughter-in-law Aubrey who is marrying Blake. It was supposedly over at noon, but its the Beadles so I knew there was no way it would actually be completely done at that time. We stopped in with our smoke-stinky clothes just to say hello and let Jonathan meet extended family. It was good and then we left. We were all pooped.