Montebello Open Space Reserve: Bryson's 1st Backpacking Trip

Yesterday was our first family camping trip, and we didn't settle for some easy car camping stuff - we went backpacking! We drove up into the hills above Palo Alto and arrived at the Montebello Open Space Preserve a little after 5pm.

The trail was beautiful. We climbed along rolling ridges, hiked through waist-high fields of native grasses, and walked under the shade of ancient oaks and shrubby willows. The views were often spectacular. We watched as thick waves of fog poured over the coastal hills and into the valley below us.


Later that evening, we watched the brilliant reds and oranges of a California sunset; instead of watching the sun dip below the waves, we watched as it dissapeared into the fog bank still gushing into the valley. Bryson had obviously been staying awake just to see this gorgeous sight - as soon as the last sliver of sun faded, so did he.
He slept great. No doubt, the serenades of our friendly, guitar-playing camp neighbors helped. They played EVERYTHING, from the Beatles to Jason Mraz, rural blues to modern pop, Stevie Nix to Jewel. Needless to say, we were impressed. We even made some requests. And yes, they did play some Skynyrd. :)

so i had some difficulty downloading Bryson swimming video so I am just going to put the link to the youtube site.
But we put Bryson in the pool over the weekend and it had its ups and downs.he got used to it but was not happy to begin with. Hopefully over the summer he will like it more :)

Yesterday Matt went curb painting with the Scouts for their fundraiser, he came back and said that one of the other leaders invited us to have a fire behind the church (we have a fire pit), we thought it sounded fun so we made our tin foil dinners and went to the church. Funny thing is the guy that invited us has a 8.5 mo pregnant wife, but she is no ordinary prego chic, she was chopping wood with the guys, and out chopped them it was hilarious!
We talked about how funny it was that even when the leaders we not camping with the scouts that they were pretending they were :) We did give Bryson his first camp fire experience and told him that there will be many more to come. he seemed to enjoy himself, we just spread a blanket out and let him hangout!

For Mother's Day we wanted to give our moms something special from Bryson, so I thought about those plaster of paris things that you can mold your child's hand... it was perfect! well not so much you can't keep a 5 mo. old still enough to do it, we tried 3 times before we gave up. Instead we just made the mold then I painted his hands and out them on the mold, well funny thing is Bryson puts EVERTHING in his mouth so on the way to the bath the hands went everywhere including the mouth. But he had fun and his Grandma's loved them.

Bryson is getting so big, he is 5 months old tomorrow and its so crazy! he is growing and getting such a fun personality! its starting to get fun to rough house with him and he is giggling so much:) check out the video. I was trying to hold him and the camera so its not that great, and he tried eating the camera, cause he tries to eat everything!

A few weeks ago there was a crazy heat wave, so park day was at the pool in little Provo (we call it that because half of the young families in our ward live there) . I decided that I would take Bryson in for a little dip, we didnt go all the way in because I want to have Matt there for the first time, but the dip was priceless, hopefully swimming will go better!

but at the end he looked so cute!

Bryson is getting ready to be a world traveler. We went down to SoCal without Dad, it was such an adventure with a little guy! I have noticed lately that things take a WHOLE lot longer to do!

Matts Parents came to visit last month and we had a great day in Santa Cruz, we went to the beach and basked in the sun!






after we got home the boys were tuckered out!
Grandpa was "resting his eyes".










Although the trip was fun, Grandma and Grandpa had to say good bye for now! ... Until next time.

So here is the Long awaited pics with Bryson and my family! the Pictures were taken in Feb. but its never too late.





This was my Grandmparents 50th wedding anniversary, what a great way to celebrate Valentines!