vacation!

We had a great time last month on our summer vacation! We went with Steve's brother's family, Ben & Chelsi. Pretty impressive that we were able to plan a week vacation with another family and have it work out so well!  The first couple of days we spent camping at Great Basin National Park. 

This was the view from our awesome campsite.  It was beautiful.  TJ and Gracie had so much fun playing together on the trip.  Notice them racing back to the campsite. :)

This is the view of Wheeler Peak.  We all kind of wanted to hike it but it was too far with young kids.

See what I mean about pretty view from our campsite?  

We went on a 3 mile (round trip) hike to see a bunch of Bristlecone pine trees.  Some of those trees are over three thousand years old, it is crazy to think.  This was the beginning of the trail.

We thought this was fun, the reflection of TJ looking in the little puddle.

 TJ and Gracie inside an old Bristlecone pine tree!

Awesome picture of Ben sitting on a Bristlecone pine.  They are cool looking trees.

We put this hot dog on a stick for TJ and he roasted it perfectly.  It was so funny watching him roast a hot dog like a pro.

We drove through Delta on our way to the cabin, and according to the old Kroff tradition in Steve & Ben's family growing up we stopped at the cheese factory and had to buy the squeaky curd cheese.  We each bought a bag and we ate both of them before the trip was over!

This was in Lehman Cave at Great Basin NP.  Huge cave that we went on a tour in!  It is really dark in there, hence all the surprised wide eyes in this picture from a bright flash. :)

Inside the cave.  They have dim lights all throughout the cave now but in the past they used to do tours by candlelight.  I would have been so scared! It was fun but unfortunately  Heber didn't like being held and so he was crying most of the time.

The last few days of our trip were spent at my relatives' cabin in the Uintas. Here is TJ displaying his fishing pole. "Pidah man fishing pole!"  This was also his reward for potty training.  (Which he is potty trained now!! He still has accidents but he hasn't worn diapers in over a month! It is great.)

TJ and Gracie were practicing casting their lines with the little plastic practice fish that come with kid fishing poles.  I think Gracie was trying to untangle herself here from the line. :)

Gotta love this kid.  Don't these flip flops look so comfortable?? :)

TJ spent hours just sitting on this four-wheeler and pretending he was riding it.  Anytime we couldn't see him we found him outside sitting on it making four-wheeler noises.

This was the only down side to the trip..Gracie picked up a hot coal and burned her hand pretty badly.  It was so sad because it happened right before we actually got to go fishing.  She was a trooper though, and still fished the next day anyways, with her hand all bandaged up.

He was so cute, he actually did really good casting the whole time!  We never actually put a hook on his fishing pole, we just let him throw the little red practice fish in the whole time.  He never knew the difference. haha

 I think he is good lookin! :)

I fished with Heber on my back for as long as he would put up with being there.  Which of course was never very long until he was trying to jump out of the backpack.

Cute picture of Brigitta holding Heber. She was such a good help with his constant need of attention!

Cute baby, beautiful background!

My three boys

This kid LOVES watermelon.  Don't worry that he dropped it in the dirt like three times.

On the drive home... "Look mama! Me and Heber are holding hands!"  It was so cute.

It was such a fun and relaxing trip!  Steve was the only one who caught any fish, unfortunately for the rest of us.  We were glad to spend the time away from life and just enjoy nature!  And it was so much fun to spend the week with Ben & Chelsi's family!