David and Lieve are getting married this summer! Hooray! They are getting married in Belgium, but wanted to celebrate with some of their Colorado and Salt Lake friends, so they picked a midpoint to do so: Moab, one of their favorite places. We were happy they invited us and quickly said yes, as we love spending time with them and we love Moab! We shared in renting a cabin in the beautiful La Sal mountains, with four other families. We had a wonderful time with all, exercising, talking, playing games, eating and resting.
We realized that we had not seen David and Lieve for over 1 1/2 years, so everybody was excited to see the changes in the boys. Here is the first meeting (in real life it wasn't as blurry). Spencer is taller than Lieve (join the short club) and nearly as tall as David (join the nearly short club with Mark). Though it looks like Spencer is taller than both, he's stretching a bit. Or David is shrinking.
After a bagel/cream cheese/omlette breakfast, we went on a great hike to fisher towers, which is east of Moab. It was a perfect day for a hike, not too hot, and cloudy enough for sun protection. We thought we were only going to hike for 2.3 miles, but it ended up 4.something.
Spencer, David, Lieve, D.J., Mark, Stephen and Jenny.
James's pack started leaking and I just couldn't refuse a picture. Hee hee!
There is just something amazing walking among structure such as these. The world is an amazing place. What's almost as amazing is that there were rock climbers climbing these things!
Two of my favorite shots on the hike. Cactus flowers and the Colorado River winding through the landscape.
I also just had to include the picture of the trail end because I was the only one who saw it. It was much farther than 2.3 miles and we thought we would be at the end after every turn, but I hit a groove and walked ahead until I found it. It's a good thing there is a sign marking the trail end, or I might have walked off a cliff! I realized as I got back to the trailhead that I should've taken a selfie with the sign, just to confirm that is was me taking the picture. You'll just have to trust me.
David helped James see through a window we found in the rock, walking back to the trailhead.
David was the only merciful hiker toward James at the end of the hike. He gets the Uncle of the year award for giving James a piggie-back ride and listening to the boys talk about Clash of Clans ALL THE WAY THERE AND ALL THE WAY BACK.
This is a great family picture (thanks Dave), although slightly depressing for me as I am clearly at a height right in between Spencer and D.J. (and I'm standing on higher ground!).
Saturday night was the big party where more of David's and Lieve's friend gathered to celebrate their upcoming nuptuals. We were entertained by stories about how David and Lieve met and how their engagement came about. Sweet stories indeed!
Sunday was rainy in the La Sal mountains, so all Mountain biking was cancelled. But we decided to meet Stephen and Jenny in Moab for lunch at the Blu Pig, a visit to the rock shop where we all bought souvenir rocks ("Hey, Lisa, if you scratch my back, I'll but you any rock you want." - Mark)
We followed up the Rock Shop with a river side walk. Stephen gets another Uncle of the Year award for first, suggesting that he give Spencer, SPENCER, a piggy back ride, and then actually attempting to do it! Spencer ended up getting dumped on his face and laughter ensued.
After we returned to the cabin, Spencer wanted to go find the pond with the canoes. It was still sprinkling a little bit, but not enough to impede us. David showed us the way on the "Shot gun trail" and we came to a pond with a paddle boat and a canoe. It started raining a little harder, but that didn't stop the boys from playing bumper boat.
Then it started hailing. Just to memorialize it, I made my poor husband go out from under the protection of the little fishing shelter so I could take a picture.
The hot tub was probably one of the most favorite activities, rain or shine. James ended up in the hot tub with the two girls Erica and Emma (5 and 8) one day and when he came in he told me that they were playing imagination with him. He said they were imagining him to be an animal and they listed all these "girlie" animals. But then they chose him to be a dolphin and he was ok with that because a dolphin is the second smartest animal in the world. Whew!
Another favorite "game" to play with the girls was to hide their stuffed animals or keep them hostage. This was fun for them, but in the end was put to a stop as my ear drums couldn't take it anymore. Along the line of games, David and Lieve played a new board game with the boys Sunday night and all had fun. We are glad Lieve will be in the family!
By the way, I bow at Lieve's feet. She took it upon herself to make her own wedding dress. Just to make sure she could do it, she made a mock dress. The dress she is wearing in the picture above is the mock dress. You can't see all the detail, but I and everyone else was and is impressed! AND the tie David is wearing is also hand-crafted by Lieve, made from the same material as the dress. Did I also mention she is a microbiologist? AND, on the morning of this photo shoot (there were other people there with better cameras than my lowly iphone), she went out with wet hair and it dried beautifully in the great outdoors. Had I done the same, my pictures would have prompted people to make donations. Just one more thing on the amazing list of Lieve!
The next Uncle and Aunt of the Year award goes to Stephen and Jenny. They took the boys on a hike while we rode 30 miles to Potash and back. It was a perfect day, around 70 degrees and it looked like this:
That little spot down the road is Mark, he is usually ahead of me (in many ways) and I have to pedal hard to keep up with him (in many ways). I love sharing one more aspect of life with him.
All in all, we had a relaxing, invigorating, entertaining, mind-stimulating, educational, and just plain fun time. It's good spending time with the Astlings!
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