Cocoa and Shooting Stars

We just got back from a family trip to Arches National Park. Some of my favorite memories included . . .

. . . seeing some incredible sandstone arches up close. When you're standing right under an arch, it looks both more awesome and more fragile because you can see all the cracks and places where slabs of rock have fallen away. One fellow hiker at the North Window Arch commented, "Yeah, this thing's coming down any minute . . . geologically speaking."

. . . seeing lots of chipmunks.

. . . sharing jokes and memories with my parents and siblings.

. . . stargazing together and watching for shooting stars.

. . . Anna sleeping for hours at a stretch in her little Moses basket. Thanks, Mih-mih.

. . . drinking lots of cocoa.

. . . hanging out with my brother Andrew (he lives out of state, so I don't get to see him often), and talking with him about his big vegetable garden. I had no idea he even had a garden until he handed me a jar of homemade jalapeno jam.

. . . eating Papa's Dutch Oven cherry cobbler.

. . . my parents watching the kids while Phillip and I hiked around the Windows on our own. It was nice to be able to talk without interruptions and hike at our own pace. And smooch a lot.

. . . sleeping in on Saturday morning while the family played with Joy and Daniel. Sweet bliss.