Jay has had a really rough week and I’m glad it’s almost finished. His little bit of sick turned into Bronchitis that really knocked him down. It’s the worst I’ve seen him but he is back to work today and feeling about 95%.

On his worst day he found out a close friend of his, who he has known for probably 20 years, passed away. We still don’t have many details but we know he hadn’t been doing all that well recently. I don’t know how old he was but he fought in WWII. I’m sad he wasn’t able to make it to the wedding so I could have met him. His family is not having a service but will later have a Celebration of Life where his friends and family can get together. It’s what my sister chose to do when her husband passed and it was truly wonderful.

We are both happy it’s Friday and although we had a full day hike planned without the kids we’ve changed that in light of Jay being sick. Instead we will probably hit up Valley of Fire and spend the day doing short hikes and chasing the local chipmunks. After being inspired by Becky's amazing photography I’ve decided my goal for the day is to get some really great shots of my boys. Hopefully they will agree to that as well.

They are super excited for our first camping trip of the year over Easter weekend. Two years ago Easter we took our first ever family camping trip and decided we wanted that to be a family tradition. It didn’t work out last year but we’ll make up for it this year. We have a permit reserved to hike Coal Pits Wash (lovely name huh) just outside of Zion National Park. We will ‘camp by the car’ as Buddy prefers the first night, then hike down the trail to ‘camp away from the car’ as Sport prefers. I need to buy some little toys and things to hide in the Easter eggs still. Better do that this weekend.

This weekend I’m going to remember to check the camera battery and the memory card. Checked the battery last time but only noticed the memory card wasn’t in about halfway through the day. Nice. Didn’t lose anything though, just some general scenery shots so no big deal.

Oh, and my kitchen is finally done being painted! I did the dining area about three weeks ago and most of the kitchen but I finally finished it up last Sunday. I love, love, love it and am so happy it’s done. It’s green now instead of dirty white. Next job is to paint the cabinets white and get some hardware. That is so far down the road though, but I’m happy with the update now.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.