Grateful for Friends and Family

I recently discovered a hiking trail near my house that I hadn't realized was there. It's a gorgeous area with a lot of history. I'm a goner for local history! My work is doing a Biggest Loser challenge and so a hike is organized for every weekend. This past Saturday we headed to the local trail near me. 

A couple of my co-workers brought their small babies and strollers so, unfortunately, we weren't able to do as long a hike as I wanted to (but I'm planning on doing it next week!). 

The story behind this area is that there were American Indians that lived here. There is a point (further from where we went on Saturday) where there are grooves in the rock where the stagecoaches were lowered by the horses. 

A couple of months ago we went on a guided tour of the area that gave us a lot of information on the area - I hope to go on another one soon!

In this next picture you can see an old truck that has basically melted into the ground. Since it's been there for more than 50 years they are unable to release it under state law (the area is a state park and is also designated as a historical area).

Nonetheless it was a nice 2 miles hike. Afterwards a coworker, my husband, and the kids headed to another local park where there are grapefruit and orange trees. They were having and open house of sorts where we could go and pick fruit for a small free ($5 for a big bag). I was a bad blogger and didn't get pictures (but my friend took a few).

After we were done picking fruit I went to see the Spongebob movie with the kids, their dad and my dad. We stopped for frozen yogurt afterward. 

My Saturday ended with a nice dinner out with Thomas...

On Sunday I did my usual weekend morning shopping trip with my mom and Nikki (my brother joined us this week). We went to Ralphs (Kroger), Wal*Mart, Big Lots, Costco, and Bed, Bath & Beyond and were home by 1:30pm! (This definitely helped me on the step goal, as of my writing of this on Sunday night, I have 15,811 steps for the day!). 

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up my house. It's not a dump, but things gets left in places week after week. My husbands' cousin and his wife (and 2 kids) were coming to dinner on Sunday night so I wanted to make sure to have the house cleaned up (and it was also an excuse to get Thomas to help me get things in order). I should take pictures now that the house is all clean! 

We had a great time with the his family. Thomas grilled steaks, I made broccoli, and they brought some mashed potatoes. After dinner we played a round of Quirkle before they headed out for the night. 

So this Monday I am thankful for my family, Thomas' family and for our friends. I had a great busy weekend and I wouldn't have it any other way!