Cottonwood Cabin with the Fakatou Family

 The Fakatous have been family friends of ours since... well, since before we were a family!  :) Briony, Tino, and I were all in the same ward at BYUH, and Malu was a great friend of Tino's since Tonga, and myself since freshman year at BYUH.  They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  And oddly, they have 3 little girls... just like us.

We had such fun (regardless of Kea's face) Hanging out, eating, hiking, exploring, and playing together.  Malu and Tino are a lot of fun to watch together, and GREAT Dads.

The cabin is Briony's parent's place, and they invited us along for a weekend visit.  Here Teisa and Kea play in the rec room.

The kids loved the freedom of exploring.  They called this area of fallen trees, 'the playground'.  It made me REALLY look forward to a day when we will have a yard that they can roam around in.

Roasting marshmallows with Teisa, Alisi, Kea, and Samara...

One of my FAVORITE parts... all the little gilrs tucked into bed in the bunkroom.  It reminded me of my mother's favorite children's book "The Bunny Book" when the daddy bunny tucked all his little bunnies into their bunk beds.  Briony is reading a bedtime story... a girly princess one of course.  :)

Nani and Teisa... I was afraid Nani would rollout of bed (she is accident prone) so I literally TUCKED her into bed using the sheets as a seat belt.  :)

So what do you do when your kids are content and happy playing with friends and nature?  You smile, and take a well deserved deep breath of fresh air.

We had such a nice time.   I hope to do it again next year... (hint, hint Fakatous!)