So one of my very favorite things is when all my kids get along.
I have 5 children. Andrew is 16, Brooke is 14, Anna is 12, Emily is 11, and Ian is 9. We are often with my friend Cyndie's family She has 4 children, Fantasia is 15, Zariah is 9, Audrina is 7 and little Lincoln just turned 15 months old. I will probably mention them often since I love them like they were mine too!
They all love each other, but man can they fight, and when the fighting stops,which is a rarety, the silence becomes one of my favorite things. Special things have to happen in just the right order for all bickering to cease. One event that can align all the mystical stars is hiking.
Even though school is not out quite yet, and spring has yet fully appear we decided to go hikimg. There is a place about 35 min south of our town called Red Cliffs. We have lived here for 16 years and never heard about this beautiful place. I saw some pictures and decided we had to check it out. True to form there was fighting while we packed the car, bickering during the drive, smart remarks as we disembark from the car. Rolling of eyes as we grabbed our backpacks and water bottles and tears as one of them realize they don't have water shoes... and then the miracle happened.
We started hiking on a trail and I could hear it. Laughs, chit chat, and playful racing off the main trail and back again. Even our little crier has stopped and is searching for lizards on the trail. It is the one time they help each other, carrying smaller ones and holding each others hands across the stream. Noone fights, pushes each other, or yells they hate me. it is truely a magical time. 
For hours we hiked and played in the water, We saw lizards, flowers, and even some anasazi ruins that were thousands of years old. And then on the drive home, everyone was so tired they slept. Heaven on earth! 
