Camping!

A few weeks ago we went camping with our dear friends and had... ummm... fun... really. :-) No, it was fun but we've learned what we are going to do differently next time. I didn't know that where we were going was going to take 4 hours to get there so when we finally pulled into a camp site... well, I don't think I can call it that... an area that was flatter than others... it was midnight. The kids were all asleep in the van, luckily, so Drostan and I tried to figure out where to set up the tent that would be the most flat and clearest spot. We were at the end of the road so I (yes, the naive to camping one) suggested we pitch it right there on the road. They have to take some of the fault though because they listened to me. hehehe It was nice and flat but SO dusty and everything was just a mess from the get go.


Drostan and Trevor were going scouting for their big goat/elk hunt coming up next week so after breakfast, they kissed us goodbye and couldn't have run out of there faster with bigger grins on their faces if they wanted to.

We had about 4 hours to kill so we decided to strap the babies on our backs and head out for some hiking. Jocelyn thought the hill/mountain right next to us looked like a fun conquest so we started up and had a tough time keeping up with the 5 and 7 year olds. They did amazingly well.

Here are Kyle, Dallin, Kamber, and Alaina

Megan did so well until we got to about 2/3 up the hill and then she was D.O.N.E! It ended up being a much steeper climb than we had thought and it was actually quite scary in several places but that fact that we had 7 kids to try to safely get off of this mountain, we put on our best happy Mom faces and tried to keep everyone's spirit's up. Poor Megan was so scared and so tired. She really did a great job for being only 3. It was a tough hike! I think if I didn't have Jaron on my back, I could have helped her more but I was trying to keep my balance and not fall off a cliff myself!

We found a little place that sort of leveled off by a tree and had a little snack before attempting to descend the mountain.

Luckily, we found a slightly different path that ended up being a bit better and while it took quite a while, it was not as tough as the ascent had been. We made it all in one piece with just a few scratches and lots of "pricklies" to show for it.

For the last hour we tried to keep the babies from eating dirt and the older kids from freaking out over the ENORMOUS flies. They did NOT believe they were not bees but we did survive.

Kyle trying being funny and Kamber thinking he's nuts.

The guys made it back just in time to see us finish packing everything up and we made the 4 hour drive back home.

Lesson's learned:
1. Don't leave at 7:30pm for a camping trip!
2. Never set up your tent on the road unless you really like dust on your toast... and clothes... and hair... and tent... and chairs... and .... you get the picture.
3. If you are going to attempt to climb the face of a mountain, make sure you have better shoes and more adults per child!


This next one does NOT do justice to how dirty Jaron got. He sure had fun though.

We still came out smiling though. Dallin found this log/branch and was so excited that he had found a "gun." He is totally his daddy's son!