Camping Trip

Natalie is very independent

Our quaint campsite

We successfully went camping with all 6 kids. Whew! It was a lot of work, I think at one point I was begging Jason to go home with my mind, but so worth it!! For those of you who like a quick list as much as I do, here are some major events:

1. Natalie discovered s'mores and introduced them to my clothes.
2. Eli tried real solids for the first time, peach flavored rice puffs. I ate half the can on the way home.
3. Jas successfully lit the fire with only 2 matches.
4. We made our own hot dog roasting sticks.
5. Natalie hiked almost the whole way to the "Grotto" herself, and then I had to drag her away, kicking and screaming. She loves water.
6. Ben shared everything he learned in scouts so far with us.
7. The kids found Waldo about 507 times.
8. We drove the whole Nebo loop and got some amazing pictures!
9. Stargazing at night, just me and Jas.
10. Our camping spot fronted a giant open field where the kids discovered animals, room to run, and-Ben swears- a skeleton that came to life and tried to chase him!

We left Friday morning and stopped on the way up to hike to the grotto. Natalie kept trying to get out of my arms and down to the trail. During the last half, she was determined to get down into the water. She probably would have jumped and cheered when I took her shoes off if she knew how.

It took us a while to find a campsite. We didn't want to be to close to other people. In the end, we found a spot with onsite water that fronted a giant empty field that gave the kids a lot of entertainment and the campfire a lot of nice dry wood. We roasted hot dogs for dinner and s'mores for dessert. And then, as soon as the tent was cool enough the kids were excited to get in the tent and read together. We all took turns reading Harry Potter out loud and then hit the sack.

It took Natalie about 2 1/2 hours to fall asleep and Jason and I forgot to get mattresses for ourselves but it was still the best night's sleep I've had in about a month. We were kept awake for a while by a BYU ward and an eager Elder doing PPI's while walking around our tent. He returned later with a girl to flirt with. Finally, around 1 a.m. I had Jason ask them to talk somewhere else. He was surprised to find our tent sitting a few yards from him. ??? One line Jason heard from the couple was: "Hey, I know, let's talk about something deep....your bone marrow! Yeah, tell me about your bone marrow!" I am soooo glad I'm not single anymore.

The next day we packed up and drove the rest of the nebo loop, stopping on the way to test our 4-wheel drive, take pictures, and visit Devil's Kitchen. We're so glad we did it! Next year, we hope we can go for more than one night.