Camping

This past weekend we went camping. Yes, you read that right. We, the family of Bryan and Sarah, voluntarily spent Wednesday through Sunday at Yellow Pine Campground up in the high Uintah Mountains roughing it with all of Bryan's family....18 kids and 10 adults. Special thanks goes out to Treg and Carolyn who not only planned the great majority of the trip but also cooked most of the food. Bryan and I had only one assignment (besides showing up)....to bring makings for s'mores. Knowing that we'd never camped before...they didn't dare assign us much. We didn't even own a tent. Carolyn and Treg graciously allowed us the use of theirs seeing as they had recently bought a tent trailer. Because of my Grandma Adele's funeral, I wasn't able to come up till Friday. But the rest of the family headed out Wednesday afternoon and when I showed up the kids had numerous stories of fun experiences to share with me.

Sunday afternoon before heading home we took a few minutes to take a big group picture. Do we look appropriately dirty and worn out?

Picture proof that we indeed went camping! Crazy kids making crazy faces! I especially smiled at Lilian...she makes that face often.
Elizabeth, Kaitlyn, Aaron, Rebekah, Lilian, Julianne, Lara and Megan.

It was hot, Hot, HOT during the day. But this river was cold, Cold, COLD. The combination of the two was just about perfect and we had a great time splashing and playing in the water.

Lynn and Carol bought these 4-wheelers a bit ago and hauled them up for all of us to play on. I'd never driven one before and was a little nervous at first. It didn't take long, though, before I was thoroughly enjoying speeding up the dirt path. Bryan had to remind me to slow down a bit so I could "enjoy the journey." Because it really was gorgeous scenery. Towering pine trees, trickling rivers...just beautiful.

Love this picture of Julianne. She actually has more experience than I do driving these 4-wheelers around. I let her drive for a bit on the way down the mountain. (Shhh....she didn't have a license....)

One of my favorite things about the trip? Sharing a tent as a family. It was like a big slumber party. I really enjoyed peeking over the edge of my cot at four sweet little heads peeking out of sleeping bags. Also enjoyable, interestingly enough, listening to the wind blow through the tops of the trees as I fell asleep.

Each morning Lilian would wake up...yawn, stretch and then proclaim, "It's a sunny day!" I think it was her way of letting us know it was time to get up and get moving.

On our final night Bryan and the kids collected oodles and tons of pine cones to fill the fire pit for a massive bonfire. It was all sorts of impressive and the kids had a great time putting it together. Carolyn pulled out glow sticks for each of the kids and Lynn and Carol took the kids on a "parade"...all of the kids skipping around the campground waving their glow sticks around. I tell you, it was better than sparklers and a perfect way to celebrate teh 24th of July and the end of our camping trip.

Kevin, Daniel, Rebekah and Megan.

Daniel, Lynn, Aaron, Lara, Julianne, Lilian and Andrew roasting marshmallows for those s'mores I was officially in charge of.

Rebekah and Jordan spent a lot of time fishing. Although they didn't catch anything while I was there, rumor has it that both Rebekah and Jordan had much better luck earlier in the week, each catching a fish a piece. The trout Jordan caught was even big enough to eat.This picture is deceiving. It was rare that Lilian just sat still like this. She wanted to explore and run. Which meant two things. One, that we had to have eyes on her 24/7 to make sure she didn't wander off. And two, she fell a lot. Her knees are scraped and bruised. Her hands have cuts and sores. But after wiping away blood and tears she would give a watery smile and take off running again.

Lilian and Lara.