Weekend camping trip

In one last summer hurrah before school started, we went camping with two other families in our neighborhood this past weekend. One family with 4 boys, the other with 4 girls...all of the kids with ages very similar to each other and already good friends. Though we aren't really hardcore campers (hahaha! See our camping trip from last year...) and though Lilian and I would have to come up a little late because of our Disney trip, we decided it would be great fun and accepted the invite. Tony's Grove up Logan Canyon was the destination and what a beautiful camp site it was! Colorful wildflowers everywhere and a gorgeous little lake....clear and calm. We spent the weekend fishing, shooting and kayaking and had a blast!

This butterfly was found struggling in the water. It was rescued and given to a delighted Lilian...where it then was content to stay for the next 10 minutes or so until it dried out and flew away.

Kayaking was a big part of our trip. The kids all took turns paddling around the lake. Even the 3 moms got a chance to head out for a bit. At one point all 6 teenagers took the kayaks out...one driver, one passenger per kayak. They came back laughing and very wet (I think a tip-over was involved...) but it was fun to see them enjoying their time together.

Anthony, Daniel, Rebekah and Kirsten

Being the novice campers that we are, we still don't own a tent. Borrowing one was, I think, the plan (I was gone during packing and prep, remember) but somehow it didn't get done. Rebekah and Julianne had already made plans to share a tent with Kirsten and Taylor. When Lilian and I arrived, we were informed that Bryan and Brandon had been sleeping in the back of the truck. This is not the first time Bryan has camped out in the truck. (See here) With a big foam pad in the bottom and the cover over the top, the back of the truck makes a cozy, albeit sardine-like, bed. But for anyone who may struggle a bit with claustrophobia (me, me, me!!) it's less than ideal. Add to this, the news that mine and Lilian's sleeping bags had been left behind! (To this day, the girls are still blaming it on their Dad, and vice versa.) We rounded up some extra blankets and a pad and made a bed for Brandon on the back bench in the cab of the truck. The other two sleeping bags were zipped together and placed in the bed of the truck for Bryan, Lilian and myself to share. It was tight, and dark but it looked like it would work. We cracked the top for some air, I prayed mightily to stave off the claustrophobia and then shut my eyes tightly and went to sleep. It wasn't the best nights sleep by any stretch of the imagination but we did get some shut eye.

We awakened to a boom. Literally. 5:00 am we were subjected to an impressive thunder and lightning rain storm. Wow! We were all covered, we were all dry, we were all cozy...but we were a part of that big storm being out in nature like that with only a tent (or a truck bed) for protection. It was seriously AWESOME! I'm a big fan of summer thunder storms anyway, so this was really fun...even if it meant we weren't getting much sleep!

Back at camp...Daniel, Kirsten, Rebekah, Nick, Taylor, Julianne and Anthony

Bryan and Didi checking on the dutch oven chicken. We had quite the fancy dutch oven meal on Friday night....

Faith is a good 3 years older than Lilian but they got along really well and enjoyed playing together the whole trip.

The three couples....Bryan and Sarah, Didi and Curtis, Sarah and Blake (and Faith) :)

Brandon and Ben

We had such a good time with such great friends and there is already talk of making this an annual end of summer tradition.