Family Campout

We have really wanted to go camping as a family, but with Steve's wierd schedule, it is hard to find a time. We have even bugged his parents into letting us clean out and use their old pop up trailor. It has been sitting for a few years, and just needed a few things like tires and registration. Steve put a hitch on our van, and we were ready to go, Steve just needed to find a few days off in a row.

Without much notice or preparation, he finally had two days off in a row, so last minute, we decided to go close to home. We packed, got the trailor from his parents, and headed to a near by canyon. It was so late when we got there, that the kids were already asleep. But, before thir eyes completely closed, we got to watch a small deer for a minute. The deer was completely unfazed by our pressence. His ears would just perk up every few minutes as we did a full circle around him (with the trailor) to turn around. At one time, I think Steve was almost close enough to reach his hand out and touch him, almost, but not quite. The picture is bad because it was so dark and we were moving, but still cool.

We stayed for two days, and were close enough to home, that one morning, I got up and went to work while the family stayed there. We were also so close that my parents were able to come up and have dinner with us. Can I just tell you how good this dinner was? My hubby made BBQ ribs in our new dutch oven. He did such a good job. We had corn on the cob in our fire pit, and my parents brought up rolls and dessert. It was so nice to sit up there and enjoy the breeze, relax, and share good times and memories with family.The girls loved sleeping in the pop up, running around in the dirt, and eating dough nuts and chocolate milk every morning. They got in lots of hikes and exporing, and plenty of getting dirty. Roasting marshmellows is a must, and Steve spolied them by letting them watch movies in bed on the portable dvd player, just relaxing and having a good time without worries.

I think we learned a few things like don't set up camp in the dark, go to a paid site (we had people driving by at all hours, even at 4 in the morning), so hopefully less traffic and less gun shots (we heard 13 between 1 and 2 am), and less partying. It was nice in the day, kind of scary at night. At one time, Steve turned to me (kidding) and said "should I go get the cops, but if I leave, you'd be too scared." No sleep happened for the two of us, but we still really had a nice time. I hope we are making good memories for the girls and they can remember the times we get to spend together as a family. I think I just sat outside for awhile, looked at nature, enjoyed the breeze on my face, and just thought about how grateful I am to Heavenly Father for all my blessings. I feel closer to Him out in nature and I hope my girls did too!