Camping

So this year I decided I was finally brave enough to take the kids camping. It has always seemed so intimidating to think about how I could keep the kids safe while still having fun. I guess the fact that Dallin has a little more common sense, not much but a little more, convinced me that we could do it. My sister was taking her family for my nieces birthday, so we joined them. They decided to just go up Smithfield canyon since her hubby was going to have to travel back and forth to work. I have to say this was the perfect situation. My mom hates to sleep in a tent so she would go back to her house at night and took Ian with her. It was so nice not to have to worry about if he was going to be cold or him waking up and waking up the other kids.

We had such a great time. We went up Friday and came home Sunday. They kids had a great time exploring the canyon and even got to participate in my favorite activity as a kid, playing in the creek. The water was freezing cold, it is never so cold in my memories, but even Ian stuck his feet in. It brought back so many memories of my childhood. Many summer days were spent floating down this creek.

The kids also kept entertained by hiking and playing with play-doh.

Justin and my niece went up to the top of the mountain. Justin said that Katie didn't whine nearly as much as the 12 year old scouts. That's pretty good for a 10 year old girl.

Bevan and Hailey probably kept us the most entertained. They would take turns standing on a rock in the camp and give each other concerts. Then they would take all the chairs and line them up in a train. That train kept them entertained for hours. Everyone had to take a trip on the train.

Of course we had great fires at night and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Stephanie even introduced us to a new treat, roasted starburst. Which are very yummy, but very dangerous as can be witnessed by the giant blister on my toe.

The best part about camping so close to my mom's house was that on Saturday morning when it was pouring rain, we loaded up the car and went to her house to cook breakfast. Then after the rain stopped we headed back up the canyon to enjoy the perfect weather.

So we totally survived and had a lot of fun too. The kids can't wait until we can do it again. Maybe I would have made a better pioneer than I thought.