Camping

We have been itching to go camping all summer and finally made it happen this Labor Day. Actually we went two different times!
The first time we went with Matthew's parents. They had last minute plans to go up into the Uintas right on the border of Utah and Wyoming.  It  was a small campground with little cabins and real bathrooms (woohoo!)  The cabins had heat too which was great since it was chilly the whole time we were there.

We went 4-wheeling up in the mountain trails. It was so pretty and super steep sometimes too.  We also had to ride through several huge mud puddles so we were pretty covered when we got back.

The kids had so much fun playing with sticks and rocks and just exploring.  It was so nice to be outside in nature.

 Found this huge pile of branches.  Austin and his cousin Aaron spend a good hour or so throwing sticks into the pile or pretending the pile was a bad guy/monster and fighting it with sticks :)

Kensley and Declan spend a good deal of time "fixing" the broken trees.

We also went canoeing.  I was worried that we would tip over but it was great!  The kids were excited and nervous to be riding in a boat.  They are the two little blobs in the middle of the canoe.  

Our second camping experience was a little more rugged.  Our ward was putting on the camp out.  We showed up and it's just an empty space for tents.  No facilities or anything.  Which is fine, but I was grateful it was only for one night!  We were also 1 of 4 families that came up to spend the night!

We love our ginormous tent!  

 After roasting smores and exploring the campsite with flashlights Austin asked "When are we going to bed?"  He thinks going to sleep in the tent is the best part about camping. So here we are reading books and putting kids to bed.  Not sure why Kensley is giving that face!

We only had three sleeping bags so we gave the kids 2 of them and Matthew and I slept on an air mattress and laid the third sleeping bag over both of us.  Bad idea.  We froze all night.  I checked the kids and they were both toasty warm curled up with blankets and sleeping bags.  Not us.  I fell asleep with numb toes, woke up about 20 times in the night with numb toes and got up in the morning with numb toes.  No amount of cuddling warmed us up either. Matthew got up about 6:30 to make a fire because he was so cold.  Needless to say Matthew and I slept horribly.  But both the kids slept all night. Next time, we will be sure to get enough sleeping bags for everyone!

We got in our camping itch and I'm so glad we did.  They kids love it and do really well and we love getting away too.