"CAMPOUT" (said with the enthusiasm of Sandlot)

This last weekend we went to Mirror Lake up in the beautiful Uintah Mountains. The kids had been looking forward to it for WEEKS. They carefully planned what they were going to do (play in the fire, make s'mores, play in the fire, go to the lake, and maybe play in the fire) and spent the entire day of departure staring out the window waiting for Daddy to come home from work so we can go. Thursday evening at 5:45 we were off on our adventure until Sunday. A full 4 days of being completely unplugged (no reception), pit toilets, no sinks, and focusing on nothing but playing and enjoying time with each other. We snagged the perfect site: rocks throw to the bathroom (not so close that we had to deal with the smell and constant traffic), rocks throw to the creek, short walk to the lake) Since it was our first campout with little kiddos (aside from little overnight ones with our ward)this was a campout of many lessons. So here's a break down of what we learned:
1. Packing the car the night before so you can take off soon after hubby arrives home from work is a great idea. Not so great idea, putting food in the car the night before as the car turns into an oven during the day. (I was smart enough to wait to load the coolers until right before we go but had some melted snacks)
2. When making the master list of every knick knack you could possibly need, and rechecking it several times over again, don't forget to add, "Cash for campsite", or at least check your checkbook to make sure it's not empty.
No electricity, middle of nowhere means no credit card capabilities (Knew that, just didn't think it through)
3. After driving clear back to town to get said cash, make sure the cashier gives appropriate change. If not, once you're 40 min back to your campsite and attempt to pay for the 3 nights, you just might realize you've been shorted $10 and have to drive back to town yet again
4. Mosquitoes have the ability to leave ENORMOUS welts on poor, unsuspecting little boys (they don't seem to care much about repellent) we're talking lumps that stick a good 2 inches off the back of heads.
-Sublesson, camping with a shaved head is like a honing beacon to mosquitoes.
Tavita definitely had the worst of it.
5. Rainclouds are a pretty good indicator of rain. Don't row to the middle of the lake with those looming over your head or you just might find your self stuck in the middle of a hailstorm with now respite.
- Tavita is able to make incredible disgusted faces and kept yelling at the hail
to get off of him and leave him alone. Yet being the determined bugger he is
kept asking to row the boat causing us to go absolutely NOWHERE.
- Brayden kept asking me to get out and pull the boat to shore. Also made it very
clear he wished it was DADDY he was stuck out in the middle of the lake with
because DADDY is much stronger than me and would get us to shore faster.
- We were all VERY cold after that. Didn't feel thawed until I snuggled into my
sleeping bag that night.
6. Mummy bags aren't meant for 2 people, even if that 2nd person is a little 1-year old girl refusing to sleep in her pack n play in the middle of a strange place.
7. Scaredy-cat dog is more than willing to occupy the vacated pack n play rather then being stuck outside in the dark barking at every shadow and snap of a twig. (luckily that only lasted one night)
8. Should your firewood get soaked in rain and hail storms (as did ours on several occasions) simply heat up some coals, lay wood over firepit, let smoke dry wood and you'll have a snapping, hot fire in no time.
9. Boys can be fully entertained camping so long as there is a fire. Took naps in the day, played in the night.
10. Glowsticks are an AMAZING way of keeping track of kids (and pitch black dog) at night. They love playing with them and you can spot them anywhere.
11. When going camping at a lake that is known for it's fishing (they were jumping nonstop on the lake) it might be a good idea to REMEMBER the fishing pole.
12. Bring games to play for times when your stuck in your tent during rainstorms. If not, children are perfectly happy with a wrestling match.
13. A good way to get your stubborn daughter to walk is stick her among a bunch of rocks where crawling is not an option. She's been off an running ever since.
14. It is possible to consume unbelievable amounts of hot chocolate given the appropriate temperatures (just because your hitting high 90's at home, a short drive can put you in a world of different weather)
15. A leisurely walk around the lake (about 1 mile) would normally take maybe 15-29 minutes. With 2 curious, adventurous little boys it takes more around 2-3 hours.
16. Bringing 3 pair of footwear per child does not guarantee you will have something dry and unmuddied to put on your child's feet (puddles and creeks are just to irresistible)
17. Powdered donuts will make Kalei happy no matter the cirumstance.
18. One of the boys favorite parts of camping is the endless supply of junkfood.
19. Dirt, bugs, piles of wood and rocks are all that's needed for a successful trip.
20. Despite the rain and cold and other hiccups, spending a few days in an unbelievably beautiful place will always make for a great time. The boys are already planning our trip for next year.
Now be prepared for a barage of pictures:
The boys setting up the tent

Lei had no idea where we were or what we were doing, but she liked it!

And what the boys had been waiting for...the 1st fire

Chowin some breakfast

Lei in heaven. Her 2 favorite things...powdered donuts and her best friend

The boys on their "castle". So glad this was in our site, it provided much entertainment

The canoe on it's maiden voyage

A speck amongst granduer

Lei Lei's turn. She wanted to row and was a bit put out that she couldn't.

Our hike around the lake. Note we have the dog carrying all our stuff so we could walk burden free!

It really was very pretty up there!


Who can spot Kalei?!? She had a HORRIBLE time falling asleep, would do really well until about 4:30 then wound up with me. The first night, she had NOTHING to do with the pack n play at all.

Despite it all, she always woke up happy!

Who says you can't build a fire and hold a baby at the same time?

If it's not all over the place it doesn't belong in your face! (and yes, she started EVERY morning with donuts)

One of our many helpings of hot chocolate

Vita's poor mauled head. This picture does NO justice. I have never seen anything like it. The bump was HUGE!

No he hadn't spent a lot of time in the sun. All the red and swelling is from bites.

We're going on a bug hunt, gonna catch us a bug.

I love watching these two together. He ADORES her.

Brayden huntin us some dinner.

Cookin up Brayden's kill

Kickin back with a cold one

Lei fanning the fire.

What would camping be without SMORES!

Brayden won for biggest gusher. He was a MESS when all was said and done.

Fun with glow sticks. For some reason the wanted them to wrap around their noses and head instead of necks.

Wake-up Daddy!!!

Brayden also won for tallest bedhead

It's raining out? Okay, we'll just hang in here an wrestle.

Burnt wood is a great way to turn little boys into Indian warriors!

Tavita finally got brave and took on crossing the ominous Log of Death.

Being young and carefree!

This was my FAVORITE pic of the trip. I showed it to Junior and he just started laughing. His response, "Kalei looks like Theodore off of Chipmunks and it looks like we pumped Tavita's head full of steroids." Poor kid really got hit hard from those darn skeeters! We just laughed harder the more we look at the picture.

4th of July

I LOVE the 4th! It has been my favorite holiday ever since I can remember. When I was a little girl I looked forward with great anticipation to our yearly family bashes. I have so many great memories of BBQs, swimming, fireworks, and every other great thing that comes with this holiday. As I grew older my love for this country and appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy deepened making me love this day all the more. Yes, I'm one of those that always tears up during the anthem, or as the flag is being presented by those in uniform.
One thing I have to hand to Provo is the way the celebrate Independance Day. They go ALL OUT! Festivities last for over a month with different cultural celebrations, honors, tours etc. There's a 3-day festival with rides, activities, vendors and more. It's all capped off with a giant parade then at night the have a huge to-do at the football stadium, with big name performers and mega fireworks show. We have yet to go there because it's a bit pricey and we don't want to put out the expense when there are 3 little ones jeapordizing wether or not we'd actually be able to stay for it all. However, we love sitting up on our roof (the boys look forward to it all year)and watching the fireworks.
Since the 4th fell on a Sunday, the celbrations were split between Saturday and Sunday. Stadium of Fire was on Saturday, the parade was on Monday and everything else was Friday Saturday and Monday. It was kind of nice having it spread out but the kids were POOPED by the end of partying all weekend.
For those of us that are too cheap to pay to go to Stadium of Fire, our neighborhood puts on Cul-de-sac of Fire. We have a potluck dinner, a dessert competition, some activities for the kids and then everyone starts popping fireworks.
Enjoying the feast

Who couldn't love the 4th when you get a popscicle in each hand!

The start of the water balloon launch. It started out with the moms gently lobbing them a short distance for the kids to try to catch.

Then the men took over. Chairs were pulled out, people were sitting on the ground to get full leverage, and they were being launched out of the circle, kids were running in the street (the unbaricaded part) and to the houses across teh street trying to catch the suckers. I was just waiting for one of the kids to get pelted or a window to be smashed, but all escaped with no injury or damage

Tavita with his beloved fireworks. He'd sit and stare at them for days, begging me to light some. Funny thing was, once they started popping, he was walking around covering his ears, yet fully mesmorized

Julie Roper schooling the kids on appropriate firework safety. (if you're under 8 stick the sparklers, men don't blow your hands off which they about did when the busted out some cardboard boxes and black powder. It was heard for miles around)

Lei Lei may look scared to death but in reality she's very frustrated with Jandi for not letting her grab the scorching hot sparkler

Desperately trying to get 4 kids with all their sparklers lit in one picture, didn't work to well.

Kalei's new crush. Whenever she sees Jeremy she lurches at him. She's even got the flirting down, she kept grabbign his hat and putting it on her head

After partying with everyone, we headed home to the roof and watched the show

We spent Sunday talking about why we celebrate Independance Day and relaxing, trying to recover from the previous night and gearing up for the next day.
The boys also got to go for a ride on the golf cart our neighbors use to chauffer people around the parade. That was the highlight of their Sunday. We LOVE "Beebees" aka Rachel.

Monday we were up at the crack of dawn for the Balloon Festival. This is such a fun event there are tons of balloons setting up at the same time, and launch at the same time. It's so cool to watch.
Balloons filling up with air getting ready to launch. It was fun to gor right up to them blowing their torches, looking up inside the balloons etc.

Ready for take off

Kalei had the disgruntled look the entire time we were there. She couldn't figure out why we wre sitting in the middle of a field, in the cold at 6 am when she could be snuggled in her bed.

This balloon went up a little ways first so we could say the pledge. The flag got flipped around from the wind, but it worked

Here's a fraction of the balloons taking off

After the balloons launched, we continued our way to the parade. People camp out the night before to reserve their spots. They totally set up house on the side of the road and party all night long. We were fortunate enough to have an awesome neighbor who does catering for the VIPs of the parade so she gets tickets for reserved seats on some bleachers the set up.
We happily skipped by all those in sleeping bags, couches and all sorts of other things just minutes before the parade began and took our seats on the nice shaded bleachers.
Lei enjoying the show

The boys didn't care one bit about the nice seats. They wanted to sit in front on the street where the candy was being thrown, so while everyone else enjoyed the comfort we squished on the ground, in the sun, front and center!

After the parade we continued even farther down the road to the Freedom Festival. The boys LOVE all the bouncers they have set up, they also had Scales and Tails there letting the kids hold snakes and pet even bigger ones, face painting (we were to impatient to wait in line), crafts, and colonial activites (candle making, looking at muskets etc).


We wrote letters to soldiers.
Then the boys got to try their hand at sawing logs (okay they took a couple strokes then we did the rest, I think Jr and I have a future in the logging industry) then some nice men branded them.


We were to cheap to pay for rides, there was plenty of free stuff to more than occupy their time.
I'd say the kids enjoyed their weekend, what do you say?

Happy 4th of July!!!