First Camping Trip

Last weekend we went to Cherry campground up Hobble Creek Canyon. There are only a few campgrounds open at this time of year and this is one of them. It is a first come, first serve deal. So I drove up there at 2p to make sure we got a spot, since with waiting for Jon to get home from work, all the sites would probably be full. It was a good thing I did that, because all the other spots were occupied with trailers, tents, and fires when we all got up there about 6:30p. Lots of people drove through hoping to find a spot, but alas they had to move on.



Max was hanging out here, leaning back and making noises. His personality has really started to come out in the last month. It is so fun to see and to play with him. We went to the store a couple day before the camping trip to make sure we had everything we needed. Max needed a sleeping back and we needed a tarp for our bigger tent. A few years ago I got Zac a little lantern and I knew Max would need one. I was very happy to find one very similar to Zac's. I gave to Max to hold at the store and he LOVED it. He knew it was for him and he was so excited to have it. Then when we got home he loved to carry it around.


Oh, did I mention, Max is walking now as his main mode of transportation. It is so fun to watch. I know lots of people would prefer their kids to start walking a little later because they stay out of stuff. But I personally like when my kids walk. They have more confidence and are more mobile and self-sufficent to a point. I love to just watch him walk in from the other room with a big smile on his face-its so cute!


We had beef stew for dinner-easy and pretty good.

S'mores-yum
This is Max's first s'more. He loved it!
I was surprised at how warm the evening stayed-but the morning was VERY cold. Before I get to morning. There was night. . . We brought the port-a-crib hoping Max would sleep soundly. Last year we went to the ward campout and he was all over in his little spot and wouldn't keep blankets on so I expected the crib to help with that. And I think it would have if he were asleep...

We put Max to bed about first. It wasn't very dark. He wouldn't lay down as he saw us out of the tent. So Jon went in to play with him and cuddle. After 10 mins or so he was ready to go in the crib. And he fell asleep pretty quickly. Then about 30 mins later we had Zac go to bed. He didn't fall asleep right away. And a few hours after falling asleep he woke up crying b/c he had to pee.
(Its nice to have boys, just hold him outside the tent with his pants down. . .no going to the outhouse in the middle of the night :D )

Then he went back to sleep and was quiet for the rest of the night. I really felt like I was only half asleep up to that point. Then shortly after that, Max started to toss and turn and whine. I didn't want him to wake up Zac and I was worried that he was cold so I brought him in to my sleeping bag. But he didn't go to sleep. I have NO idea how long it was. I was in and out of sleep while Max laid by me awake. It seemed to take FOREVER for the sky to get lighter to show some sign of the morning that I longed for. Finally, it started to get light and Max fell asleep just before I started to smell pee and realized that he had leaked out of his diaper, and his 3 layers of clothes were all wet. So I decided rather than have him sleep in the pee next to me, I would wake him up and change his diaper and clothes. All better...except he didn't fall back to sleep. Then Zac woke up and they wanted to play, while staying in the sleeping bags because it was sooo cold! Max got out of the bag and crawled around the tent and quickly realized it is much better in the sleeping bag! So I cuddled him to warm him back up and he fell asleep in like 2 mins. But that was short lived as Zac woke him up like 15 min later? I don't really know again, I was in and out of sleep the whole time, trying to keep Max warm while staying down in the sleeping bag and continually adjusting Zac's sleeping bag so he would be warm. Jon was trying to sleep through all this with his lower back in a hole.

Then Jon got up and made us a fire, and boiled water for Hot Cocoa and Cider.

This is our tired and cold family. Luckily, the sun didn't take too long to come over the mountain to help keep us warm.


Max is very wiggly. Always climbing all over things and figuring things out. But not this morning. He was sooooo tired and this is how he spent most of the morning.


Zac helping Daddy make pancakes
Zac enjoying his handy work

When Max saw Jon after getting out of the tent. He wanted his daddy so bad!! He would not have me! It was so weird at how upset he was. When Jon wasn't holding him.

Two years ago, 2007 we happened to be at this exact same camp site. This is a picture from Zac during that trip. I was in my first or second trimester with Max. I remembered about this pictures so I attemped to recreate it.

2007
2009
It was really funny. Because the beany Max is wearing was Zac's. But Max wanted to wear it and Zac didn't so when Zac got cold I told him to wear this one. Which he did not want to. But when I told him that I wanted to take a picture of him like that last time we were there. He was all excited about it. And then proceeded to pose funny faces for me to take more pictures. They are pretty good faces!




Then we went on a walk around the campground and went to look at the river

Max is soo tired!!

Even though the night was hard. We still had a great time. I really like to be out in nature. I love camp fires and ironically enough I like eating camping food (even though I tend to be particular about my food). As long as I have enough padding under my sleeping bag and I am warm, then its not too bad to not sleep well. It just fun to be outside too!

Sorry for the eternal post, but I liked a lot of these pictures! I hope it wasn't to boring.

And thanks Callie for letting me borrow your camera ;)!