Ward Campout

We love camping.  In theory...  I love nature, campfires, hanging out with my family away from all the distractions.  I don't love sleeping on hard surfaces, being cold, having to use the bathroom at 2 am when the bathroom is a ways away, mosquitoes, or tent sleeping with a toddler.  Or the packing.

That being said, it had been a few years since we camped and it was on my bucket list for this summer.  Luckily the ward planned a campout so we had a good reason and less work since they were cooking for us.

The camping spot was quite the drive.  It was land owned by our bishop's employer?  Something like that.  It was a really nice area!  The BEST thing- even with all that water, we didn't get eaten by mosquitoes!!

It was fun hanging out with friends, letting the kids play with friends.  Ryan and Dylan started a fire in our camp spot, and they ended up using it as the gathering spot for a little message from the bishop.

That was all fun.  Then the not-fun part came.  Getting the kids to sleep.  I didn't pack warm enough pajamas for Kaden.  I underestimated how cold it would get.  And he refuses to keep a blanket on him.  So I was stressing about him all night.  I kept checking on him.  He had also drank soda before bed.  So he woke up crying and wouldn't just go back to sleep.  When I reached for him to feel if he was ice cold, I felt he had leaked through his diaper.  I had no back-up pajamas, no extra blanket.  So I changed him (while he cried because he was so tired and now freezing without clothes) and pulled him onto my cot, in my sleeping bag.  Let me just say, those cots are not meant for more than one person, even if one of them is a toddler.  It was bad.  Plus, I had all his trains in there with us because he has to sleep with them, his favorite one especially.  I was all stuffed up with my sinus stuff still, and any part of me that wasn't covered by the sleeping bag was ice cold.  I did not plan to sleep any more.  I was trying my best to keep Kaden's bare legs covered.  Anyway, I did eventually fall asleep and warm up a little.  But I was sure tired!  Ryan snapped this picture when everyone was getting up and I was choosing to ignore them.  Look at how cute he is!

The strangest thing happened that morning.  I was obviously dead tired.  And I heard the kids (who were zipped into the other side of the tent so we couldn't actually see them, just hear them) start to bug each other.  I heard Kylee telling Dylan to stop, I heard Sadie whining a little.  I was waiting for the screaming to start.  But instead...  They busted out laughing!  And they wrestled around and laughed.  I kept waiting for the screaming to start, but it didn't.  It was a miracle!  Because I was not in the mood for such a rude awakening that morning.  I can handle being woken by giggles.

Most people brought their four-wheelers or whatever vehicles to play around in.  So that morning they all took the trail to this ghost town (mining town?  I can't remember).  Clearly, we don't own those recreational vehicles, so we didn't go.  However, Bishop Mangeris let us use this rover for awhile.  We didn't do anything crazy with it, just took the kids cruising a bit. 

Kaden only went for a minute, but with that heavy helmet on his already heavy head, it wasn't very comfortable.

Dylan and I drove it back down to this old condemned house we had seen on the way up.  It was a cute little place that we explored.  This was the outhouse, lol.  Living like that fascinates me, but I'm sure glad we have what we have now!

We were not really in any hurry to get going, until we started getting hungry and realized our options were slim and we were out in the middle of nowhere, ha!  So we took off so Kaden could nap.

All in all, it was a good trip!  Other than the sleeping mishap.  Again, next year will be better, right??  I do love babies and toddlers but they complicate things sometimes.