Camping!!

We went camping up American Fork Canyon for Father's Day weekend. We didn't realize that everyone else in the state of Utah would have the same idea. It was so crowded, pretty much every camping spot was taken. We finally found one, that we had to hike up to a little bit, it wasn't bad at all, and it was a great little spot!! We had so much fun, it was me Chad and the kids, My 3 brothers: Jeff, Matt and Kevin and Jeff's girlfriend Jen. My niece Ashley was going to come, but I was so glad to hear that she chose to go to youth conference instead!! We are hoping to be able to plan a camping trip with my entire immediate family, up American Fork Canyon in August, and then one with Chad's family to Lake Alexander...both are so beautiful!!! I love it, and I am glad the kids love it too!! We bought a little hatchet for Austin (I know, I know he is only 3, but he is going to be 4 next month, we watch him carefully and he has been very responsible with it) that he helps Chad chop firewood with. And Alyssa explores the whole campsite helping everyone with whatever looks fun and exciting. We had a lot of fun!!!

Camping Fun!!!

We went camping over the weekend up American Fork Canyon. It was the first time that we have gone with the kids. And it had been 5 years since Chad and I had gone. We were a little nervous of bears because of the recent attacks in that very same canyon, but we braved it anyway. I am glad we did, we had a good time. In fact, the kids didn't want to come home! We were camping right by this river so we would walk down and let the kids throw rocks and sticks in. They loved it!! At night we saw deer walking right through our camp. It freaked us out at first because we saw their green glowing eyes and thought it was a mountain lion or bear. The kids loved it though, we didn't let them know we (OK, I) was scared. Unfortunately while Chad was out gathering wood and chopping it all up, he got really sunburned and the kids did too, I only got a little on my face and Ashley not really at all. Austin loved helping daddy with the wood chopping and helping with the fire. This weekend I couldn't believe how alike Chad he is. Chad even made him his own wood pile and would let him throw some wood on the fire, he was so proud, and thought he was as big as can be. Alyssa loved the freedom of the outdoors and loved exploring. She almost felt a little too free, and kept taking off her clothes, so silly! She got a little too brave by the river so Chad, Ashley and I never took our eyes off of her. She is fearless! We cut our camping trip short, and left home just as it was getting dark, because of all the uncomfortable sunburns. But what did we do with all the wood we stocked up on? Why we burned it, we burned it all!!! I am so glad that we have our SUV so we are able to go and do these things, we already have another camping trip planned in 2 weeks!!