Ward Campout 2010

We had so much fun at our ward camp out over the 4th of July weekend!

 

The groundhogs, chipmunks and squirrels were all over the place. Everybody had fun feeding them. Emma was trying to get them to eat right out of her hand (b/c they would), but she just couldn't sit still long enough to let them do it! That's okay by me! :)

 

The campfire. . .need I say more?

 

Gehrig had fun taking some pictures of us and the scenery.

 

Lou was anxious to get home, so we had to miss the hike the next morning, but as it turned out, we should have gone with them. . .Car troubles again! Last year we had troubles on our way to the camp. This year the bigger troubles were for another ward member, but we still had some of our own. . .

The kids enjoyed making Smores while I read by the campfire and Lou helped one of our fellow ward members fix his truck and then got them to jump start us! :)

Fun Times. . .

2009 Ward Campout
We did have a little adventure trying to get to the campout. . .Going through Park City, we saw several cars off to the side of the road--apparently the climbing had been too much for them. I felt so sorry for them as we whizzed on by. BUT, our time was to come. Luckily Lou was doing the driving. We both felt the van surge and Lou said that he was losing the ability to accelerate. We had to pull over. I said a little prayer in my heart while Lou let the car rest. About 5 minutes later, it started up and we got another 4-5 miles before we had to pull over again--yeah, I thought it was going to be a faith promoting story about prayer, and in the end it was, but not miraculously after one prayer. We stopped about 4-5 times to let the car rest and then continued our journey and finally made it there safely. . .The miracle was that we made it there and then made it home without even having to stop (although it did surge a couple of times). Hopefully it isn't dying on us. Anyway. . . I love these pictures of Gehrig. They capture his keen interest in nature (top left: studying the tree sap that he learned turns into amber after several thousand years), his handsome ease in the woods (top right) and his silly side (bottom right). Ah. . .to be a child again where camping only has great times and fun memories! (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy camping, but it's not the same. It goes by much more quickly, sleeping is nearly impossible and there's a LOT of work getting there, being there and getting unpacked and cleaned up when you get home.)

Damian, Emma, Isaiah and their friend Madi had a great time building a tepee and playing in it. Lou set up and took down our tent that provided us with shelter for a night of fun. We enjoyed a great dinner of ribs, corn, chips and dessert and a great breakfast of pancakes and sausage. The campfire was fun with the other ward members. Lou took off to bed early, so I sent Emma and Isaiah with him. Damian and Gehrig wanted to follow shortly because they knew he would be playing a movie in the tent. So. . .I joined my family and fell asleep to a good Bing Crosby movie.

BINGHAM COPPER MINES
The kids and I were driving home the other day on roads we hadn't really traveled before (way West). Gehrig noticed how close we were to the mine and begged me to stop. So. . .I impulsively stopped and took them in to check it out. It cost $5/car to get in to see a 15 minute video about the mines, view the museum, overlook the mine and shop in the gift shop. Gehrig thanked me over and over for taking him. He's slightly obsessed with rocks right now and found some pretty neat ones up there (some even looks like it has gold flakes on it). I found it very fascinating and well worth the stop. Isaiah was freaking out in the bottom left picture because his sweet older brother, Damian, told him that the tire was going to fall on them. I was just trying to get a cute picture of them all there, and that is what I got instead. Damian was reading one of the plaques on an old mine cart in the top left picture and the little ones are looking down at the mine in the bottom right picture.