Ward Camp Out

Caption: Zach & Nathaniel spent hours exploring at the stream, and Savanah stepped in just for the picture, her contorted body speaks to just how freezing the water really was...maybe 55-60'F.

If I failed to mention it...life is really busy right now. And I often feel like we are all traveling in different directions. So, when the ward camp out was announced it didn't surprise me that 1/2 of us had obligations that night and day, and then I found out most of our ward had obligations that night...which meant my kids friends weren't attending the camp out. So, I started collecting kids, until the suburban was full and we...me and the kids went camping. I took Savanah, Nathaniel, and Zach, along with 4 other kids from our neighborhood. It as a lot of fun. We camped at a fish hatchery and the kids caught a bunch of fish with their hands (it was legal) and then we BBQ'ed them when we got home. When the kids rolled all the windows down and were waving crazily at all the passing cars and singing as loud as they could to the radio...I felt much like a bus driver with all of their commotion. We ate smore's for lunch in the car (that were raw), and we had candy bars for dinner appetizers. It's totally against my character to feed my kids and others' kids junk, but it was fun for a change. We laughed and slept together in one big tent. And then, when we got home, I had all the kids wash and vacuum out my suburban because it was SO dirty...and if that wasn't enough time with me, they all wanted to go sit in the desert sun for 2 hours Saturday afternoon to watch Eli play his first football game of the season. I love being in the woods with my children, splashing in the water, and being free of all my cares in the world (and having someone else cook and clean for us), some how camping does that for me.