Camping with Cousins

A few weeks ago, Jay and Lisa invited us to go camping with them in American Fork Canyon--now how could we turn that down?  Camping is fun, but camping with cousins is exponentially more so!

We arrived Thursday afternoon--Jay and Lisa were already there, as were some of our favorite newlyweds, Skylar and "Big" Jordan.  We set up our tent, roasted some hot dogs for lunch, and did some exploring around the campsite. 

  

 The view from our site.  Not bad!   

 What Ben looked like when we arrived. . .

 . . .and what he looked like about five minutes later.  Between enjoying free rein over the snacks and falling down every few minutes, the poor guy was utterly filthy.

 The big kids spent most of the afternoon riding bikes in an open field just down the trail from our campsite.  Not long after we'd arrived, a man pulled up with a horse trailer.  The kids watched him with great interest as he saddled up his horse and peppered him with questions about. . .um, horsemanship?  He very patiently answered all their questions, and then he offered to let them ride the horse.  The kids were ecstatic!

  

Elizabeth & Anna

"Little" Jordan & Madi

Anna & Ella

After everyone got a chance to ride Sugar Baby, our new cowboy friend strapped on his leather chaps and we bid him farewell as they headed down the trail.  Jay and Big Jordan took the kids on a mini-excursion in the Jeep while Jared drove back down to the mouth of the canyon (to fill up our water cooler and make a phone call), and Lisa and I enjoyed some peace and quiet back at camp, getting dinner ready.  Everyone arrived back at camp just in time for dinner, after which Skylar and Big Jordan left for home and the rest of us busted out the marshmallows and roasting sticks.

 Anna and Daddy enjoying some dinner. (You'll see a theme here;  I think Anna's favorite part of camping might just have been the food!)

Roasting marshmallows around the, uh, propane-powered fire ring. (Campfire restrictions had gone into place just the day before we arrived, so no actual campfires were allowed.  Thankfully Jay came well-equipped with propane and propane accessories!)

Friday morning started with a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, after which we packed up for a day at Tibble Fork Reservoir.

Jordan and Anna enjoying some hot cocoa

Ben, taking in the grandeur.

 

"Bacon for breakfast?  I LOVE camping!"

 Tibble Fork Reservoir

The kids had so much fun at the reservoir, playing in the mud, splashing in the water, and going for rides in the inflatable raft Jared brought.  Jordan even caught a fish!  As they were rowing back to shore, Lisa assured us that he'd want to put the fish back in the water like he'd done on past fishing trips--but nope, Jordan was insistent that he was going to keep this one and EAT it.

Little mud monster

Big mud monster

Jordan shows off his catch

Elizabeth, Anna, and Madi--dirty and happy

When we got back to camp, the kids jumped on their bikes again--and pretty soon, our cowboy friend pulled up again in his trailer. . .this time with another horse, Fancy.  Again the kids gathered around to watch him saddle up and to take a ride.  I didn't get any pictures, but Fancy lived up to her name;  she was a very pretty horse!

That night, Jay and Lisa treated us to a delicious Dutch oven dinner.  Skylar and Big Jordan came back up, this time with their tent to spend the night--and so did Aaron and Joni and their boys.  Jared's parents came for dinner, along with Emily, who'd just flown in for the weekend from California, and our other favorite newlyweds Sarah and Christian.

 I think Big Jordan is trying to blow out a flaming marshmallow in this picture. . .

After a few rounds of s'mores, we said goodbye to our dinner guests and settled down to bed, only to find that the people who'd set up camp next to us weren't tired in the least. . .they must've stayed up till midnight talking loudly and singing, among other things, the theme to Gilligan's Island.  (We ended up getting our revenge, though;  not long after they all quieted down, baby Noah decided he did NOT like camping and began crying. . .and crying. . .and crying.  Poor little guy! Joni ended up packing up the boys in the wee hours of the morning to take them home in the hopes that little Noah would get some sleep.)

We got home on Saturday afternoon, just in time to get ready for Grandpa Pugh's birthday party that evening.  What a blast this trip was!  We returned home dirty, tired, sunburned, and covered in bug bites--all the marks of a great camping trip.  The girls had so much fun, in fact, that they spent the whole ride home discussing what they wanted to do on their NEXT camping trip. . .