Spruces

This weekend turned out different in a lot of ways than I was expecting. It was supposed to be our second annual NiederMann Campout. There was much anticipation and excitement leading up to it!We were supposed to leave Thursday morning. I worked Wednesday night and had everything basically packed and ready to go. While I was at work I got a text from Brooke that Alec, her 4 year old, had broken his leg. They were playing at Red Butte and running around with their uncle and the uncle accidentally stepped on Alec's leg and broke the shaft of his tibia. So they were at primary children's till about 3 in the morning and Alec was in a long leg splint and they weren't going to be able to camp. Bummer on so many levels. I wasn't sure if I still wanted to our could go. I sent out a lot of texts to see if anyone would want or could go with. No luck. The kids still wanted to go and everything was bought and packed and so we decided to go for it. I am SOOO glad we did. It turned out to be SO much fun and so good. Lottie was kind of a pill when we went to Goblin Valley but she was AWESOME here. We got up Thursday and I got the tent set up and everything situated while they all ran around and played and rode scooters.

Then when camp was all set up we went for a walk with bikes and scooters. The campground was SOO pretty.

This was another site that no one had checked into yet and a little stream went right by it and it was really cool and so we stopped and threw rocks in etc for a little bit.

There were some little trails off our campsite that we went exploring too which was pretty fun.

Dinner turned out perfectly. I checked it right at the right time and it didn't need to be done a minute more or less. So delicious. My dad showed up an hour or so after we finished eating. He came up for the evening and that was so fun! We made a fire and had s'mores, although the kids didn't really like them - too messy and sticky - which is a little weird to me - since they don't mind any other messes.

Harvey had made some friends with two boys close to his age down a few campsites, so he had been cruising around like crazy playing with them. My dad and me and the girls went for a walk after he roasted some brats and we were done with s'mores.

Kids playing and running around while we sat around the fire and chatted.

Greta kept saying she was so tired and wanted to lay down. She laid herself down here and I honestly think she would have fallen asleep but she didn't lay there very long and I walked over to her and she opened her eyes and smiled. I tried to put her and Lottie down - Lottie wasn't going to have any of her pack and play and so I told her to lay down on my bed. hahaha. The tent was moving and shaking for the next hour plus until we got them out again.

So then we wandered around a little more and sat by the fire and enjoyed the coals and stars for far later than we probably should have. But it was just so perfect.

My dad took off after we doused the fire. So fun to have him come up. It was a perfect evening for him to come. The next morning started out great too. Lots of playing with friends and wandering and enjoying the morning. I knew the forecast had some rain for the day and night but the last I had checked it looked like it might be okay. It sprinkled a little in the morning. I was sitting in the car waiting for Harvey to come back from scootering with his friends so we could go hiking when I decided to check the forecast again (had service in the campground). It looked WAY worse than when I had looked before. Much higher percent chance of rain and saying storms could produce heavy rains - off and on all day and night. I don't love camping in the rain - but am okay to hunker down in the tent and nap or read and listen to the lovely sound. I don't love packing up soppy muddy stuff though. And the thought of potentially not being able to cook food or be stuck in the tent with kids all evening or night just didn't sound as desirable to me. So...I made a quick executive decision to take down camp. So I did it in record time. Dropped the tent (a super nice neighbor couple helped at the end) and got everything loaded pretty quick. It sprinkled a bit while I was doing it so I knew I was going to have to re set up the tent. But it started raining a lot harder as soon as we got everything in the car. We got everyone loaded and started down the canyon.

The rain actually slowed a bit while we were driving. We had planned to go hike donut falls and I was kind of sad we had to be leaving early. So I decided we'd just drive up to the trailhead and see what it looked like. We all had rain jackets and so we decided (I decided) we'd go for it. I'm SO glad we did. There was a little bit of whining and complaints of being tired, but luckily those started right as we were almost to the falls and then a little rest and brief carrying of Greta and some snacks did the trick and we made it the rest of the way down happy and playful...enjoying bridges and rivers and small trickles of streams on the trail.

We tried to get a family selfie at the beginning of the trail. Harvey suggested silly faces. Apparently he only has one silly face.

Never any cooperation with the three of them together. Why is it so hard to get them all to look in one place at one time. Especially when the time only has to be like one second!

We didn't go ALL the way up to the falls and the cave part. There was quite a bit of water and water crossing and I just didn't think I could do it with all of them and carry Lottie and not have us all end up soaked. We saw the falls and they refused to cooperate yet again for a cute picture. But we made it :)

Harvey wouldn't sit on this log with the girls. But they sure are cute!

And then a friendly hiker agreed to take this picture for us and it turned out perfect.

This whole 24 hour period was just so good. For so many reasons. I was sooo sad Brooke couldn't come up because it would have been so much more fun with her and her kids. But I'm so glad we still went. I had been struggling with kids lately and just having a lot of frustrations and it was fun to be with them up there. I felt rejuvenated as a mom and just 100% enjoyed the kids. The mountains are my happy place and it was heavenly having a little mountain respite. It was empowering and exciting to me that I could manage the camping experience myself and gave me hope for a lot more adventures that we can still have when dad unfortunately has to work. It was okay we left early because it really did dump that evening and night and morning and we left on the happiest of happy notes.

I did take these filthy kids to Brooke's mom's house where they were hanging out. It was perfect too! It was great to see Lenis and chat with her and I got some great Brooke talking time too while kids played good! Then we went to my parents and slept over there and then headed home to see dad and set up the tent and that night we had a bbq at mimi and papa's house and went swimming at their pool and invited Crew and Lucy and Laura. Such a fun little weekend!!!