Road Trip: More time with my fam

When our camping trip was done, we said good-bye to Andrew and he flew home to get back to work and finance the rest of our trip. :)

Since our reunion with my family was just a long weekend, we wanted to go to my parents' house and spend a little more time with them and Destiny's family. We lucked out because Mark, Taylor and their kids happened to be there, too.

Dance parties to Whit's awesome guitar music

Snuggling baby T

We planned one day at the pool.

We happened to choose the one day that it rained.

Ugh.

We got kicked out because of lightning for a while.

Then came back for a bit.

But it was kind of chilly.

Not the best pool day.

Grandpa took us fishing up Uintah Canyon at Big Springs.

The breathtaking scenery!

Whit was the first to catch one.

C caught one, too.

Grandpa caught several,

a couple of which were big enough to bring home.

Taylor and the kids tried to make a fishing pole

out of only things that they found. :)

We took turns cooking dinner's at my parents house.

I love having Grandma Cuca and Whit as my sous chefs!

Singstar!

We also played lots of rummy, and a game or two of chickenfoot, took the kids to watch Sing for the summer movies, visited the craft fair in Vernal, and Whitney sang a special musical number in church. She did such a great job and a woman approached her afterward asking her to perform at her fundraising gala. Wow! If we lived closer, that would've been a great opportunity!

And then it was time to bid farewell to our family. I sure treasure these times that we get to spend together in the summer!

Road Trip: Camping

I got out of my comfort zone this summer. We went camping.

Last year, we weren't able to have a reunion with Andrew's side of the family. This year, we couldn't plan anything in advance because we weren't sure what Wyatt's health would be like. So, without much notice, Amy suggested that we see if any church campgrounds were available the week that we were together. We were in luck! Camp Lake Aspen, near Heber, had spots available.

Andrew and I had a tent to ourselves.

Lots of the girl cousins shared a big tent.

B-train had a one-man tent to himself.

Barb and Dennis did SO much work, collecting camping gear from friends. Tony's and Amy's families brought their own gear, but not us or Angie's. They had tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tarps... camping is a lot of work. So grateful for all of their pre-camping work for us to have a good week.

Things went smoothly. Except I was FREEZING the first night. Not something I'm used to feeling IN JULY. I used an extra sleeping back for double coverage on the second night and slept great. And Jack got sick on the second night. But, for the most part everything was wonderful.

The lake is awesome!

It's cold when you get in, but felt good after a few minutes.

Isn't it beautiful?

We spent lots of time down there.

So fun for these three juniors to hang out together. 

The camp has canoes that are free to use.

Very cool.

Tony and Cindy brought their stand-up paddle board. 

Cindy and Jane arranged cool poses on it!
(After falling in several times trying...)

Tru loved playing in the dirt on the beach. 

Carly loves ducks and looked super

cute in her new swimsuit and cap. 

We were up in the mountains and it felt great around the campfire

on those chilly nights.

We had a guitar and a couple of ukeleles to jam out.

We also had fun doing crafts.

The girls spent time beading. 

And played lots of games.

Boggle 

Rack-o 

One of Carly's other birthday gifts was this giant duck.

All the kids (and Dave) had fun floating around on it. 

We had fun doing stunts.

Throwing balls and frisbees to people as they jumped off the dock.

  

There was a fun zip line that splashed
right down into the lake.

Whit is not generally a fan of heights.

 I was proud of her for giving it a try!

The teenagers came up with crazy ways to go down the zipline.

Like sitting backwards

And holding on to the seat instead of sitting in it. 

And they had an archery range that was fun to try, too.

And a couple of obstacle course areas.

It was great to spend time with our family,

up close and personal with nature,

  enjoying the beautiful world.

(photo cred: Amy)