Camping

We haven't been camping in a while, and Lucas has been asking to go ever since he saw a cartoon where they went camping.  We figured we better go now because it's going to be a while before we will want to go camping again.  We went to a campground about 20 minutes away from our house.  It was really pretty and it was nice to not have to drive too far away from home.  We went with the Coopers, and Lucas and Zach were in heaven!

We set up the tents and the kids just went crazy running around and playing inside of them.

Then of course the boys had to gather around to play with fire.

Then we roasted marshmallows.

Neither of the boys was very interested in eating the marshmallows, but they sat there and roasted a bunch of them for quite a while.  At first they tried to make them good so other people could eat them, but then they just decided it was more fun for them to catch on fire.

Neither of the boys went to bed very early, but at least they slept in till around 6.  I thought for sure they'd be up by 4 wanting to play again.  Here's Lucas looking all sleepy.  He thought it was pretty fun waking up in the tent.

Then the boys played some more while we got breakfast going.

I made some really yummy breakfast burritos.  Every time we go camping it's usually with our ward or with my family and we're not in charge of making the food, so I wasn't exactly sure what to make.  I found an idea for making breakfast burritos at home and then wrapping them in foil and roasting over the fire.  It worked like a charm!

They were so tasty and delicious! And no pots or pans to clean up at the campsite - even better.  I will definitely be making these every time we camp from now on.

After breakfast we cleaned up and took down the tents.  It always seems like way too much work to put up our tent for only one night.  We probably need to get a smaller tent.  It sure is nice when it's up, though.

Then we headed to the beach.

Lucas was not a huge fan of this inner tube, I don't know why but he has always been hesitant of flotation devices.

He got used to it after a while, and then decided he was done a few minutes later.  Oh well.

Despite the inner tube fiasco, we had a lot of fun and Lucas has decided we need to go camping every night. Ryan and I love camping, but it makes us even more grateful for our bed when we get to come home and sleep in it.

Eagle Lake

We just got back from a camping trip with almost all of my family and a lot of extended family. We went to a place called Eagle Lake in northern California. It's kind of a tradition and this is the fourth time I've been, second time Ryan has been, and the first time for Lucas. Let me tell you, he was in heaven!
He loved being outside and walking around in the dirt and pine cones. He started talking so much on this trip, he would just walk around and talk gibberish, non stop. One morning when he woke up and we walked out of the tent he got this huge smile on his face. I think he was just happy to still be outside.

We also discovered some new favorites. He loves playing in the sand...

And water...
Especially with uncle Christian.

We also discovered that Lucas likes watermelon. He probably ate 4 or 5 pieces by himself.

We really enjoyed spending time at the beach with family.

Lucas especially loved to play with his cousins.

We had lots of fun, but the trip had to come to an end. Lucas helped us pack up and go.

And he was nice to mommy and daddy and did really well on the trip home. We always enjoy camping, but enjoy our beds a lot more when we get home.

Eagle Lake and Camping

The past few weeks have been really busy for me and Ryan. We went camping at Eagle Lake with my family for the week of the 4th of July. I love going to Eagle Lake. It's so beautiful there and it's fun spending time with my family. Here are some views of the lake which was a 2 minute walk from our tent.

My cousin Matt brought his boat and took us water skiing and wake boarding. Here is Ryan putting on a wet suit. The water was kinda cold.

And here he is wake boarding.

Here's Mark driving the boat and Sarah's holding up the flag.



Here's Joseph and John hanging out on the boat.







We always love going camping and Eagle Lake is definitely a favorite. We had a blast.
We also went camping with our ward here in Utah. We invited our friends Travis and Michelle to come with us. For those of you who haven't seen our huge tent, here are our friends hanging out in the screen room of our tent. Our tent is huge, I love it. Since their tent literally could fit inside of the screen room of our tent, we decided our tent was a better place to hang out. They brought their son Peter and he was so much fun. He is seriously the best baby ever and he loved camping.




Here we are packing up our stuff. We just woke up so we don't look that great, but I forgot to take pictures the night before.



We've been getting very good use out of our camping stuff. Although we're always really glad to go home and sleep in our own bed.
Ryan has also been busy with school. He's taken classes both spring and summer terms. He is such a hard worker. He is going to graduate next April and then go on to get a Masters. At least that's the plan.
So every birthday and Christmas we've spent together, Ryan always picks out his presents and it's never a surprise for him so I decided to get him a surprise last week. When we first got married we looked at getting some curtains for our bedroom and Ryan wanted blackout curtains because he has a hard time sleeping when it's light outside. We tried out a couple different brands but ended up taking them back because they didn't block out much light at all. Instead we just got cheap curtains that don't block out anything and Ryan covers the window with a dark blanket on the weekends when he gets to sleep in. But I didn't like the blanket because it wasn't very attractive and it was troublesome to take down, so the other day I decided to look online for blackout curtains again. I found some really good ones for cheap so I decided to get them and surprise Ryan with them. Ryan was so nervous when he was opening the box.


He was really happy when he saw what was inside.


Now we have them up in our room and we both love them. Ryan gets to sleep in and I don't have to wake up to an ugly blanket.