Friendship Loop

 

At the beginning of the month I got to go to girls camp with our stake as Camp Director for Dartmouth Ward.  It was my first time as a leader, and Avery's first time at girls camp.  We had a really fantastic time. We were at camp Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and left Thursday after cleaning and packing up.  Tuesday morning was our hike.

There were three different hikes provided.  Hike C was 1.1 miles, hike B was 2 miles, and hike A was the first two combined.  Of course I went with hike A, which was about 3 miles.  Heather Speakman, Bryan Robishaw, and Avery were the only girls in Dartmouth Ward that hiked it with me.

The weather was perfect, a little warm at times but there was a lot of shade.  It had more hills than I thought there would be but it was a very beautiful and well marked trail.  We spent some time around the middle having some personal solitude which was nice.

Always fun to try a new trail, and I hope to hike it again next year at girls camp.

Navajo Bridge & the North Rim

 

(not sure why this is blurry)

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim with this group.  I started training three weeks before.  It really wasn't enough but I did my best with the time I had.  We set off last Saturday from Rachel Willis's house.  She's my running buddy.  We hike with her brother Ben, his son James, his daughter Marianne, her friend Brigette, and Gary (Ben's father in law) was the driver.  He's hiked rim to rim many times and it was great hiking with him the last few weeks and having someone experienced there.  Ben and Marianne were also experienced rim to rim hikers.

After a lunch break in Flagstaff we headed north.  This was our stop at Navajo Bridge.  There's the bridge for driving and a bridge for walking. 

Look at that background!  Those are the Vermillion Cliffs behind me.  I have memories coming here when I worked at Jacob Lake Inn the summer of 2005.  So nostalgic!

This was looking down from the bridge.  Just stunning!  And that water was moving pretty fast too.  Just north of here is Lee's Ferry where a lot of rafts get started but we didn't see a single floating device all weekend.  The Grand Canyon North and South rim visitor centers closed the week before so we were there at the beginning of off season.  

Thankfully the weather was perfect! It got much colder a couple days later.  I live in such a beautiful state!

Here's where we camped near the entrance to the north rim.  It got nippy as the sun went down and was a low around 35 degrees at night.  My bum was called all night but warmers kept my feet warm.

Loving the fresh air and ponderosa pines!  Arizona has the most beautiful forests!  There must have been a fire a few years ago because some of the drive south of Jacob Lake had burnt forest.  It was strange having a view down to the vermillion cliffs.  Normally there's forest in the way from that drive.

Rachel and I shared a tent and she made some yummy soup we shared too.

I brought the cookers, Trader Joes corn chips, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.  It would have been nice to have a camp fire but the fire was only a ring of rocks, not a metal ring, and with the fire hazard we had to do without.

As usual the moon and stars were so pretty at night.  It was so windy, the wind blowing in the trees kept me up much of the night but we tried to have an early start to bed since we needed to be up early.  I went to bed around 8:30 and had broken sleep all night.  I ended up not being able to sleep past 3:30 which wasn't too bad since we had a 4:00am start anyway.

Wish I slept more and drank more, but not a terrible way to start the hike.  Such a pretty day!  I was surprised how fast it felt getting to the north rim in one day.

Airplane Flats

We had such a great time camping this weekend.  Some of us adults even talked about it being a new tradition to camp over Memorial Day weekend.  It was such a great way to start our summer break.  The kids were in heaven.  Playing with cousins, getting dirty, all the freedom.  This was my second time camping at Airplane Flats.  We like it because even with the high fire risk we were able to have camp fires in the metal rings provided.  There are also a couple tree swings and the creek in walking distance.  Last time we also hiked to the fish hatchery not far away.  We lucked out and had perfect weather.  A little chilly at night but perfect around the campfire. 

The girls picked all these yellow wild flowers.  Color really stands out in this state, whether you're in the desert or the mountains.

 Sara with her bunch.  She was also going solo because DJ is studying for the bar.

 Julie and James planned it right and got there a day before us.  It takes so much work to load the car, set up camp and take it down so it's nice they got to stay another day before packing up.  You can tell the kids were really happy to play with cousins when we got there though.

 We all planned meals for our own families but ended up sharing which turned out great.  Here's what I planned for the weekend:

Friday dinner - Macaroni and Cheese, taco salad (with normal chips), and smores (my parents shared hotdogs with the kids too)

Saturday breakfast - yogurt parfaits, farmer's breakfast
Saturday lunch - breakfast burrito leftovers
snacks - watermelon, banana peanut butter muffins, pretzels, cornnuts. . .

 ^ ^ Sara was smart to bring this for Katherine. ^ ^

Have you ever had a smore with a reeses candy?  Try it!  Even without Andrew it was so fun.  I think I'll take the kids camping again in July.  But only if there are cousins there to play with. :)

Avery's lost tooth

Avery lost her third tooth today!  Those two baby ones fell out a long time ago so it's been a while.  She has been working on this big tooth for weeks, if not longer.  Right before we headed home from our camping trip she looked in the mirror in the car and twisted it and it popped right out!  I love that big smile.  I'll miss her little girl smile but this gap will be fun to get used to.  She can't wait to wake up tomorrow to see what the tooth fairy leaves her. :)

^ ^ earlier today ^ ^

^ ^ right after it fell out ^ ^

Now Jojo and Avery have matching cousin smiles.  Come back tomorrow for a few more camping photos.

Camping at See Canyon

I've been talking to my dad for weeks about taking the kids camping and this past weekend we finally were able to do it! Just in time too, since we're in California this week with my in-laws, and then school starts.

So glad we squeezed a camping trip in this summer because we had such a great time. The kids were in heaven with all the rocks, sticks, and bugs to play with. We were also right next to a creek which was cool and refreshing.

It's been a year since I camped and I forgot how dirty everything gets, and no plumbing!! But it was worth it for a day or two. :) My favorite part was the beauty of our AZ forests and the smell and pine and fresh air. Especially right after a rain! 

Andrew joined us Friday afternoon since he had work. We went a s little hiked with us Saturday morning to see the source of the creek. Such a beautiful hike, and very doable for kids (only a mile or two long).  See Canyon has definitely become a new favorite campsite of ours!

a dirty getaway

Over a week ago we wanted a little adventure so we went camping.  Last October was the first time we camped out as a family but it was at Camp Geronimo with my brother's stake so there were toilets and food was provided.  This time we did everything au naturel (and by that I mean 'in the natural state' not 'naked'!)  We invited some family to join us and we had a wonderful, dirty time!  The only thing that could have made it better was a camp fire but since we are in a drought we did just fine with camping stoves.

The best part about camping is escaping virtual reality and taking time to enjoying life:  fresh air,beautiful scenery, and family.  Not to mention excellent meals cooked by the men.  We went home a different color thanks to caked on dirt but it was all worth it just for one night.  Andrew wants to camp two nights next time but I don't think I can manage that long without a proper shower.  What about you?

Camp Geronimo

We went camping at Camp Geronimo with my brother's stake and had a blast.

All these pictures are kind of random but they show a lot of what we did.

In the picture above Elliot is collecting wood for camp fires. Every where we hiked he picked up sticks. Andrew is wearing a silly hat from one of the classes we went to about having fun with kids.

Andrew slept both nights in his hammock while the kids and I share the tent and air mattress. We all slept well.

Avery turned every stick into lip gloss so I finally gave her one to keep.

You can't have a camp fire without smores!

I'm not sure if Avery ate her smore or her smore ate her!

Archery was another class we went to. Here's Andrew and me shooting arrows with Chris.

I'm pretty impressed that my first shot was a bulls eye!

Julie, James, and Josie came and fun with us too!

Josie such a cutie!

This was our last night out by the camp fire and we are so dirty!

I'm glad we got to go camping but I am so grateful to be home to my own bed and shower!