Ward Campout

More than a month later, I'm finally getting around to posting about our ward campout that took place on June 19th and 20th. We are not campers. My camping experiences are limited to going camping with my family no more than twice, if even that many times, girls' camp through my church each summer from Summer of 1990 through 1995, and going once with a few friends over the 4th of July in 1999. Corey has even less experience. So we borrowed my parents' tent and sleeping bags, bought some sleeping bags for the kids, and finally opened from the box the propane camp stove and lantern we got as a wedding gift 8 years ago. We loaded up the car and headed out. We were fortunate to set up camp between several very experienced campers. The kids were in their own wonderland--the woods--one of nature's best playgrounds. They loved exploring and collecting pine cones with their friends from the ward.

Corey cooked up some dinner for us on our camp stove--hot dogs and hamburgers. A little later, we had s'mores by the fire. The weather wasn't exactly favorable, we had quite a bit of drizzly rain that started just after we'd all eaten a fair share of s'mores that lasted into the night until about 1 or 2 am. It was also pretty cold for us Arizona-hot-blooded people. I had meant to grab our jackets on the way out the door but forgot, so other than the bedding we brought and long pant pajamas for the kids, we had nothing else to keep us warm during the night. I made sure to have the kids wear jeans, but in the morning, it was pretty chilly just in a T-shirt and jeans. Our kids were up at the crack of dawn, or earlier, I think around 4:30, so at 5:30, we finally got dressed and got up. Corey quickly took down the tent and loaded the car. We ate breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon and orange juice and then left.

The kids were gloriously dirty and we were able to go swimming later at Grandma and Grandpa's house when we stopped to pick up Snoopy. It was a fun experience, though a little stressful to us because of our inexperience, but we hope to make camping a tradition, something we do at least once a year.