CAMPING!

We went on our first camping trip of 2009, which is also our first camping trip together. It was a perfect time to break in the gear Mike's siblings bought us as our wedding gift last August. (Just so everyone knows, we loved it all!)

Here's the one picture of Mike (he kept taking the pictures). He's unrolling the tent after we had laid down our tarp. After camping in Idaho two summers ago, much later in the season, and FREEZING to death, I was not going to fool around anymore. A tarp was a necessity. And our new air mattress worked out nicely too.

There's this gray thing that goes to our tent, and I have looked all over that sucker to see what it is supposed to be used for, and found nothing obvious. I can't find the directions, but in a couple weeks, when we go with our ward, I am definitely figuring it out.

We were tucked between two ridges. This is the one across the little dirt road that Mike and John climbed around on while Jennifer and I held down the fort. There was also a little brook that ran right next to us, which was nice to fall asleep to, even if Sam did have to stay strapped in his high chair the whole time to keep him from running/falling down the very steep slope into it.

Jennifer, Sam, and I right after we really got the fire started.

A nice nature pic from Mike's hike that first day.

Re-awakening the fire after we had cooked on the coals of the first one. We kept part of it flaming the whole time, so it really didn't take too long for it to start up again.

A nature shot from Mike's hike the next morning. I like the red wood against the green and white.

Another nature shot. It just looks so picturesque. It was nice to be up in the green of the hills. It's been really rainy for the past few weeks, - which WE are loving! Every day I go to my religion class, Bro. Kinghorn starts out by talking about what people think of the weather. They all complain and say they are ready for "summer to start." I look at him and say, "This is actually how summer is supposed to be." (By the way, "really rainy" is actually only a couple 20 minute showers a week, but it's a lot more than we usually get!)

Chris heats up by the fire on Saturday morning.

Tanni's over the bacon and eggs, and I'm doing pancakes. (I realize my face looks mischievous here. I'm not plotting anything.)

Hanging around the campfire after breakfast. It was fun to get together with some friends, and to test out our new gear! We stayed surprisingly warm and dry all night long, even though it did drizzle at about 6:30 the next morning.