rusticness

i haven't been non-ward camp out camping since i started my family. what a mistake. i loved it sooo much. i always knew i loved camping, but ward camp outs always felt stressful with the girls. i realized it's because it is FAKE camping. it was so nice to not have to worry about my kids bothering anyone else, or getting lost in the madness of everyone wandering around. ward camp outs were social events, not camping. it felt so good to man my own fire (well, not JUST mine), cook my own food, take my kids on a little hike, let them get DIRTY and not feel like an unsanitary parent if my kids ate with,

heaven forbid, dirty fingers. plus you always get a good spot around the fire. and when gwen was screaming all night, i didn't have to feel bad for anyone else, except of course my hero husband who was up with her all night!

Thanks ben to the awesome potatoes in the dutch oven, and nan, great breakfast, and jessi, good job bringing the leftover hamburger buns and hot dog buns and ketchup and lettuce and onions and mustard from your ward halloween party!

gwen is about to sneeze...... wait for it......

















AHHHHHHHHHHHH MUCH BETTER!

as mentioned, gwen had a little bit of a rough night

they were playing in a bunch of sawdust. it was really messy, but they were having sooooo much fun.

sweet little gwen was getting so tired but wasn't too sure about the whole tent + sleeping bag thing.

ben made this delicious potato dish in his dutch oven. sooooo yummy definitely a highlight. the

big jacket? you ask???? my mom's down feather jacket. let me just tell you that i could cold easily, seriously... i wear my fuzzy wintery bath robe over my clothes when i'm at home year round.

i was very scared about being cold so my mom handed my the coat and said not to worry. i will never camp again with out it.

remember, I warned you about the dirty kids? well, i wasn't kidding, here they come. it was so wonderful to just "surrender" to nature, as in the nature of little children to find or make a mess and nature, also as in... dirt. oh, i have a funny story. we were playing bocce ball, and ben was really good at it and tried to be cool by throwing the ball somewhere that we couldn't see. so he threw it over this big fallen log. oh yeah, the point of the game is to throw your ball closest to the white ball (the white ball is the one that ben was going to throw)..... okay, so ben throws ball behind log. todd jessi nan and ben try to aim for unseen target. they excitedly go to see if anyone was close to the mark and SURPRISE there is the rotting carcass of a coyote on the other side of the log.... nice, really nice.

i'm ready to start camping every weekend. i'm already craving to go back. i'm even thinking of how cool would it be to go camping on christmas eve, decorate a nearby tree, sing christmas songs around the camp fire, read the nativity story, then wake up and open presents around the fire.

cool? or crazy? i know it would be cold, but i'd have my mom's jacket, so we'd just have to work something out for the kids and the hubby....????

ben's super cool hammock! thanks for the rope knot class! let's go camping this weekend to see if i remember anything!!