Diamond Rings and Silly Things: 1...2...3 Weeks of Camping!!!

Wow, so when I started this post I thought "Hmm, I can't have THAT many pictures from camping, I'll just do all three trips together!" So I started downloading all of the pictures (and they're actually in order this time! Go me!) and realized the gravity of this decision. There are a LOT of pictures. Half way through downloading all of these I thought, "Hmm, maybe it would be better to do three separate posts..." but by then it was too late. I had worked so hard to put everything in chronological order that I couldn't stop there, I had to keep going. So beware valiant blog-stalkers, for this is the post of many pictures. If you should get lost along your way, just keep scrolling, and eventually you will find the end.

Camping Trip #1: Jenkin's Reunion in Star Valley, WY

So our first trip was to the Jenkin's Reunion (Jon's Mom's family). Jon wasn't able to go because he had a training for Hospice of Utah (who he is volunteering with). It was a ton of fun, even though I was nervous since it was Sophia's first time camping. Plus it was roughing it quite a bit - we did have a port-a-potty, but that's it! Here's some pictures:

These seats along with little kid-sized tables were at the McDonald's we stopped at! How cute is that!? Plus they had XBox games that the kids could play in the play place. Very cool. :)

Sophia did a great job helping me get our tent setup. And she was having so much fun being outside.

Awe, so little...

On the first night my SIL Mary brought some glow-stick necklaces. They were a huge hit with the kids, and even Sophia loved hers - in fact, she loved it so much she slept with it! (She had a death grip on this thing, so it took a while before I could get the two ends disconnected so she didn't strangle herself in her sleep!)

Mmmm, baggy omelets! Yum!

Sophia had fun playing with her aunts and cousins. Here's Mary and little Allie.

In the mornings we would just snuggle in the tent though because it was pretty cold.

See, she loves me! :)

Getting ready to go to the lake! Sophia got to show off her cute swimsuit. :)

Playing with our cousin Sarah was fun!

The lake was kind of cold, so we just played on the shoreline.

But even cold water is fun to splash in!

And she LOVED the four-wheelers! Anytime one would go by, Sophie would get big eyes and start trying to jump out of your arms to go see it! Luckily Grandma was nice and gave her a few rides on it. :)

Sophie also got her first owie! She was trying to grab an open can of rootbeer and cut her finger. She's a tough girl though - didn't even cry! No one even knew she cut her finger until we saw blood all over! The only time she fussed was when I rinsed her finger off and when we put on the bandaid.

Poor poor baby.

We had lots of fun playing together. :)

Camping Trip #2: Strawberry Pinnacles with the Barnes'

So the next weekend we went to Strawberry Pinnacles. Our friends Brian and Tiffanie invited us up with their family for the weekend, and we had a blast! We rode four-wheelers, fished in the little river, and enjoyed Christmas in August put on by some people in the little cabin-community up there. This camping trip was a lot more relaxed because it was at Brian's family's cabin, so we had a lawn and a kitchen and real bathroom - total luxury! :)

Sophia and Makaylee had a lot of fun playing together - Makaylee was even nice enough to keep Sophia company in her Pack-n-Play! What cute girls they are!

Our friends Brian and Tiffany

Me and Jon <3

Brian and Jon being, well boys. They were both standing on little shelves in their Peter Pan poses trying to look tough. Silly boys!

Jon

Brian throwing rocks off the cliff and Jon commenting on each throw.

Tiffany and me! (Tiff was such a champ, being all pregnant and still willing to climb on rocks with me!) :)

Jon looked good in this picture, even if I'm a dork.

Oh no! He's falling off the cliff! ;)

I felt pretty cool because I took this while driving.

Sophie clapping. :)

Sophie, Tiffanie and Makaylee

Okay, so the next few pictures are of a little owl (I called him Pigwidgeon) that flew around our campsite one night for about 10-15 minutes, then left and came back! He was so stinking cute! Luckily Jon is a better photographer than I am, because when I tried to take a picture of him he flew off and I got a picture of the truck (not included), and then Jon took over. Here's his progression of pictures of Pigwidgeon:

Shot 1: pretty close, about 10 ft away

Shot 2: about 3 ft away

Shot 3: about 1 ft away

Shot 4: Same distance

Shot 5: 2-3 inches away! (He knew the picture wouldn't look like much, but wanted to take one that close to show just how close he got - the owl didn't even flinch!)

Shot 6: My favorite! Jon caught him flying off of the truck into the tree...and then our camera died. Sad day, but at least we got some good shots! :)

Camping Trip #3: Fish Lake - Hunter/Findlay family vacation

So after 2 long weekends of sleeping in a tent, we were off to our next camping trip with the family. We took up the boat, four-wheelers, and rented a port-a-potty and headed off to beautiful Fish Lake!

This is us acrossed the street from a gas station where we stopped to eat - they had a freaking petting zoo! It was in the middle of darn near nowhere, and there was just this random petting zoo, so we went over to check it out. We only stayed for a minute though because it started to rain. Sophie liked it though. :)

Awe, cute little squatty ponies!

Sophie saw this in the gas station and started ooohing and aweing at it, so Jon decided to buy it for her. She didn't let go of this thing for over 2 hours! Seriously, she wouldn't even let go to let me take a picture! Good choice daddy! :)

We got to our campsite and it was in this B-E-A-UTIFUL aspen forest! It seriously looked like something out of Narnia, it was perfect! We weren't in a regular camp-site again (thus the port-a-potty) but I preferred it this way because we could take up as much space as we wanted. :)

Ty loves his canoe - even when it's not in the water! :) Ha ha, I have some pretty cute nephews!

This was a fire-pit that someone built - freaking huge! It was nice because the kids couldn't really fall in it, but we joked that it looked like some kind of alter to do burnt sacrifices on.

(Sigh) It took a LOT, but I finally agreed to let Sophia on the boat.

But she didn't like her life jacket at all, so (and I know how bad this sounds) I just held her tightly. And by tightly I mean with a death grip.

Fish Lake is awesome for fishing, because if you have someone who's never been (or at least has never caught a fish) then it's a great place to teach them how. These little perch would bite your hook as fast as you could get it in the water! My MIL Rosanna caught her first ever fish! And then she caught 5 more! Way to go!

I decided that I should start showing Sophia how to fish, since we're sure to do a lot of it!

I only fished for a few minutes, but I got a fish and a snag of seaweed. Gross.

Because it was bright and sunny and hot outside, Sophia spent most of the time crawling around inside the front of the boat. She loved exploring and climbing on the tackle boxes.

Then she crashed...

Then she was at it again! She wanted to have a try at driving. :)

Grandma and Sophie

She had a lot of fun with our cousin Jacque too!

Then it got a little cold, and since I didn't come prepared for cold, we stole daddy's sweater. :)

Of course her favorite part was fishing with Daddy though. I sure love these two! :)

Don't know if I've mentioned it, but Josh and Amber got a new dog named Tank. He's a Great Dane and a Mastiff mix and he's HUGE! But he is so sweet and very protective of their family and of all the kids. Well he came with them camping, and one day while we were at the lake...

...this happened. I guess he just missed them and thought they might be in the tent!

Jon's aunt Ruth and I were the first on the scene, and initially he had pulled out a bunch of diapers and had them strewn all around, but we picked those up before I thought to take a picture. :)

Sophie also got her first Oreo! Of course she loved it!

Yummy yummy!

She analyzes her food like I do...got to find the best bite! :)

Sophie with Laura and Kenzi in the background

Sophie loved the hammock!

And she loved snuggling with Daddy in the hammock too! (Don't let that grump face fool you - she just looks like that sometimes when she's relaxed) :)

Sitting on her cousin Malia's little chair

Then the last day we went on one last fishing trip so that all the kids could catch a fish. They were so cute, here is Owen and Josh (Owen didn't want to touch the fish)