Father's and Son's Camp Out

Our kids look forward all year to the Father's and Son's camp out. Sara gets just as excited as the boys! We always plan a fun girls night out together. This year we went to dinner with Nanny and a group of ladies and girls from the ward and then went to a play "Beauty and the Beast". It was a really fun night together.

This is how the boys night started...It quickly turned into this...I'm not exactly sure what goes on at the Father's and Son's...and I'm not exactly sure that I WANT to know, I do know that it includes lots of dirt, not much hand washing or teeth brushing, big fires, guns and 4-wheelers. This year the Boy Scouts retired some of the worn flags that they use for their fundraiser. Troy said they put together a really neat program, I thought this was a pretty cool picture. Later Saturday afternoon some of us girls met our boys up at camp for a little outdoor adventure of our own...the plan was to do a little camping, cook tinfoil dinners and go for a little ride.

Caleb and his best friend in the whole world.

Me and Ben
It all started out great! Then it started getting really cold and wet. As we headed back we decided to follow the GPS and take a road that looped back to the main road we came in on and would take us back to camp. When the road disappeared into a big open field I started to get a little nervous. We could see where the road SHOULD have been and could see a trail that LOOKED like it led up the mountain to the main road. We decided to keep going and picked up the double track trail...we forged a river and started up the mountain, next thing I know the double track turned into a single track and the slope started to get VERY steep!

This is where we decided to stop and formulate a new plan! One of the guys went ahead of us to check out the trail...he was gone for a long time...a very long time. It started getting late, then it started raining, then it started to down pour, then the lightening and thunder started and the dirt all around us started getting very wet and VERY slippery...all we could do was to wait and huddle under the pine trees to try to keep everybody dry and standing up straight!

Sara, who is not accustomed to high adventure, started to get very upset. Going over the river had pretty much pushed her over the edge. I think she could sense the nervous tension in the air as we waited, the boys were of course unfazed by it all, they were too busy throwing pine cones and hitting each other with sticks! She started crying and saying "I'm never going to see Reese again! We're lost and Mike is gone with the GPS and we're never going to make it back without the GPS!" Justin was very sweet to her and tried to help her feel better.

Mike finally came back...walking back! The trail had gotten smaller and smaller and his 4-wheeler had rolled down the mountain and landed in a tree. Luckily, he was able to just let it go and wasn't hurt. With the rain and the cold and it getting so late we regrouped the remaining 4-wheelers, got turned around and headed back for camp. Much to Sara's relief we all made it,a little wet and cold, but safe and sound!

The boys had to go back the next morning for the 4-wheeler...it had minimal damage and they found all the important stuff...the GPS that had broken off, Mike's cell phone and wallet that were left in one of the boxes and the secret stash of brownie bites which Troy and Brian said were a little smashed but still tasted pretty darn good! They were able to get it out of the tree and rode it back to camp and Mike being the handy guy he is, had it fixed the next day. It certainly was an Excellent Adventure that I'm sure will be brought up at every campfire we sit around for years to come! Thanks Ball's and Marsh's for breaking us in easy...we love you guys!!