Flaming Gorge

The week before we were supposed to leave for Flaming Gorge this year we got news that there was a fire near Mustang Ridge and the whole campground had to be evacuated. Luckily it reopened just in time for us to still be able to go on our trip. First time camping this year!

We drove up on Monday, July 24th and set up camp with Kyley and Jordan, Hayden and Karissa and Kelly.

Tuesday we all went to play at Sunny Cove, while Kelly went back for the boat. The kids got to play on paddle boards and kayaks while the dads all hunted for treasures at the bottom of the cove.

Wednesday Tai, Charly and Reagan all came out of their trailers dressed nearly the same!

Later Kelly took us on the boat over to play at "King Yao". 

I don't know what got Tai so scared that the boat is going to flip, but for the first couple days she was hysterical whenever we put the boat in the water. She eventually got better, but would only get off to swim if Kyley was swimming with her. Kohen didn't ever want to get in the water either. He says he doesn't want to get wet or go under the sea.

Kasen didn't dare jump that day, but I told Tai I'd give her 5 cookies if she did, so she went for it!

When it started to rain and lightening we headed back and ended up getting dumped on! It was raining so hard and then turned to hail. Kohen and Collins were so cute hiding out in the cubby and the rest of the kids were hiding under towels on the floor. I don't know how, but Kolt stayed asleep for the whole storm. Jordan and Hayden were getting pelted in the front, water was pouring down my back and when we got to the dock, Jordan slipped and fell in the water! We were all soaked. All I could do was laugh!

Thursday we went out on the boat before Lyndsey's family and Krista got there. Some people played at "Lion King" and Kasen got to be back on the kneeboard.

Kolt's first time on the boat at 3 months old!

Where the fire burned all along the road down to the boat ramp.

Dang he's good lookin!

Trying to joust on the dragon and unicorn blow ups did not work because nobody could stay balanced on them long enough to try.

Later we walked down to Lion King to swim some more, but that ended up being miserable. We were hiking through trees that kept stabbing Kohen in the head and couldn't find where to hike down. When we finally got there it just wasn't a good spot for Kohen to play. It drops off too fast for him to play in the water safely and all the kids telling him to push them off the cliffs wasn't helping him to not fall in either. Kyle had to run to save him when he jumped in too deep to touch and went under.

Krista asks us if Kohen knows his name cause this kid is very good at ignoring me! He rarely listens to anything I say. Could not care less about doing anything we tell him. Won't even stop or turn around when we call. Stressful.

Friday morning Kyle, Jordan and Hayden took a trip down the river to fish, while the rest of us went out on the boat. To get rained on. Again.

I felt so bad because Kyley was by herself at the cliffs with 8 kids when it started raining and she had to hike them all back to camp by herself too. While all their hair was standing on end, they took cover under a big rock for a little bit and all the kids decided to sing I Am a Child of God together.

Later we went back to play at King Yao cliffs and this time Kasen jumped off!

Raegan is all about finding lizards and recruited Tai to help her trap them on the rocks.

Saturday we went to play underneath the bridge with everyone. Hayden tried to tie a new rope swing under the bridge, but it didn't work. We were waiting for someone to try it though and watch them fall down the rocks.

Kasen got to ride the water weenie back just as it started to rain on us a little bit.

Everyone else had gone home Sunday before church, so it was just us and the Days there this year.

That night Kyle took Kasen and Kohen out fishing on the boat.

Monday we got to ride on the boat one last time and this time we got Kasen to get up on the kneeboard AND hold the rope! So proud.

Grandpa's boat music can get loud, but right after this Kohen was dancing all over the boat like a little party animal.

Wayne to the rescue. He panics whenever someone jumps in and won't just lay down. Always has to be pacing the whole length of the boat. Kyle makes him hold still though. Haha

Of course it started raining on us again, but it cleared up enough at night that we got to go back out to take the kids on the Big Mable tube!

We made the girls get on to try forcing them to have fun. But it didn't really work...

The older kids are so much fun to watch though! My favorite! I was laughing so hard looking through these pictures.

I love how no matter how scared Bentley and Kennedy look, Kasen is always just grinning so big.

Tuesday we went back to play at Sunny Cove again. Kohen spent most of the time sitting here making a "car" in the mud. I had told Kyle that sometime while we were there that I wanted to see how long I could swim to see if a Sprint Triathlon would be a realistic goal for me. I knew as soon as I got in the water that it would rain though! And I was right. I swam to the other side of the cove and down came the rain. I swam for 8 minutes, almost 1/4 of a mile, but it was not pretty! I don't know how to swim with my face in the water. And definitely don't want to do it in a lake. I think I have a little bit of an irrational fear of seeing what is under the water. Freaks me out! So I did most of it on my back.

We played games nearly every night, including; Telestrations, Chameleon, 5 Crowns, Cover Your Assets, 13 Down, Phase 10, Yahtzee and Taboo. Taboo was a definite favorite this year. We were laughing so hard trying not to use our hands to help us. And how none of us have any idea what a Chalet is.

 The very last night we were there Kennedy pulled out Kasen's 10th tooth! 

Kolt got a little sunburned, Tai and Kohen both have bandaids on their knees, but in the end Tai cried when we had to leave Wednesday morning. Kasen is happy he doesn't have to drink bottled water anymore though. He's not a fan.

When we got home we found out that Tai's beta fish can survive 10 days without being fed, but that our entire deep freeze full of food had gone bad.

If you take a baby on a 10 day camping trip, chances are your power will go out at home. When your power goes out at home, it will probably trip a GFCI outlet in your garage. If your GFCI outlet trips, the power to your deep freeze will not come back on. When the power doesn't come back on all the food in your freezer will melt. When all the food in your freezer melts it makes a melty meat juice mess all over your garage floor. When there is a melty meat juice mess all over your garage floor, you probably want to spray it off. When you spray it off, you remember that you never sprayed out the garage in the spring cause you had a baby instead, and decide to spray it out. When you decide to spray it out you hear your baby crying. When you hear your baby crying you remember he needs some milk. When you think about milk you remember how you just had to throw away 228 ounces of melted milk. Because chances are, if you have a baby, you're going to need some milk to go with it....

Pretty much nothing in our freezer is replaceable. Except the 2 boxes of otter pops that survived. It's all the deer meat that Kyle got last year, fish from his trip to Texas, my milk and all the corn, peas and jam that my Grandma gives us from her garden. SO hard to just throw all of that away.