Camping is In Tents.

Get it? Intense? In tents? Asking yourself why you continue to read my blog in spite of all my corny puns? I'm wondering too. But glad you're pushing through it to get to the good stuff. And good stuff it is. We camped. Uh huh. To quote my good buddy, Jim Gaffigan, "My parents never took me camping. They loved me." 

My camping resume is pretty scarce. Prior to marrying Buddy, my only experience was Young Women's Camp. We did, in fact, sleep in tents, but there were outhouses within a respectable distance, and some years even flushies - lucky, I know. As newlyweds, we camped in our bishop's backyard (to be fair, we were intended to camp at a state park, but bears were running amok.) So you could say I'm a rookie. But lucky for me, I married a camper and even luckier for both of us, we befriended The Giffords, who (among a jillion other qualities we admire) are the best campers I've ever seen. I really can't say enough good things about this family. I'll have to save some of it for another post.

Their children are ADORABLE and play so nicely with Teagan. They also sit sill for photos when asked. (clears throat)

They were kind enough to forge ahead and find us a sweet campsite, devoid of glass, shotgun shells and broken TVs (the first one they tried was not) and set up shop. Our infamous squeaky brakes alerted them to our arrival and we were able to rendezvous sans cell phone reception - how ever did we used to do it? We set up shop and sat down to a hearty and DELICIOUS meal of dutch oven chicken enchiladas...better than the ones I try to make in our conventional oven. Once dinner and dessert were digested (I can't spend too much time talking about the apple crisp at the risk of drooling all over my keyboard) we suited up in our pjs and took a ride in The Ranger.

 

Teagan loved it. Apparently riding shotgun wasn't enough for her. Jason was an incredibly good sport.

I was given some sage advice before we went and was told to "embrace". The dirt, the sand, the grit. Embrace. So I fought all my natural, neat freak tendencies and did my best not to run around after Teagan, picking the dirt from under her fingernails and wiping her face and hands every 30 seconds. Hence the Ring O' Dirt encrusted on her face where the binkie sits. Charming, no?

 

Considering the fact that it was her first camping trip and she only inherited camping genes from her father, she did REALLY well. It helped immensely that our family-sized tent was able to accommodate her Pack-n-Play. We tried to follow the bedtime routine as closely as we could: brush teeth, sing, pray, read stories and give kisses. She was tired enough from a fun day with friends AND dirt that she went down without a semblance of a fight. She stirred once the whole night, but slept through until morning. That was a pleasant surprise. (It supports my theory that she's part sloth.)

Free from kids, we relaxed around where the campfire should have been if fire restrictions hadn't been in force. We got the idea, though. We roasted marshmallows over their camping stove to improvise s'mores. We exchanged funny stories and got to know one another a little better. We're almost as cool as they are...almost. 

We were in charge of breakfast, so it goes without saying that it wasn't great. Jason & Natalie pulled out all sorts of camping kitchen gadgets to help us...we know where we're going in an emergency. After our attempt at pancakes and bacon, we took off in the Ranger again to see the sights of Lovell Canyon. We had every intent to hike, but couldn't seem to find a decent trail head, so we just drove and that was fine with me! Teagan loved every minute of our ride and did not get out easily.

We eventually found a nice little trail, strapped Teagan in the backpack and headed out to explore. We didn't realize that Teagan's shoe had fallen off until we'd decided to turn around. So we made the return trip more of a search and rescue mission and, bless Carson's heart, he found her tiny, pink Croc on the side of the trail. Brandon found horse poop, but he wasn't exactly looking for that.
How cute are these kids doing THE pose (I guess Jason does this atop the various peaks he climbs). Love them.

Natalie was clever enough to set up the timer on her camera for a group shot. Clearly camping sans make-up and hairbrush don't agree with me. Hence me not being in more of the photos.

But we did snag a photo of the 3 of us to document our success. 3 campers and 3 smiles. Guess that makes us happy campers?

I embraced the dirt. And so did Teagan.

Not sure when this became "our thing" but we seem to do it where'er we go. We had SO much fun. I think I've been holding Brandon back when it comes to all things outdoorsy - I blame a childhood in England. It just doesn't occur to me to camp. Or step outside sometimes. But with a little lot of help from some wonderful, well-prepared friends, I may be outdoorsy yet. We had a TON 'o' fun. Thanks Giffords!