Camping Adventure!

This past weekend we made the trek up north to the rim for the Hatch Family Reunion. I felt like I did nothing and yet somehow the weekend flew by. Here goes the recount....

We drove up early Friday morning and once we got there we spent what felt like hours setting up the tents (the boys got their own tent this year). Here's Ben being cranky in front of his tent:

Then Tyler did archery with Steven & some of Steven's cousins & 2nd cousins. He also did archery with the grown ups (his brothers & sisters & his own cousins). It was fun to see who had the skill...and who not so much. Me & Lucy observed comfortably from a blanket nearby. 

After all the archery fun,Tyler abandoned me to go back into town to get potatoes for his potato gun (which ended up not working) and some other miscellaneous things for people. After he came back it was pretty much dinner time and socializing. As it started to get dark we got hit with a huge storm. Lots of rain and lots of crazy close lightening. There were two lightening strikes that I couldn't even count to "one Mississippi  before I heard the thunder. Scared the bejeebers out of me & the kids (and made Tara's husband jump and scream like a girl ;) ). It was exciting but it made it hard to get back to our tents for bed time and it made it hard for me to leave the boys alone in their tent. I was paranoid all night that something might happen to them & I wouldn't hear it over the rain.

By Saturday morning the storm had passed and all that was left behind was mud. Lucy slept well during the night but woke up at 5:30am so she got to spend some time bonding with her daddy:

 She even got to ride with him on a child sized quad that Tara had brought:

Benny was pretty tired & crabby Saturday morning but after much persuasion I finally got him to flash his infamous happy face for the camera. That was probably thanks to the juice....

Steven spent most of Saturday morning on the hunt for frogs. There were about a zillion of them in this pond. They were super noisy during the night (making a sound that I thought sounded like quacking). Steven loved trying to catch these jumpy things and got super muddy doing it. He then had to wear flip flops for the rest of the day.

We tried to get a picture of him showing us the frog but he wouldn't open his hands because he was afraid it might hop out:

And here is an awesome picture Melissa took of Steven with his cousins at the frog pond:

After lunch we went up to the top of the rim. Steven & Ben rode in the back of Tyler's Uncle's truck and Tyler & I rode up in a 2 seater ATV . It was a pretty view from the top. Us women folk and all the kids (except Steven) hung out there while the men hiked down a bit.

 

I was a little freaked out that Tyler decided to take Steven with him on such a steep climb. After I complained to one of Tyler's cousins about it, Ben got really worried and said, "Are they going to be dead?" I had to quickly explain that I was just exaggerating and that I was sure they'd be fine (although I wasn't). Ben was still pretty worried and here he is looking sad with his 2nd cousins:

Thankfully they all survived! We took Ben back with us on the ATV and he fell asleep on my lap. It was pretty cute and it was a much needed nap. When he woke up from that one he was a much happier boy.

Then there were some games to be had. The kids had a water balloon toss with their dad, walked the plank and the grown ups played water balloon volleyball. I opted out on volleyball this year and was happier for it. No need to be hated for my bad volleyball skills ;)

And later that afternoon there was more archery for Tyler and after that he went shooting. Unluckily for me while Tyler was out shooting we had some drama. Steven & Bryson were riding on the child sized quad and rolled it. Thankfully they were both wearing helmets and weren't injured but it was terrifying for Steven (& me too!). And maybe them rolling the quad was a blessing in disguise because it was then that we discovered Steven had a small but pretty deep cut on the bottom of his foot that he then informed me had gotten it that morning. As you might recall he had soaked his shoes & was wearing flip flops all day. That meant this deep cut was filled with dirt. 

Here came the truly traumatizing part for me & Steven....cleaning out his cut. You would think I was chopping off his foot. There was shrieking, screaming, kicking, thrashing, crying...It was awful. And the awfulness spread to Ben & Lucy who also started to cry. I am so thankful that a cousin of his that is a nurse and another one that is a fire fighter helped me with the cleaning. But despite all the good helpers I lost my cool after lots of minutes of the cleaning and broke down. It was not a fun moment for me. When Tyler came back I was one huge mess.

When all that was done it was pretty much dinner time & then bed time. Lucy decided to further my unhappiness by waking up Sunday morning at 4am and refusing to go back to sleep. We would have let her cry it out in the tent but Tyler's brother had decided to park his tent right next to ours so we couldn't. I swear moments like this are true marriage testers--- Tyler & I do not get along well at 4am in the morning. We eventually put Lucy in her car seat in Tyler's truck and let her cry it out there. Then when she was asleep she came back into the tent and thankfully stayed asleep until 7am.

Sunday involved lots of cleaning up and packing. It also involved a small church service. A missionary to be, and a recently returned one spoke. Then Tyler's mom talked about Mariah. Then there was sharing of stories about people who have passed-- Tyler's grandpa & grandma and his aunt Leslie. It was interesting to hear about these people I never got to meet. Then there was a good spiritual lesson by Tyler's dad on raising up the youth of this generation. His dad always get's teary eyed which makes me get that way too. Steven on the other hand had issues with listening because he was busy letting a frog jump & pee all over him. Ugh.

And when we finally headed home---this one passed out with a half finished PB sandwich sitting nicely in his lap:

Oh these Hatch Family Reunions are always an Adventure :)