inauguration

We got a new camping trailer the day before Benson was born and Dave was insistent that we use it at least once before it gets too cold!

I happily obliged (*note sarcasm*) and we headed up to Bartlett Lake, AZ.

Neither of us had been to Bartlett Lake before, and it was beautiful.

Here's a view of the lake on our way to the campsite.

Here's our new camp trailer all set up.

It's little, and perfect for our family.

I totally felt like I was at the Hilton.

(*note sarcasm again*)

We couldn't find enough logs for a good fire, so Uncle Spencer built the kids a tiny fire, and Cannon was mesmerized by it.

The "big" kids slept great, and were so excited to play in the dirt when we woke up.

We got a camping oven at Costco not long after we got our trailer and we tried it out on our trip.

It was pretty nice to be able to bake!

If only this little man had slept like this during the night!

I think Dave and I each got about two hours of sleep.

It was Benson's second bad night in a row, so I was TIRED on Saturday.

Just a cute shot of Lily, before she got all dirty.

And, one of the little man.

He was saving the rest of that muffin that is all over his face for later.

The kids wanted to go play "by the water" and throw rocks in the lake.

It started all out fine and dandy . . .

And ended like this . . .

And my favorite part of the trip?

Cannon's diaper after splashing in the super-duper-clean lakewater.

A still picture didn't do it justice so you gotta watch this 5 second video clip.

If you need some more laughs, watch this 15 second video clip . . .

I swear, how did the pioneers do it with just rags for diapers.

I mean look how much liquid that diaper is holding.

Amazing . . . and hilarious.Amazing . . . and hilarious.

All in all, a fun trip.

Memories were made.

Jammies were ruined.

Sleep was lost.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's Halloween posts, lots of cute costumes I'm sure!

Call Reunion

We headed to Woods Canyon Lake up on the rim for the Call family reunion in July.

It was pretty rainy for the weekend.

The kids were in heaven.

Caked in mud and LOVING it.

Luckily we were able to stay in the Alldredge cabin so we didn't have to tent it in the rain.

Thanks Alldredge's for hooking us up!

Here is what the whole weekend looked like . . .

mud . . .

and more mud . . .

just a little more mud . . .

and mud . . .

and making boats . . .

and more boats . . .

and lots of mud . . .

and some good old family bonding . . .

A fun time for all, especially the muddy kiddos!

Thanks Mimi for planning it!

**I neglected to bring my camera so all of the pictures are courtesy of Aunt Lara**

Beach Buzz

A few things going on here last week!
Cannon got a new haircut.
It was supposed to be longer, but the barber (a.k.a. Dave) had the wrong blade on.
I'm kind of liking the buzz look.
It sure is easy to manage those cowlicks with a buzz.



We spent the weekend camping on the beach at Carlsbad State Beach park just north of San Diego. It was fun!
There were about 150 of our friends there and we enjoyed being with everyone!
Our kids loved the beach, and I loved the boogie boarding with girlfriends!
I am hooked.
I had only tried it in Florida, where the waves aren't as big, and I never understood why everyone thought it was so fun, but it was FUN, FUN, FUN in the California waves!

wilderness adventures

This past weekend was our ward campout! We had a blast. We took Mimi & Papa's camping trailer and truck and headed out on Friday afternoon. Lily loved riding in Papa's "big truck" and driving through the mountains near Globe, AZ. After we got through them she kept saying "I wanna drive through the mountains again", and we kept having to explain to her that we had to go where the road went . . . she wasn't quite "gettin' it" because she kept pointing out mountains in the distance and saying "over there" (pronounced "over dere").

Once we got there and got the trailer all situated we pretty much hung out in it until bedtime, and Lily was HILARIOUS. She was bouncing off the walls and was extremely hyper. We had set up a bed with a rail so she couldn't roll off and she was climbing in and out of it and calling it her "special crib". Cannon was just watching her in fascination . . .

On Saturday we enjoyed breakfast with the ward, some activities with the kids, and there was a pretty creek at the campground and we really enjoyed that!



Overall a great experience. Dave always says it's work to make memories, and he's right! But it's well worth it!!

On a side note I have to record two funny things that Lily has said in the last two days. Yesterday we were at church and she was sitting on Dave's lap. She was kind of leaned back drinking out of her sippy cup and she looks up at Dave's nose and says "daddy, you got boogers" . . . "pick them daddy, pick them". She said it like FOUR times, and it was of course pin drop quiet in church so the whole congregation must have heard her. We couldn't find the "boogers" in his nose that she was referring to . . . it was just nose hair . . . apparently she's never seen any nose hair in her life.

We were at Target together this morning and she was singing the Barney song the whole time as loud as she possibly could and seriously entertaining the entire store. Everyone just kept laughing at her. As we are leaving Target she looks at me and says "I need to go to the bank." While trying to keep a straight face I asked her, "why?" She looked at me matter-of-factly and said "I need to get a lollipop." Oh what a funny kid I have. I have a feeling she's going to have me smiling and laughing very often . . .

CAMPING!!

We went camping this weekend, and had a great time. We had such a great time, that we forgot to take very many pictures, but we did get a few!

Here is Lily climbing on one of the camping chairs, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She tipped it over a few times, and there were a few tears, but she kept coming back for more climbing fun.


The campground that we went to had lots of activities available, one of which was a big slip and slide. I didn't go on it, but Dave and Lily did, and they had a blast.