When we first moved into our apartment, we started a little FHE (Family Home Evening...it's something Mormons do to make sure to spend time with family at least once a week) group. At first it was us and our neighbors, the Walkers. Then a couple weeks before Aaron went into the hospital, we were joined by the Mosses. It turned out to be a real blessing because when Aaron went into the hospital, we hadn't been in the ward that long and only knew a couple families.
They helped us out with food for the hospital. Alerting the right people at church that we needed help. Priesthood blessings. Some babysitting. Helping out with Thanksgiving pie. And general friendship.
It took 6 months for anyone in our ward in Ogden to make eye contact with us. It took 2 weeks in this ward to start a friendly little bible study group. Exceptionally people here.
When Aaron got out of the hospital, we started back up again. We've invited more people and it is getting more and more awesome.
The Walkers were moving away though and they invited our FHE group on a camping trip. Aaron and I are the only ones with kids and so it was with some trepidation that we said yes. I'd never camped with kids...I didn't know how it would all work out.
We got up to camp Friday afternoon and started setting up. I'm so glad that our first camping trip was with friends because...it takes a village, guys. Aaron needed help setting the huge tent up and I had Sydney strapped to me and I was making sure that Zach stayed out of trouble so I couldn't help. So Preston and Skip helped us out.
I appointed myself the group photographer...since I wanted to help our group in SOME form.
And our little explorer ate it all up (figuratively)!
While dad worked hard setting up our little "home", Zach explored around us.
Be still my heart. This boy....*sigh* He is a dreamboat.
He brought me "yo" flowers all weekend. It's his word for "yellow". I kind of don't want him to ever say it correctly because it is adorable.
When "home" was set up, Zach went to check it out. It was definitely big enough for all 6 of us. That's right. 6.
Not a pregnancy announcement. We had the dogs with us. That was another added dimension of difficulty. Man....Aaron and I sure have acquired a good amount of dependents.
Then Skip caught on fire.
Oh...not really. I love that picture because the flame leaped up and made it look like he was on fire.
Zero guitar playing took place on this trip...which was kind of a surprise. Considering the guitar.
The problem was that it was a little too cold for having fingers exposed. The temperature was dropping and got down to about 40 degrees that night. That REALLY shocked me....because....ummmm....we live in Las Vegas.
True story, as we were packing up the car, these neighborhood girls came over and asked, "Are you guys going camping?" "Yeah." "You're going to freeze. It's cold when you camp."
I didn't think that they knew what they were talking about but it was enough to scare me into grabbing a sweater for Zach and me.
Zach finished eating his sandwich and then it was WAY passed his bedtime. He had a tough time getting to sleep since he was really really mad that he was so tired. But finally he went to sleep.
Then it was time for the grown up fun!!! Joke. We made ice cream. Homemade ice cream sounded like a great idea when it was warmer but at 40 degrees, it was still a treat. But I felt bad for whoever was shaking the ice cream because their hands got a tad bit chilly.
A good little spiritual experience finding a lost pacifier and it was really sweet listening to the other couples getting ready for bed in their tents. Praying together and singing songs. Talking and laughing together. It made me wonder what our tent sounded like.
"Is Zach waking up? Should we get another blanket for Pippen? he looks cold. Ouch! She's ripping up my nipple. I can't scoot over or I'll crush a baby. This is all the blanket I have. Did we leave both of our phones in the car? Oh man, Sydney pooped. I need to pull her out. Can you hold the flash light? She's going to be MAD! It's okay. I'm sorry, I know it's cold. Is Zach waking up?"
The next morning, which started at 6:50am (which is totally normal for our house....Zach rises with the sun...or before it. He isn't picky) was chilly but beautiful.
I mean, look at this view!!!
Beautiful Kim making me so hot and perfect chocolate chip pancakes. Best sight in the world. They were so good. We ate and ate and ate. I think I had 4 pancakes. Everyone else were light weights!
Aaron was a bit chilly from the night before. We sacrificed most of the blankets to our kids. They were toasty little burritos that actually slept like rocks. Aaron wrapped a blanket around himself and stared stoically into the fire.
We left Zach in his full body pajamas in the morning and added shoes and a sweater to the look. He continues his exploration of the campsite. He would find lots of ants and bring them over to me and....I'm sorry to say...the ants did not survive the encounter with Zach. He would pinch them in his fingers and bring them to me saying, "Ant! Ant! Ant!" and I would look at them and he would "free" them and they would....ummmm....not crawl away.
Late in the morning we got ready to go for a hike. This was the first time we would be hiking with Zach on an unpaved trail so that was exciting. Sydney, of course, would be carried by me...such a mooch.
I love this picture of Zach. He looks like he is at his thinking spot....contemplating life.
The hiking trail was about 1000 feet lower than our campsite so it warmed up by about 20 degrees...which was nice after waking up cold that morning.
These two are favorites of mine. I'm probably going to be saying it for a LONG LONG time but I'm so happy that Aaron is up and walking. I'm grateful that he's able to do stuff like this with his family again. I know it might be awhile still before he is able to feel 100% when he's doing it or to go the distances that we used to but I'm so glad that we've come this far.
He looks adorable staring back at me but he is thinking, "Ummmm....we aren't leaving mom out here, right?"
Toward the end of the hike, Zach was having a tough time. He's little legs were struggling to keep up and Aaron couldn't keep carrying him. They started to fall behind the pack.
This is the only picture of me on the trip so please enjoy it. I can't believe that our family is getting so big!!!! Two kids!! 3 years ago, I was so devastated after our second miscarriage. God's timing is perfect....even when sometimes it feels a bit slow.
Our great friend Skip decided that he was the guy to help Zach finish up his hike. Skip is a powerhouse of a guy when it comes to serving other people. He was totally willing to help our hobbling family to the end of the trail.
FINISHING STRONG!!
We got back to camp and most of us went to take naps. Much. Needed. Naps. Zach protested and so Aaron and Sydney took a nap. Then I forced Zach to take a nap with me. I did the "fall asleep while restraining the child" method....I mean....snuggling. It worked like a charm and we slept for about an hour and a half.
Notice the dog kennels knocked over. The wind was whipping our tent around like crazy and the dogs were napping with us. I woke up to the dogs whining because they had been tipped over and were super uncomfortable. The wind was CRAZY.
After nap time, we played a fun game that the Moss's brought. And we got a big surprise! The Silva's drove up to see us!!! They were in the area with Elise setting up for girl's camp the next week and wanted to hang out even though they couldn't spend the night.
Turns out, none of us wanted to stay another night. Aaron and I had always planned on only the one night because Aaron had an early morning meeting the next day at Church. But after the near freezing cold conditions the night before, everyone was eager for a good night sleep and a shower before church the next day.
So we forced the Silva's to help us take down camp, with the promise of a delicious dinner.
I had Elise snuggle my baby (I don't think she minded terribly) so that I could help Aaron clear out our tent of all the blankets and clothes and everything else we had hauled up there.
Kim worked on making our delicious Indian inspired curry dinner. Oh it was so good. We did not go without on our camping trip in the way of food AT ALL.
These are our manly men hard at work. Really great guys the whole lot of them.
Once all the tents got packed up, we were all ready to settle in and eat. It was amazing. And it was the perfect warm dinner for such a chilly windy day.
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