Ward Campout 2012

We do the ward campout thing every year. It is not my favorite, but I still have a good time, and it is easier without babies. And I was a total slacker this year who went home to sleep in my own soft average bed. (Since I may have tweaked my back a bit when trying to extract a bead from some child's nose.) Have I mentioned that I would love a new bed? I am just not sure which one would be the best for my temperamental back.

Tyler prepped us some amazing tinfoil dinners. I would have brought pizza, but he is trying to give the kids a more authentic experience. I'm glad he does. I'll keep things organized at home and he can be in charge of stuff in the wild.

Ivory was not wanting a tinfoil dinner so she chose hotdogs. We found a nice family with a small grill, but Tyler was not having that. He made her find a stick and roast the dog instead. She was happy with her efforts, so there you have it.

Setting up the tent was fun. Our foam bed rolls doubled nicely as horses.

 Pearl just happened to be wearing this dress.

Which brought back flashbacks of this.

By the way, we get to go on trek again next year. I'm kinda excited to not bring a baby and make my children walk more. You know, to build character. If Tyler can build character, so can I.

I found some monkeys in the trees and kindly reminded them that the campout would be more fun without broken bones.

I'm not sure if they listened seeing how they don't exactly speak my language, but luckily no one was injured.

The campsite we visited was one that our ward used a few years ago. I remembered how I was feeling that year. ....very pregnant.

You can tell that I was close to delivery because I was wearing Tyler's clothes. I know I have reached the end when even my maternity clothes don't really fit.

That was four years ago. (Almost.) Miss Daisy's birthday is rapidly approaching. Instead of feeling too large, I was sitting pretty and breathing easily. Have I mentioned how much I love breathing??

Tyler was in charge of singing in the evening. I didn't get any pictures because I didn't want to bother the audience with excessive flash use. But it was a fun evening.

That is where it ended for me. Tyler packed me and Pearl up in the car and sent us on our way. He came back to a tent full of sleeping beauties. Apparently we wore them out thoroughly.

They breakfasted in the morning, found an ice cream drop (compliments of Pilot Macbean) and all arrived back home in pristine smoky condition.

Interesting things to note:

-Was the budget cut? Because normally the ward supplies smores and a hearty breakfast with ham, eggs, and pancakes. This year—no smores and only pancakes. Weird?

-There was a noticeable lack of mosquitoes. I didn't see a single one, and no one in our family used bugspray. That said, Robyn did manage to get one bite on her temple. (I think the lone mosquito was happy with just her blood.)

-Ivory's clothes came home reeking of pee. She promised to no accidents and she wears a diaper at night anyway. Is it possible the dog peed on her stuff? I shudder to think about it. And we checked sleeping bags and they are all okay. Random alien expulsion??

-I'm lobbying for an nice air mattress or a cot. Then I will happily stay next year.