Camping at Redman

 

We had a great time on my annual birthday camping trip. I was able to get a couple extra days off work so we had a full four days in the Wasatch Mountains. I treated myself to a cargo carrier for the top of my car. It was great since we needed to pack for a few days and also take up firewood. 

Unfortunately, I was feeling under the weather that week. When I woke up, Thursday, the morning we were going to leave, I felt horrible. It took quite a few hours to even get up and going. Rusty and the kids were helpful to help get everything packed. I was determined to enjoy the trip! By the time we got up the mountain, our favorite campground, Spruces, was full. Luckily, the campground manager told us about another campground right up the canyon, that just opened up for the season. We ended up really enjoying Redman campground. It has more of a 'roughing it' feel with the campsites much further apart and dirt roads rather than paved. We couldn't see any other campers from our site.

It was raining off and on, and the water was already in full force from the melting snow so many of the campsites were flooded. Jackson, Ashleigh, Rusty and I drove around the campground to pick out a good site. We found a site that was perfect! It was huge; plenty of room for all three tents (four us in one tent, mom in another, then Jerrick & Sierra in the third), there was a small trickle of a stream for the kids to play in with downed tree trunks as a bridges, and tons of trees and rocks and space for exploring.

      

The next day, before Jerrick, Sierra and my Mom joined us, we spent the afternoon making an awesome fort out of logs and branches we found around the campground. The kids spend hours playing in the fort over the weekend, especially Jackson.

"Zombies" were going to attack Jackson in the fort.. Which turned into an all out pine cone battle with all the soft pine cones scattered throughout our camp.

       

  

 

  

Thanks to the slew of cough & cold medicine I brought, I was able to fully enjoy my birthday and the camping trip. I was evermore thankful to have other people to help get up and start the fire in the mornings and help throughout the day so I could lay low and relax. I even started a book my Aunt had given me for my birthday last year, Firefly Lane. 

We played a watered down version of volleyball (without a net) and played 'Monkey in the Middle'

Ashleigh wanted to learn how to spin Rusty's riffle

We played card games, Scattergories, charades, had scavenger hunts and went on hikes. We had some delicious meals, from dutch oven breakfast casserole to foil pouch dinners. And as always, it was great to just sit around the campfire and talk. I brought a bunch of glow sticks, which we used the night of my birthday. Jackson wanted some armor and Ashleigh wanted to make herself look like a stick figure. As it got darker, Ashleigh became quite the entertainer!

Jackson 'fishing' for food

Playing in the stream.

Getting in the hammock to relax.

There was a young moose we saw right across the water from our site. We had a couple deer walk though our camp site also.

We had an afternoon rain shower one day and this beautiful rainbow showed as the rain stopped.

I'm looking forward to our next adventure up in the mountains. Hopefully we can fit in one more trip this summer!

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• The flowers growing on my deck
• Coming home from work to the lawn being mowed, sprinklers on, and driveway swept
• Coming home from work to all the camping laundry done (clothes, towels, blankets, etc.)
• Jackson and Rusty practicing Karate together
• Running water (the water main broke twice this last week so we had no water & a flooded street)
• Having this weekend off
• Big shade trees
• Apples growing on our trees in the backyard
• Movie night on Netflix
• Fresh flowers on my dinning room table

Happy 4th!

4th of July was a blast! Literally. Utah passed a law about the type of fireworks we are able to have. Instead of the little fountains that shoot sparks up a few feet, we can now have the huge ones that shoot up into the air and explode. This being the first year we are able to have them; everyone wanted to try them out! As soon as it was dusk, for days prior to the 4th, the fireworks started going off. We could see them from almost every window of our house, it was great.

Of course we stocked up on our own fireworks and it was so much fun! We had a delicious BBQ at my Mom's on the 4th.  As it started to get dark we enjoyed sitting in the hot tub and visiting, while we could see fireworks going off from all neighborhoods close by. It was quite the view!

It's become a tradition to shuck our corn in the backyard, spread it with butter and douse it with any seasonings fit our fancy, then wrap it in foil and toss it onto the grill.


Jackson shucked a corn - carrot.

Ashleigh's corn turned into a corn lady... and they both happened to like eating carrots.


 My kids are silly, they make me laugh on a daily basis. I love it.

We bought a big pack of assorted fireworks, sparklers, tanks and one of the big, new, fireworks for our grand finale to the evening.

 

         

Happy Birthday America!