Summer Camp Out at Big Lake

The last weekend in July we were able to get away with Jerry's family for a little campout. It was so much fun. We drove to Big Lake in eastern Arizona. It was an 8 hour drive. Long, but the kids did surprisingly well. It is actually quite close to New Mexico. Once we got there I was in paradise. No phone service, no tv, just us, nature, and the rain. Oh, and nice bathroom facilities with running water, flushing toilets and even warm showers. It couldn't be paradise without that. It rained all weekend, and I LOVED it. The mornings were usually clear and beautiful, but by afternoon it started raining off an on for the rest of the day and night. Do you like our make shift ponchos? Garbage bags have several purposes.

The boys getting ready to go do some shooting.

Do these two look like they're up to something or what?

Getting our Grub

Such a doll

This is what it looked like Saturday morning when we woke up. Just beautiful!

Cute Rebecca

I think I'm going to take my nieces on every vacation with me. Rebecca and her cousin, Mikayla were inseparable. Hope she didn't mind being Rebecca's playmate. And they all just loved helping in any way with Rebecca and Sydney.

We enjoyed playing card games and maffia in the pavilion while it rained. Great memories.

Jerry's brothers enjoyed going out fishing early every morning.

Jerry, Hayden and Rebecca had fun fishing too. The thing Hayden was most excited about was that he got a Batman fishing pole.

Big Lake

They also had a lot of fun throwing rocks into the lake.

We made many great memories while we were there, but one of mine was when Jerry took Hayden and Rebecca fishing. Sydney was SO tired and needed a nap. So I put her in the stroller and went for a run. It was beautiful. It took me back to my summers in West Yellowstone when I got to take off after work and go for a bike ride in such beautiful nature. I had a lot of time to think about the path my life took to get from my summers during college working in West Yellowstone, to ending up on a great vacation with wonderful in-laws. Having an amazing husband and 3 darling, fun, beautiful, smart children. I am a lucky woman. There were times in my life I was frustrated, not understanding why my life wasn't going the way I thought it should be. I had righteous desires, it wasn't like what I wanted was bad in any way. But I'm grateful that the Lord took it down the right path for me, and I got everything I wanted and more, and he continues to do so. (Just wish I would learn by now just to go with it, not let my will get in the way:) It was just a good run, and just good thinking time. I am blessed.

My brave nephew was dared to eat a fish eye. YUCK!
He's doing it...

He did it, and if it tasted half as bad as it looked, I'm glad it was him and not me! (Even if it tasted half good, I'm still glad it was him, not me.)

Isn't this a cute boy!

We stayed up late Saturday night playing games and talking around the campfire, and moving under the pavilion when it rained, and back out when it stopped. :) Not really wanted to go to bed because we knew we had to get packed up and home in the morning.
Sunday morning came and we had to go back home.

As the cars were getting packed up we played a little duck, duck, goose to keep the kids entertained.

It started raining again, literally about 5 minutes before we were all ready to go. I couldn't believe all the rain, and I LOVED every minute of it. OK, maybe not while I was sleeping and worried that the water would come in the tent. But other than that LOVED it. The whole trip was so fun and I hope we do this with Jerry's family every summer. We made some great memories and had a wonderful time!