River's first camping trip

This is the amazing Chili that KG made on Thursday evening for our weekend camping trip. Look all the those beautiful colors.
Last weekend we went camping at the cabin. Paintball was also included. This trip may have been my favorite one so far. There are several reasons for that. Let me share them with you. the people were AWESOME! We had two new families with us, both with a few kids that were just the perfect ages of lots of kids already there. We had the most families camping then we've ever had before. Flower went off and played with the other kids without being nervous that she couldn't see us. We could hardly get her to come back to camp! THAT WAS MY FAVORITE PART! Sitting back and knowing she is finally at an age where she is out exploring, using her imagination in the mountains and having a blast with the other kids. Awesome. She had three kids that are 4 plus some 5 and 3 years to play with. All the kids of every age got along so well! All the boy kids wanted to play paintball this year. Watching those kids go into the field with their dads was pretty cool. The rain...probably because I stayed dry. But the amount that was dropped was awesome and it forced everyone to hang out under the canopy and it was just fun. I had lots of time to start reading a new book. And the food. We each bring our own food and fend for ourselves. But we usually do a combined dinner on Saturday evening. I can't believe how good it was! This year we did a potluck. KG brought his chili. Shannon stole the show with a yummy pasta salad, delicious fruit salad and monster cookies! There was dutch oven chicken legs, pita sandwiches, my sister's yummy mexican dip. Dutch oven rolls. Seriously good food for camping! Plus Heidi made awesome oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that were shared around the camp fire each night.

Most of us met at Albertsons on Federal Way on Friday afternoon. The trailer we were pulling got a flat tire on our way there so once that was changed we were on our way! The characters included Ken+Uncle Steven, Sandee+Gregg and their three=Spencer, Kas, and Pepper(dog), Lisa+Monkey and their 6=Mule, Josh, Isaac, Topher, Nathan(nephew) and Zack(nephew), Kortnai and her four=Lance, Rissa, Tank and Jacob, the scouts in our ward=Aaron, Finn, Terry and crap I can't remember the new kids name. It's so fun to caravan with that many people!
About an hour after we arrived at the cabin and started setting up camp the other two families came which were Andy+Heidi and their 5=Tyler, Alexa, Hunter, Kassidy and Thor(dog), and Shanon+Ryan and their three=Cora, Jane and Oliver.
That night we ate dinner and just hung out and enjoyed the fresh mountain air and camp fire!










River was singing songs of praise at being the mountains for the first time! :)






SATURDAY
River slept in the portacrib inside our tent. She even had her own little sleeping bag. She looked so cute! She slept through the entire night, not even waking up for her binky!!! Awesome.
This is her first thing in the morning.



Andy put up his canopy that morning which turned out to be a lifesaver that night!!!
By the time I woke up everyone was gathered for breakfast.

I love how much Spencer loves River!
Flower was hooked on Zack this weekend and she conned him into giving her his sweatshirt. So sweet.







Later that afternoon another family showed up, Sam+Mel and their two=Alexandra and Joshua(I think), Phil, Laura+Eric+Jess and Erina, Kirk+Tay+Dolin and their girl/boyfriends.
LET THE PAINTBALL BEGIN!
Lots of the kids wanted to play this year. Previously we've said the age of ten but if they want to play that bad and they can handle it then why not? The rule is that they have to be shot first so that they know what it feels like. We don't want them getting on the field, which is huge, getting shot, freaking out and crying and then the game has to be halted to get them off the field. Actually it's because we like to shoot young children...that's how we roll. All the kids that got shot did awesome and they all played except for Topher. The is the first year we've had young ones playing and I loved it. So did they!
Spencer taking his hit. He's 10.

Isaac taking his hit. He's 6.
Hitting the children was making these weinies nervous. I'm so bummed they turned out fuzzy. This is Tay and Dolin, in the front, with their significant others behind each of them. Their dad Kirk works with KG. They have been long timers of the paintball trips!
River loves to sleep with her aunt Sandee.
Hunter and Flower were adorable together. They'd be gone at the swing or whatever they were doing and come back to camp holding hands. That is until they saw us and then they'd let go, therefore no photo!

This is Topher getting shot. He was the youngest and he cried and didn't play. Not because he didn't want to but because at 4, he's still a little young but he begged to be hit!
Little Hunter, 4, whistles! It is the cutest thing.
It was so fun to see how quickly all the kids became buds!

Even though the kids wanted to play paintball, we didn't want to throw them to the wolves to get clobbered. We decided to do a game with them versus the parents. They did a 'Defend the Fort' type. All the kids got in the fort and then the adults attacked the fort. That gave the kids a better chance to get the hang of shooting their guns and have their focus forward rather then having to be turning around and watching for the enemy. This just might be my favorite game thus far. It was so fun to see their excitement.
They are so adorable in their gear!
The kids are in the fort and ready to defend.
The adults swarmed the fort.

They got Uncle Steven out first. One of them shot him right in the mask! Awesome.
Andy is getting closer.
The kids slowly started coming out of the field with their war wounds. They did awesome! And it was so great that throughout the day several of them played the regular games wiht the adults! They suited themselves up and got on the field. LOVE IT!



And now for the big boys. :)
Bad asses descending on the field.

They played most of the day away. I really do love the sound of the games being fired and when they run out of ammo and air.
The paintball field body guards. :)
Nathan took a hit in the neck.
It started to drizzle and we looked over to find the kids trying to share the umbrella as they watched the paintball games. Ahhh.

Ken provided us the white canopy which also saved us in the evening.
The swings were definitely the favorite spot for the kids. It's kind of nice because they're pretty far away from camp and therefore the kids are out from under our feet. But the way they're positioned on the mountain, their voices echo so we know they are still ok. :)








I kept trying to get the tongue. This is the best I could do.
Taking cover from the rain.




It rained REALLY HARD for a good 30 minutes and then continued to pour for over an hour after that.
Poor little Hunter was terrified of the rain storm!

Trying to take a photo of the rain coming down. The pictures just don't do it justice!
I wanted to get a photo of all the kids that came but it was proving to be an impossible task because they were never together or sitting on place! They were off having a blast, as they should be. But then the rains came pouring down and we found them all seeking refuge! Perfect.
It's hard to see River and Kassidy in the back being held but they are there. And Hunter is fast asleep in one of the chairs.
They are such a fun bunch of kids!

Pretty Kas. I french braided her hair and love when the shorter pieces fall out, curling up and framing the face. :)
The boys decided to put together another tarp to cover the fire so it wouldn't get rained out.

Finally got it put together and over the fire. Nice work boys. To say they were drenched is an understatement!
Love the steam over the trees.
Hmmm, I'm just going to let this one go. :)
SUNDAY
Waiting to head out of camp to Idaho City.
We normally stay longer on Sunday but since it rained all night and continued through the morning we were all ready to hit dry land. We were all packed and on the road by 11:30 am. All except Shannon's fam met up in Idaho City for lunch. It was crazy and fun as we took up the whole restaurant.
If the number of mosquito bites is the scale of how fun the trip was then this was was off the charts! I came home with 19 on my left foot! Yikes.
Or perhaps the scale is ticks? Flower came home with three of those. That means she was out running around in the wilderness the entire time! Not sitting on my lap or in the tent but playing in areas you can actually get ticks! Again, awsome!
Yes...we all had an excellent time.