This last weekend (memorial day weekend) we had been planning on camping at a place called the Wedge near the San Rafel Swells area with my side of the family. However, when both Dawson and Harry came down with fevers Thursday morning and my parents and brother Jake bailed on us – we had to re-think some of our plans.
Originally we thought it would be best just to cancel going camping altogether because we weren’t sure if Brans would come down with the fever or not. But I had already bought all our camping (junk) food and was so excited to go. Another alternative was to set up our tent in our yard. A better option but still not as fun as camping in the mountains. And a third option was just to go someplace super close so that if Brans did get sick we could easily go home. The problem was that it was FRIDAY when all this went down and we hadn’t reserved a campsite anywhere nearby so we didn’t know if we would even find anything open.
So when our next door neighobrs the Alvey’s mentioned that they had saved an awesome group camp site up Payson Canyon, and that they had more than enough room for us, we couldn’t pass it up and that sealed the deal for us. So a camping we all went. We hurried and loaded up the trailer and by 4:30 we were outa here!
The group site Jesse and Angie had found ended up being absolutely perfect too. It was only a 15-20 minute drive from our house and in a super beautiful area of the canyon with not a lot of nearby neighbors (so very isolated). And just up the road was a lovely little reservoir for fishing, frogging, or hiking around. It was awesome! The campsite even had grass all over and plenty of room to play frisbee, football, horseshoes, and soccer. It was really so fun! Below are some pictures of our adventures up the canyon.
Jesse and Angie (our camp hosts) who were *not* supposed to be peeling potatoes on Dwaynes brand new ping pong table (who had brought it up for the weekend).
Some of Jesse’s friends Melanie, Carl, Jakel, and Mckenzie.
We had a lot of fun getting to know them over our few days with them. Cute family!
Getting all ready for hot dogs, doritos, fruit, veggies, and smores for our first nights dinner
Cause she’s just cute!
My very own Lumber Jack man – who provided us with lots of entertainment and firewood.
The kids at breakfast on Saturday morning eating their beloved Chocolate Marshmallow Maties – A special treat for camping! Daws (to the right) ended up having several bloody noses while we were camping and spent a good chunk of his day with toilet paper stuffed up his nose. Very attractive!
A series of pictures where Daddy is making fun of Adalynn the drama queen.
Jakel, Kenzie, and Syd enjoying their morning breakfast burritos
Saturday morning we all woke up to a camp covered in a thin layer of yellow tree pollen. It literally was on EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE and man alive did it flare up all our allergies. Below you can see how bad it was by looking at the ping pong table. It was seriously everywhere.
Cute Angie bonding with Adalynn
Our sweet camping spot.
The kids loved getting a chance to spend time with their Dad. Whether it was football, frisbee, soccer, or hiking around the reservoir. They loved their Daddy time.
Saturday afternoon Carl and Melanie took a trip into town and when they got back they gave each of the boys a little light up soccer ball. The problem was that the balls exteriors were made of really sticky rubbery like material that instantly collected an insane amount of dirt. So every time the kids caught the balls or kicked them, or played with them, they too got covered in dirt. We teased Carl and Melanie that we couldn’t tell if they got the balls for the kids because they loved us or hated us. 🙂 The kids ended up being just COVERED in dirt by the end of the day to the point we could barely recognize them. It was so funny!
That evening we played horseshoes, frisbee, and football and then we also went up and spent time with our other neighbors the Batty’s who were just a few campspots up from us also camping. The boys had fun making forts with their boys and we Cari and I had fun bonding over health food. Later that evening we made tinfoil dinners in the fire for dinner and then I taught everyone some fun camp songs.
A great time was had by all.
Sunday morning us and Melanie and Carl all packed up and headed home leaving Jesse Angie, Dwayne, Marjorie, and Syd up at camp and then we cleaned up as best we could and all headed to church. Afterwards we went up to Mum and Smurfs where we had a lovely dinner of hot dogs, potato salad, bean salad, and fruit for dinner. Sure was a wonderful weekend spent with great people!