Other April Activities

Carter's band got first place in a competition.

A mega egg from one of our chickens. We we were hoping it would be a double-yolker (only has happened once), but it was just super large.

Trying crawfish for Austin and Bryson's first time. Matt spent 4 hours in the hot sun flipping hamburgers for this stake activity. The rest of us went to Capri's baptism.

Ward father/son campout (which means I got the night to myself!)
Austin with his good buddy, Grant, at the campout.

Matt's jeep has a tent attached to the back. Matt camped outside with Austin and Bryson one night in April at their request. Maybe it's an eyesore, but the boys love doing this on occasion!

Thanksgiving Camping

We planned to go camping during the Thanksgiving week off of school, but as the rain chances increased, we decided to pull out. Camping in the rain is not fun. Others in my family decided to chance it, so we joined them for Thanksgiving day. We played outdoor games at the campsite, ate lunch, went canoeing, then went on a hike.

Picture of all the campers who braved the weather despite the high chance of rain that was supposed to happen during the night. They were dry! They ate breakfast, packed up, and left before the rain came.

Family Camping Trip

Every time we go camping with a baby, we regret it. I'm not sure why we keep doing it. Matt suggested I stay home with the baby this time, but I didn't want to be a party pooper. So we went on a campout last weekend with other ward members. The weather was great!

Caleb and Carter checking out the tent after Caleb and Daddy set it up

Bryson helping Daddy cook

Austin

Caleb goofing off with friends

Enjoying the freedom

Carter, my tree climber

Playing at a nearby park

Camping

Since we missed camping with my family over Spring Break, we went over Good Friday.

Roasting marshmallows

We survived the night, but it wasn't pleasant. My warm-blooded husband who never gets cold brought ONE blanket for the two of us to share for the night. It got down to 43 and our tent had windows without covers to zip over them. I FROZE all night long! Caleb and Carter had warm sleeping bags and did just fine. I had brought warm bedding for the baby and Bryson. Lesson learned for next time my husband says he has our bedding covered = grab a few extra blankets.

We camped near a railroad track and who would have guessed that 9 trains go by in the night tooting their horns? Between the trains and the cold, I got very little sleep. Why do we go camping again? It's so much work and the lack of sleep hardly makes it worth it, except for the memories for the kids. :)

Breakfast the next morning: Matt made hash browns, eggs, and sausage.

Kara and Clayton also made pancakes

Bryson refusing to give me a smile

We also did some fishing and Ellery caught her first fish!

Spring Break Camping

Just like last year, I tried to make Spring Break really fun for Caleb since it's a whole week off of school! We had something fun planned every day.

Clayton and Kara visited during Spring Break and stopped by our house on Wednesday. 

Caleb showing off his jump-roping skills

Jumping on the trampoline together

Duck, duck, goose

staticky hair

 Caleb was so excited to play Dominion with the adults on Thursday night! He's quite good for a 6-year-old.

We made plans originally to go camping Thursday - Saturday, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was going to get down to 39 Thursday night, so we opted for Friday/Saturday camping. We had a great time!

Carter "helping" to set up the tent.

Clayton and Kara joined us for Friday day. We roasted hot dogs/chili dogs for lunch and s'mores

Bryson is wearing some of his roasted marshmallow on his shirt :o)

We did some hiking Friday afternoon and ended by a creek, where the little kids ultimately ended up playing in the water in only their underwear! There were several other people swimming in it, which was part of the lure for all our kids to join in as well. Although the water was pretty cold, the kids had a lot of fun.

They were just going to "wade" in the water...it didn't last too long.

Bryson had a great time. There were lots of dogs and birds for him to point out.

Carter enjoyed finding sticks to play with.

Caleb and Dallin had a lot of fun together. Ever since moving took my sister and I in two different directions within our city, we don't see each other nearly as often. The boys miss it!

We did stew and cobbler for dinner and dessert that night, then attempted to play games after the kiddos went to bed. Some fell asleep better than others. 

After a miserable night's sleep, Saturday began with hot chocolate, pancakes and bacon.

 Later we looked around the nature center in the campground.

Snake room

There were some swings on the campground, which was a fun activity for the kids.

We had lots of fun playing Frisbee before cleaning up camp and heading home.