Way Back In the Woods

This past weekend we celebrated a couple of things. Awhile back, Justin announced that he had a room reserved at the Black Swan Inn in Pocatello for our 14th anniversary! I was very excited about that and was anxious for a night away, just the 2 of us. I began to question though if that was the best thing to do with our money. I told Justin we could do something fun for the day that wouldn't cost as much. He then asked me if I wanted to buy some fishing poles and go camping for the weekend with the whole family.

Let me just say- I HATE FISHING!!!!! (That's another story). I also remembered that it was Father's Day that weekend and it would be fun to have a getaway with the whole family. So we planned it! We were going to go up to Henry's Lake and visit Yellowstone. Something told me that we needed to head down to Bear Lake and camp there. We invited Justin's parents and also his brother and his family.

It was a great weekend. I remembered to not only take my camera but to take lots of pictures!! (Caution- there are quite a few pictures in this post!)

Here are my two handsome boys. This was Friday night. They got the tents up in record time and got to work with the BB guns. They were determined to get some squirrels!!
Girls in the Hood!! These 3 girls did such a great job all weekend long. There was the occasional argument over the hammock on Sunday afternoon but other than that, they were so good with each other. They hiked together, sang songs, helped each other out and were so positive all weekend long.

Mayci and mom- waiting for the Campchef to get set up so we could warm up our meat for Walking Tacos.

Grandma & Grandpa Pugmire made it up to eat dinner with us that night. They didn't camp out with us. They went home each night to their nice, soft beds each night. If I was only 10 minutes from my bed, I might have done the same thing.

Let's just say that Braydon did some chopping. If he wasn't shooting at squirrels, he was chopping wood. He had a good pile going and did a great job at it too!

Austin got along just fine with his cast all weekend long. He even shot the guns. He didn't let a little cast slow him down. The girls were playing Tic-Tac-Toe in the dirt behind him. What creative girls I have!

This hammock was a favorite for everyone. These 3 girls were so cute together.

G. Pugmire, Mayci, Braylyn, and Tyla relaxing on Saturday.

This was pretty funny. As we were sitting around on Saturday, the boys all decided that it was a little too sunny in our camp spot (the girls thought differently. There was quite a bit of shade. They just needed something to do). Tyler brought some tree climbing gear and Justin strapped it all on and started to climb the tree so they could tie the tarp around the trees and give us some great shade. Tyler also climbed a tree so he could get in on the action of tree climbing!

Saturday afternoon we decided to go fishing. Let's just say that we weren't into the fishing whole-heartedly. We are definitely going to have to go a few times this summer so the kids can actually catch something. Everyone had fun though.

Getting the gear distributed.

The girls wanted to go to the island in the middle of the river. Dad came to the rescue and helped them across!

Mayci did a great job holding her pole! I did a great job watching her hold her pole!

Fishing is hard work. Mayci and Grandma got some time to catch up on some visiting. That was too cute!

Here's the gang!

Sunday, we all got up early and headed down to Pugmire's to get everyone showered and ready for church. We managed to get everyone cleaned up and ready before 9 am. Later that day, the girls did a little show for us and sang us some fun songs. We also had some friends, the McMullins come up and visit us. We all went for a hike and did some visiting. It was a relaxing day.

We had to wake Mayci up to go for our hike. She wasn't happy about that and she wouldn't even look at the camera for a picture.

This borders on 100% redneck. Braylyn will be 1 in August and she's not quite walking. She wanted to be in on all of the action the other kids were doing. Mom really wanted her to be in something that would contain her. She was wishing she had brought her swing for her. So, Justin and Tyler being the constructive type decided to rig up their own swing for her. Braylyn was loving every minute of it! We all got a kick out of it too!

I love this guy! He is so good with words and is great at dealing with people. That comes in handy when he walks into our house and can tell that mom has had a hard day with 3 girls that can be emotional and 2 boys that know how to throw a punch or two. He loves me unconditionally. He's a hard worker, very smart, always willing and never afraid. He's my rock and my best friend. I'm the luckiest wife ever and my kids are pretty lucky too! I'm so glad that I get to spend forever with this guy.

(I also love Kenzie's face in this picture!)

A bunch of cute kids!

Thanks to Bridget, we got a picture of the two of us on our 14th anniversary! We even had the campfire smoke affect going on!

OK. Braydon was offered, by his aunt and uncle, a dollar if he could kill a squirrel. Well, he killed one. His first one came with a whoop and a holler. He came running over to show us his kill and told us that it was the first shot and he got him in the head. He died instantly. There was just a little bit of excitement!

He ended up with 3 squirrels and 1 chipmunk! Boy was he excited. He wanted to skin them and bring them home. I convinced him that a picture would be just fine!

Monday we decided to break down camp and head home a day early. We had 2 nights of rough sleeping. Sunday night Madison decided to throw up during the night. Haydee decided to have a sore throat and complained everytime someone woke up that night. I was tired and wanted to head home and shower and go out with my hubby for our anniversary. That was the plan. What actually happened was we got home at 3:30 pm, found out the boys had a tournament game at 6 pm. Showered everyone quickly, left at 4:45 and headed to Roberts for the game. Ate in the van. Went for icecream at Arcitic Circle after they won their game. Came home to a mess of stuff to take care of. Went to bed at 9:45pm. It wasn't your dream anniversary but I did get to spend the entire day with my hubby with the anticipation of a lunch date and movie with him on Tuesday!!!!!

Mayci was born on March 17 and Tyla was born on May 30!! It was fun to watch their personalities.

Before we left town, we headed to G&G Pugmire's for some lunch and played a little Ping Pong.

This is how we all felt after lunch! We played hard all weekend long! We made some fun memories too! Can't wait for the next camping trip. If only I could figure out a better, faster way to get laundry done before and after trips like this! It took me until today (Thursday) to get all of it done!!! Oh well, it was all worth it!