Happy 4th of July

We got invited by some friends to go camping for the 4th of July weekend.  We were very excited as we haven't been camping in a while.  The boys were overjoyed!  The plan was to go to Hell's Canyon in OR, a 3 to 4 hour drive.  But at the last minute the plans changed and we headed to La Grande which was only 1 1/2 hours away.  It was SO beautiful and peaceful.  The campsites weren't full, which meant more room to roam, and we were right up against the side of a hill so the kids could "hike" all day long and still be in sight.  And, the best part, there was a clean vault toilet.  No running water, but there was a toilet.

We got there Friday afternoon and enjoyed visiting and the men went to get fishing licenses.  We had fun gathering firewood, then that evening eating roasted hotdogs and mallows.  The other 2 families with us put their kids to be early, so our little family sat by the fire and told stories and sang songs and ate popcorn.

Our kids slept great Friday night, the only ones in our camp.  Both other families had such a rough night that they decided to go home Sat evening so they could get some sleep.  We stayed, much to Tanner's dismay.  He was really bummed that everyone left us and said he would rather leave than stay without them. 

Saturday we found a nice lake above LaGrande that we went to to take the kids fishing.  It was so beautiful with all the wild flowers around it.  We didn't catch anything, but Joe did, and was kind enough to let each of the kids take a turn reeling the fish in.  Everyone got to "catch" one except Colt.  But they had a great time skipping rocks and playing. 

Saturday after lunch we did crafts and tried not to melt...it was SO SO hot.  The kids had a wonderful time making shirts.  I found the idea in the family fun magazine.  We put contact paper on a white shirt, then sprayed it with fabric paint dilluted with water.  They turned out so dang cute.  Then the kids painted wood, and the moms did a project too while the dads napped.  For dinner we had a fantastic meal of dutchoven BBQ chicken, dutchoven potatoes, scones, and watermelon.  It was so yummy.

Then our friends packed up and we spent the evening at the fire again.  Then to bed earlier than the night before because we were all tired.  Again, everyone slept all night long. 

 We woke up Sunday morning and packed the van, then realized that we had a dead battery.  We must have left the doors open too long on Saturday.  So, we found a nice family camped nearby that gave us a jumpstart.  The boys really wanted to go on one more hike before we left, so we took a little hike up the hill.  Tanner kept saying that it reminded him of that place where Joseph Smith saw those 2 angels.  It was fun to talk about what happened in the Sacred Grove.

We had such a fun time camping.  I told Dave that we need to do that alot more this summer (although it feels as if summer is almost over already!)  The boys are the perfect ages to take camping - they sleep through the night and they are big enough to not put everything in their mouths and they are such good boys and good minders most of the time.  What a fun time we had!  And we even made it back in time for church (where they sustained me as the Secretary in the RS).

Monday Dave had to go out to work for the first part of the day, then in the evening we invited some families from the ward to come and have a BBQ.  It was fun.  We weren't sure what the max capacity was for our sandbox, but it is at least 12 kids.  Then we had a little "illegal" fireworks show, since all fireworks are illegal in Kennewick.  But it was so fun!

Happy 4th of July!