A jenerek family

This past weekend we planned a camping trip with Denton and Joanne. We had a certain campground in mind that Derek and I had been to before. It is a place right next to the Aspen Grove Family Camp near Sundance in Provo Canyon, so when we heard the name, "Aspen Grove Campground" we knew it was the right place. When we showed up we discovered two things, it was actually called "Mt. Timpanogos Campground" and it was currently closed. We found out that the water wasn't turned on yet and the bathrooms were closed. We also couldn't drive into the actual campground, but there was a parking lot nearby with an open bathroom, and Derek was willing to trek all of our gear from our car to the campground, so we decided to camp there anyway. You wouldn't have been able to tell if we were camping for 2 days or moving across the country because our car was so packed. Derek even brought his mountain bike along to get some good use out of it.

We set up camp and ate some burgers and then promptly hit the tent. We brought the pack 'n play for Ryan to sleep in and it actually fit in our 4 man tent alongside our queen air mattress. Ryan didn't have any trouble falling asleep, never woke up in the night, and the weather was GORGEOUS - probably somewhere close to 45 or 50 degrees in the middle of the night.

The next morning we woke up and had some pancakes and eggs and bacon and then set off on a little hike to the Stuart Falls. I'm not sure what the distance was, but Denton hypothesized that it was about 2 miles with a .2 margin of error. Ryan was on Derek's back in a little backpack someone gave us. He's WAY to big for it these days and his legs are totally cramped up. Plus, it really hurts Derek's back, but at least there's a way for us to get him up the mountain. I carried Katie in my wrap and we were both sweating terribly, but at least it wasn't hurting my back at all.
Luckily we found Ryan's old hat for her so she didn't get all sunburned or anything. We made it up in about an hour and the falls were really pretty. We hiked down to the bottom where there was tons of mist blowing on us and it felt great. It was funny to be so hot but standing on a big mountain of snow. Derek took some waterfall pictures, including this strange one of Katie "flying" in front of the falls. She wasn't so impressed with the cold mist.

This one is an even better shot of her sad face.

We got back to camp exhausted and ready for lunch and then a good nap. It rained a little while the kids and I were napping, but it was a warm rain and didn't get things too wet. We were able to build a fire that evening without any trouble. We made a cobbler and just enjoyed being outdoors.
That night Ryan went to sleep fine but woke up screaming a few times in the night. I was about 10 minutes from packing up the kids and driving home and then coming back in the morning. I gave Ryan a flashlight because he was talking about spiders and then he was able to fall asleep for about 20 minutes. Once I finally was about to sleep again he hollered REALLY loud and I looked over to see him huddled in the corner of his crib clutching the flashlight. "Pider" he whispered to me. It was SO funny to see him so terrified of spiders. I promise I searched his bed for a spider and found nothing. I let him keep the flashlight on and figured I'd buy Denton some new batteries when we got back home. Things were fine after that.

The next day we didn't have many plans so I started packing up some of the things in our tent. Ryan was SO busy all over the place and so incredibly filthy. This is where he spent most of Saturday...
in the fire pit. Show us your hands Ryan.
FILTHY! Yeah, this one is pretty gross too. What a BOY!
Denton and Joanne and Derek played horseshoes while I put the kids down for a nap. Then we had a rousing game of Phase 10 which Derek beat us all in. Can I mention that for the first 3 years of our married life I consistently beat Derek in any game we played. Now all of a sudden our luck has SERIOUSLY switched. He stopped playing games with me but once school ended we've become the total gamers. We'll play cards or board games 2 or 3 times a week with either Jodie and Adrian or Denton and Joanne and I don't think I've won a single game. Derek ALWAYS beats me. Holy cow!


Anyway, after Ryan woke up we packed up our stuff and I drove us home. Derek decided to make good use of his bike and the downhill ride home. It was a great trip, one that we'll remember for a long time. Ryan keeps asking me to tell him stories about the trip so I'll remind him of what we did. Fun stuff.

Oh, and can I mention that Ryan is Mister Manners these days always saying, "Thank you Mommy" over and over. It's a VERY welcomed change - and really sweet.