Week In Review July 3, 2016

Ash and Mark just bought a trailer, it is called a Toy Hauler because the back opens, the beds raise to the ceiling, and you can park your "toys" (4 wheelers, etc) right inside the trailer.  Obviously they were excited to take it out for camping test drive.  They invited Kim and I and Kalel to stay with them in their trailer.  Robin and Cory and Corbin brought up their trailer also and Shandra, Jason, and Raelyn brought a tent and stayed in the same campsite with us.  We just went to the canyon in the mountains above our house, just about 7 miles away, but it felt like we were in a whole new world away from everything.

Mark had pulled the trailer up the night before so Ash and I and the kids headed up there around noon on Friday to get the weekend started.  It was very nice, although very dirty.  The kids didn't mind the dirt at all!

Later everyone else joined us except for Mark who came up the next day because he had to work.  We decided to have all of our meals together with each of us sisters taking one main meal.  We ended up having hobo dinners twice - but who cares?  Camping isn't camping without hobo dinners!  The more the better!

We played tons of games, of course, enjoyed the time together, and relaxed.  Well, at least everyone else relaxed.  Apparently I have been in such a state of constant motion and adrenaline for so long I really stressed about relaxing!  I truly felt like a basket case!  I honestly did not know how to relax.  My family all tried to help by telling me, "just sit here, enjoy nature, relax".

Honestly I tried.  Apparently I am totally addicted to electronic devices because just sitting there DROVE ME CRAZY!    I even tried my old stand-by:  performing interpretive dance and poses. (We all know that I have neither training nor talent at interpretive dance or posing, but sometimes I just have to do it!)

I did fine if we were playing games or riding the 4-wheelers, but the rest of the family stated that they came camping just to relax, and so they didn't want to do a lot of anything.  At one point I was even crying because I was so frustrated!  Luckily my wonderful daughter and sister each grabbed hold of one of my arms and took me on a slow, leisurely walk.  It did wonders.
I finally came home Saturday night, took a much needed shower, worked on the computer a little bit and then went to bed.  I went to church the next morning and really enjoyed it.  In church I finally started to relax and remembered that we have been told that we should slow down, take time to meditate.  This was great counsel and I made a commitment to do some deep breathing, to smile, and to look for ways that I could appreciate God's creations while camping in nature.  It really helped and when I went back to the camp I was able to relax most of the rest of the time.  A tender mercy for sure!

We taught the boys how to play "Spoons"  they had a riot!  And they were pretty good at it too, quite sneaky about taking the spoons without anyone noticing.

We had a ton of fun riding the 4-wheelers.  Ash and Mark have 3 of them, one is small enough that the boys could ride alone.  We didn't go on very long rides, just short, fun little trips that were perfect to keeps us entertained.  Unfortunately two of them had problems but thanks to Mark's great skill they were soon up and running.  We even got Dad to ride for a bit.  It was good to see him riding again, he used to go all of the time, but as he gets older he says that he is too nervous to ride now.

Remember that I said it was dirty, well look at these pics!

Shandra looks like she has a sunburn, but she is just covered in dirt!

Look at these filthy urchins!

This is Raelyn's feet - one freshly scrubbed and one still dirty!

All of the kids had a ball running around, chasing the three dogs, Cocoa, Barley, and Lissa, all over the campsite, building forts, using the rock and stick tomahawks that Cory helped them build, and just living life as crazy kids.  Unfortunately with all of the running I didn't get many pics of the boys.  But I did get a few good pictures of Raelyn.

Upper left:  using her rock cell phone.  Bottom left:  carrying all the rocks she needed to build a castle.
Upper right:  Wearing a helmet just in case . . . Middle right:  Climbing a tree.  Bottom left:  enjoying the bug-free tent

We really did have a marvelous time.  I'm glad that we took the opportunity go, and I'm so glad that I was able to relax even if it was just for one day.

This week I am grateful for:
The ability to relax and enjoy my family