Debut

What the family has been waiting for....

Need to add this one of me and Camille.  Love her.

Mom and Dad

***

This family photo event was surprisingly painless.  We had everyone in attendance minus Bruce's wife, Lynette, Kirsten, and Justin.  Not a bad turn out.   

These were taken on Old Main Hill on USU.

Day 3 Uintah's

Still alive.  I didn't get much sleep either night so far.  For some reason, I couldn't fall/stay asleep and my hips hurt mighty bad.  Plus Ammon woke up 2/3 nights with night terrors in the boys tent.  The first of those nights he came to sleep with Allison and I.  Our tent is small.  But I got so see the stars and they were breathtaking.  Literally.  So there was a happy moment to being woken up in the night time.

 Nate added some excitement on Saturday morning.  He was practicing with a funky sling shot that Grandpa brought.  He nailed himself with a fist sized rock in the shin.  We heard this thump sound, Nate kinda acted hurt, but macho, then he kept going and flung another rock.  Then he noticed the blood.  There was lots of it.  He hobbled over to the fire and everyone was like - whoahhhhhh.  uh.

 Shawn was great, the Eagle scout that he is.  He had a nice first aid kit to the rescue.  Plus Bruce had a razor to shave off Nate's hair for the bandage.  It was a small hole, but very deep.  He was sooooo stinking lucky it wasn't worse. 

 Shawn made a teeter totter for the kids.  LOVE!
Here's a short video clip.

I even tried it for a minute.  

Bruce enjoying his fish.

 Dad has a small notebook he keeps in his back pack to write about his adventures.  Nates accident was jotted down soon after. Grandpa couldn't wait.

 Dax brought a regular sling shot.

 Campsite.

Yes I did fish.  And I caught one!  It only took about three hours, but it was a first for me.  No, I did not touch it, and yes I did put it back.  And it was a small trout.  Any more questions?

 Light sticks.

 

Day 4 Going Home

We got packed up in a very decent hour, and left our site by 9:30 AM.  

Hiking out was a breeze.  Hiking over fallen logs and rocks uphill was tough, but not a problem for us!  No whining by any of the kids the entire four day camping trip.  I'm so glad my kids got to spend lots of time with their cousins they rarely see.

Made it back to the cars and drove a couple hours.

We ate at Pizza Hut then back to Logan by around 4.  About two minutes after we pulled in, Justin drove up.  We hadn't seen him for three weeks.  !!!

Day 2 of Uintah's

Surprisingly, we all made it alive through the night.  No major loss of blood from mosquito bites and no bear attacks.  We headed off to Tamarack lake.

 Andy had to cast a line before we even hit the lake. 

 Allison caught yet another fish.  I believe this was caught in two casts.

 Isaac also caught another fish.  Notice the knot on his forehead from a mosquito bite.  Ammon had one in the same place, just as swollen.
We kept hiking around the large lake, stopping to cast in every little cleared area, trying to reach the snow on the far end.  We eventually did.  Bruce whipped out some heavy duty plastic and some other gadgets to make a sled.  The kids loved it.  I hiked up to get some water from a spring.  Delish mountain water.

 Allison ate one of the trout.  She said it tasted okay. 

Bruce had anything you might think you would need on a camping trip.  Then add to that list.  This man was PrePared.  He gutted all the fish and was sad to see one let go.  He was nice to cook the fish Allison ate.

...And We're Off!

After months of planning and many emails and phone calls, the backpacking trip to the Uintahs came to pass.  It all started with Andy.  He wanted to take his two boys on a shorter trip, but it had to include a lake for fishing.  It ended up with a nice group on Thomson folk.

We woke up at an early and dark departure time of 5 AM.  Andy literally carried out his boys still sleeping and buckled them in the car.  Uf duh.  I rode with him, as well as Isaac, Allison, and Ammon.  They watched The Pink Panther on our DVD player.

Our group sans me.  12 boys, two girls.

Kevin and Nate.  Two peas in a pod, these two studs.

 Need I say more?

We ended up hiking a little over one mile to Hidden Lake.  We had our own decent sized small lake with fish in it, a great campsite and an icy spring a few steps away. Perfection.  

Except for the mosquitoes.  In some of the pictures you can see some of them flying around.  

A.  Noy.  Ing.

 Andy caught the first fish.  What a beaut.

Isaac also caught one of the first fish.  He was peer pressured into actually touching the slimy thing.

 Mosquito nets/Hair nets were almost a must if you wanted to keep your sanity.

 Isaac.

 Shawn.

 Andy.

 Garrett.

 Sap seeping out of a log on our fire.

Green Canyon Hike

After our KFC picnic at Elk Ridge Park, most of us went on a hike in Green Canyon.  Well, we didn't actually hike too far.  We explored the witches cave and by then it was starting to get dark.  Plus there were a few mosquitoes out and about.

 Bruce

 Dad and Andy.  Notice the white marshmallowy tectured object in Dad's collar.

Gavin found a $20 bill on the trail.  That was one excited little guy.

 Andy, Trevyan, Gavin, Garrett, and Clara.

My Thomson Family

                          Rachel and Tyler

Bruce and Andy

Ashlyn and Rael

Marshmallow Armageddon!

Dax, Gavin, and Garrett

It was mostly the grandkids against grandpa this year.  I walked over to take a few pictures and could hear my dad occasionally let out a giggle like a little kid. 

Clara thought it was fun too.  We teach 'm young in our clan.