Camping round #1 for the summer

So summer is all about camping in our family.  Avery cannot get enough of camping!  He would sleep outside every night in his tent (which he bought last year with his birthday money) if we let him (but now we don't because it makes us too nervous).

We had to go up to Idaho for Brian's nephew's mission homecoming, so we decided to make a fun full weekend out of it.  We went camping up to Cherry Creek by Amanda's parents house and it was so much fun!   The campground is no longer kept up (so no bathrooms) but there are still firepits and tables up there to use.  Amanda's sister Chelsea joined us as well as Grandma and Grandpa Downs who came up just for s'mores.

All sitting around the campfire for some hotdogs!  It was actually a stormy like weekend and got alot colder than we were used to so a fire was nice!

loving it!

Aunt Chelsea was such a great help in watching the kids.  This was Mason's first real camping trip other than when he was really little.  He wanted to be down and crawling all the time.

who is that handsome dude?

perfect smiles!

all messy from some sort of food

uh-oh they found me out!

our little camper

She can never get enough strawberries

We slept alright through the night except it was chilly and I (Amanda) was nervous the whole time since Avery & Lily wanted to sleep in their own tent.  They went to bed fine and we didn't hear a peep out of them the entire night.  Mason only woke up once and Amanda was so paranoid about him being cold that he got sleep in with mommy and daddy the rest of the night.  

The next day it started to sprinkle and rain so we rushed to get everything loaded up.  Aunt Chelsea hung out with the kids in the car (hence the Mason driver photo above).  by the time we got everything loaded (wet) the rain ofcourse stopped.  Oh well!

We brought the four-wheeler and dirtbike so Brian, Amanda and Avery went on a ride up the mountain towards Oxford Peak.  Lily and Mason went with Chelsea because they were cold.  The ride was a blast!  And it got Amanda out of her comfort zone because it makes her nervous to ride up and down steep hills.

We got up on a ridge line before turned around that had the most beautiful view of the valleys.  We could see Swan Lake and almost all the way to Preston.  We will have to go back and try to hike it all the way to the top when we have time and the weather is more cooperating.