Camping Chaos

Our Sunburns had faded, the muscle pain left our bodies and our wounds had healed from our adventures from the prior weekend so it was time to go out and seek some more adventure! 

Friday after work we loaded up the truck and my brother's car with the 4 dogs, 2 kids, 3adults and all our supplies for the weekend! We did our best to get to camp before dark, but somehow we still found ourselves searching with for the perfect camp spot in the pitch black with our spot light... I was on the quad, Brian in his car and Kenny in the truck pulling the trailer. 

We finally found a spot and Brian was holding the spot light, lighting the way for Kenny to get the trailer into the spot. I was cracking up watching him dance around and yell because of the bugs... all very funny until it was my turn to hold that giant spot light and I realized what all the ruckus was about! There were giant beetle type bugs flying right into the spot light! I can't stand bugs that you can FEEL land on you! Ick ick ick! As we set up camp Kenny, Brian and I would randomly let out a yell or squeal as a bug landed on us or buzzed by our heads. I was really worried about bears... there had been several attacks a few weeks ago and now sightings into the Forest Lakes area! Nanette had her trash can tossed (she is very close to the road we camp of off) and Sarah's neighbor watch a cinnamon colored bear in their front yard! Too close for my comfort. Kenny said all our shrieks would probably deter any bears from our camp.... It didn't help that it was Friday the 13th!!

It was a LONG night. Between our 3 dogs and my brother's dog Zoey.. it was chaos... Toby constantly wanted to 'hug' Zoey, Shelby hated Zoey and wanted her out of our trailer and Zoey wanted to sleep on our bed. Around 2AM my brother ended the fight and but Zoey in his car. We got about 4 hours of sleep... 

When we first got up and around Saturday morning we we sitting on our 'porch' (AKA astroturk) and chatting. Kenny and I saw the giant beetle bug in the cup holder of the chair Jacob was sitting in... Brian thought he had killed it the night before, but it still had life left in it and started crawling around. When Jacob saw that bug his face filled with fear and his eyes grew as big as saucers (please refer to the roller coaster picture!) and he jetted out of the chair as quick as he could... of course we found this hilarious.

My brother and Kenny went on a quad ride in the morning and while they were gone Jacob discovered a caterpillar ! It was SO cute that Jacob actually wanted to inspect it and hold it! He kept saying, "Ahhh, he is so cute!" 

After playing with the Caterpillar we discovered the butterflies all around us. There were TONS of them! White little butterflies floating in the tops of the pine trees. Jacob let one land on his shirt. It was all he could talk about the rest of the weekend : ) The butter fly is on John Cena's face on his shirt.

When the guys got back to camp, Jacob couldn't contain his excitement and wanted to tell his Uncle Kenny all about the caterpillar and the butterflies.... Kenny just wanted to mess with Jacob and kept chasing him with the quad. Jacob was giggling and laughing. It was pretty adorable. 

Hope 

We found these bones at camp... My brother hung them on the tree for some reason. The boys were certain they were dinosaur bones.

Our camp site 

Later we went out looking for treasure AKA geocaching. We had some trouble finding the first couple.... they were nanos hidden in the forest... crazy!

Little Brian and Jacob in the bed of the truck 

Brian 

We finally had some luck and the boys were very excited about finding the treasure... They forgot they needed to leave something in return for everything they took.... that took some extra time to figure out what in their treasure bag they could possibly part with (the treasure bag was later left in the back of the truck- forgotten all about!)

Interesting Cache we found- a rock fused into a tree trunk! 

We didn't find any more Cache's, but Jacob sure was cute looking for them! 

I loved this area we found on the south side of 260 on the road to Young, the area was filled with tall grass and Aspen trees.

I wanted to take pictures of the boys jumping in the air, but they couldn't jump higher than the grass so we thought we would toss them in the air... They are a little heavier than they used to be. I tried so hard to throw Jacob, but I was laughing too hard... 

Little Brian 

Jacob

Kenny 

We made it back to camp in time for lunch and a downpour. We were all exhausted since we hadn't slept the night before and actually laid down for a nap. It was just beautiful out!! It loved listening to rain on the metal roof and smelling the rain in the air.

It rained off and on all afternoon. No problem I brought and umbrella :) 

Kenny is such a good sport and took a silly picture too : )

 My brother and I took a ride up to the cliff later. It was really cold and windy and we were trying to take cliff pictures... like the ones you look at and they get your stomach a little. Yoga posses close to the edge of a cliff etc. We pretty much just laughed a lot and scared each other.

Brian's 'yoga' pose 

My brother guns for EVERY mud puddle with out discriminating due to size 

Kenny let Little Brian 'drive' to his Nana's house for dinner 

Kenny made us all delicious steaks, corn and potatoes for dinner! 

We lazed around Sunday morning for a while. It so nice when Brian is there, because he always takes our dogs out first thing in the morning while he smokes so we don't have to get up. He always plays ball and loves on them. While we were being lazy , somehow everyone migrated into our bed (Brian only jumped up there for the picture, but all the dogs and the boys were up there with Kenny and I at one point) 

After Brian and Kenny went on a ride and saw 3 elk I wanted to take off on a ride too!! Kenny and I had such a good time. It lightly sprinkled on us most of the ride. My hands were like ice by the time we made it into the forest! The trail we rode on dumped us off into the Forest Lakes division so we decided to go say hi to our friends, Beverly and Lloyd who were staying up at their friend's cabin.

While we were sitting around at camp Jacob got 'lawnchaired'... it was so hilarious... I am probably the meanest Aunt ever because not only did I laugh hysterically when it happened (and he was crying), but I asked him to do it again later so I could take a picture...  He thought it was funny the second time.

boys playing football 

Toby 'hugging' Zoey

Shelby

Jacob and Kenny 

Brian and his dog Zoey 

Before we packed up camp Kenny took Little Brian for some more driving lessons... he was just SO excited about driving, I swear it is the only thing that made him smile all weekend! Brian took Jacob on a quad ride. They went on a big hill and Jacob saw it before they went down and said, "NO its gonna be scary!" But did just fine with his dad in control. 

 While they were gone I took my bike into the forest to try 'mountain biking' with the 4 dogs following me around. It was actually pretty fun, but challenging!! My bike probably isn't designed for that type of riding, but I would like to try it some day soon.

Beautiful clouds on the way home 

After lunch in Payson we stopped at this shoe tree off the Beeline highway. It was near mile marker 222. I noticed it a few weeks ago and wanted to stop and check it out. Of course Kenny being the amazing husband he is found it for me and we all stopped. The internet says this is the "Tree of Lost Soles"

Little Brian asked a few questions about the tree and where the shoes came from. Both boys were really amazed by the tree. Little Brian left his extremely worn shoes and his Uncle Kenny carried him back to the car.

One last picture of the clouds on the way home 

It was a great weekend.... I don't know that my brother loves camping, but I think all the Taylors like it : )