Extreme camping

Camping in the desert...

highs in the 90's and lows in the 60's

sun, sun and more sun

shade is a premium 

ice is to die for

watch out for heat stroke!

lizards everywhere

sand in your shoes

homemade ice cream and naps in the city park

beautiful formations

miles and miles of hiking

pictographs and dino prints

great friends

Camping in the mountains...

Last minute location change of the family reunion 

(Logan canyon was closed due to flooding)

Is that snow on the ground?

Man, that river is high.

green pine trees all around

highs in the 60's and lows in the 30's

see your breath at night

sit in the sun all day 'cause the shade is too cold

Rain, rain and more rain

Watch out for hypothermia!

Mud, mud and more mud

Pick up some more tips from the best Dutch oven cooks (my cousins)

See our backyard...all the camping gear is drying out

I love...

Camping and Hiking!

On June 19th we left for the Utah Mountains. We met our friends (the Gruber family) in Alpine and headed into American Fork Canyon. The problem was that the canyon was packed. There were no camping sites available. So finally we opted to go to the Gruber's house for the night. The next morning we arrived in the canyon and found our site, but we had to wait for the people who used it the night before to clean up and leave.

Oh, what to do? Go hiking, of course!

This is the trail head of the Timpooneke Trail. It goes up the back of Mount Timpanogus...an 18 mile round trip. Tom and I hiked this trail twice when we were younger. The first time was before my mission, and I didn't quite make it to the top. The second time was after my mission, and I made it all the way. This trail has a part in our love story. I'll share that later. This time we went about 3/4 mile and turned around.

Here's the hiking group! Me with Shellece, Gordon and Sean Gruber

Tom, James, Cora, Hannah and Aseana

This was the view from our campsite!

And the creek that ran by our campsite.

I've always loved nature. It reminds me of how great Heavenly Father is and the wonderful things He has done for us. I always feel His love when I'm in nature.

That first day of camping was Father's day and we held a little meeting together to talk about our fathers and how much we love them. One of my friends always says, "Heavenly Father is the coolest dude ever" usually followed with a neat story. I was thinking the same thing as I thought about Tom and what a great father he has been to our kids.

Camping song

A camping we go.

A camping we go.

Hi ho the camp site, oh,

A camping we go.

We're so excited for some much deserved R&R. We're going camping with the Grubers in the Mount Timp area until Wednesday. Then we'll hit the Bright Reunion in Logan Canyon on the way home.

Break out those hiking shoes, everyone! We'll be putting some miles in!

Camping with the Grubers

This was our third year camping with the Grubers. They introduced us to Idaho by taking us to Baumgartener Campground and Grandjean Campground. So, this year since they moved to Utah we decided to introduce them to Utah just a bit, and we went to Bear Lake.

We didn't know we were going to be camping during one of the coldest, wettest June's in history.
We arrived Saturday to rain and freezing temperatures. We could see our breath in the air. Dinner took forever to cook because the cold ground just sucked the heat out of the charcoal. Also, we couldn't get a good fire going because all the wood was wet. We joked about going to Gruber's and camping at their new house. After that first night we figured out a few tricks and cooking time was cut dramatically, and we did manage to get a good fire or two going. Every day got a little better as far as weather was concerned until finally Tuesday was beautiful.


Apples to Apples was a huge hit in our campsite. The kids played that every chance they could.

Here's the whole group.

The Grubers

Here we are.

On Sunday we drove all the way around the lake.

We thought it would be too cold to swim. The kids thought otherwise. Here are Hannah and Aseana.

And here's James.

Playing in the sand.

Boys will be boys...Sean and Tom doing donuts on the beach

Sean and Shellece found lots of things for us to do that we had never known about. It was crazy that we had been going to Bear Lake our entire lives and never knew about caves and springs, etc. Bear Lake Hot Springs was one of those finds. I think we never knew about it because mom and dad were always vacationing on a shoe string and didn't want to pay for 9 kids to play in the hot springs when a perfectly good lake was available for only $4.

Tim, James and Gordon are playing ball.

Tim and Gordon

I'll add more later. Other finds were the Minnetonka Cave, the Paris Springs and Ice Cave, and the Paris Tabernacle. The week ended with the Bright Family Reunion. I have lots more to show you!