Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend has always been one of my very favorite holidays!  It reminds me of being with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa and all of our family.  We were so excited to get packed up and make some of those same memories for our kids!  We left on Monday afternoon, drove up Logan canyon and got to the campsite in time to set up, have dinner and start roasting!!

First thing was first...let's get this little boy situated and see how he does!

This was one awesome camper!!  :)  He was usually the happiest in the backpack so we all had a turn taking him everywhere we went! 

 

 We seemed to fit so perfectly last year in our new tent trailer...we didn't know for sure how it would go with Isaac.  He is just like our other babies.  He just needs his own space in his crib and he'll go right to sleep.  Well...we didn't even think the little play pen would fit anywhere so the first night we just thought we'd kinda set him up by Kaylee.  About 4:00 he woke up and was not gonna go back to sleep.  Matt finally brought the playpen in and found the perfect spot.  He slept perfectly the next 2 nights!  Everyone did!  :)

Next thing to get done was firewood!  The kids LOVE helping Grandpa and I am always amazed at how great he is to get them so involved!

 

And then the most important stuff!  Smores and Starbursts!  :)

 The next morning we had fun playing games, exploring, playing soccer with some "neighbor" boys that the girls met  ;)  painting and doing some minor surgery on Grandma and Grandpa's camper door! 

Where we were camping was just over an hour from Grandma and Grandpa's so on Sunday we all went into Kemmerer, showered (17 people...1 shower), had breakfast and then went to the care center to do the Sacrament Meeting for the group there.  Kaylee and Taylor both shared short messages and then the girls sang a musical number.  The girls were kinda shy and nervous...it was a small group and they needed to really speak up...but they did a beautiful job.

After that we had lunch at the house, made tin foil dinners and then went back up the mountain. Before dinner we thought we'd try something new really quick.  Matt has always wanted to learn more about Geocaching!  He's looked into it a little bit and found a few close to where we were camping.  It was so fun to find the first one!  The kids were pretty excited!  We found 3 total, but never did find the 4th.  We are all ready to make a Gardner stamp and use it when we find others...or even make our own!

Sorry for the sun in the eyes picture Mr. Thomas!  But this boy had such a blast!  He wanted to be involved in everything.  Once we got home we were talking in the van about our favorite things about the weekend. The kids said roasted starbursts, Geocaching, cousins, everything...the kids were going on and on. Matt said, "Thomas...what was your favorite part?" Without missing a beat Thomas said, "Grandpa!!!"  And just yesterday as Thomas was helping me bring the groceries in, he was excited about the heavy bag he was carrying and he said, "Someday I'm gonna be strong just like Grandpa! But you're a mom so you won't be strong like Grandpa!"  Ok...ok...I get it...Grandpa is much cooler and stronger than this boy's mom will ever be!  :)

We love to camp!  We were grateful that Uncle Ryan brought his guitar and that his girls brought their beautiful voices...it just adds to the beauty of being in the mountains and away from the rest of the world!

 On Monday we went down into Logan to visit the cemeteries where Matt's grandparents and brother are.

We later went to a park to relax, have lunch and celebrate Abi's birthday!

 It was a perfect weekend!  And as has become a tradition for me...I LOVE to take pictures of the ride home!  This is where I know it has been a successful vacation!  :) All 6 asleep!

 We are so blessed!  Memorial Day is a wonderful time to remember how blessed we are to have the heritage and history that we have as a nation, a church and especially as a family!