The Spruces

I believe when my "hood" took me to lunch for my birthday back in December, we discussed a camping outing (BTW that still is the coolest thing anyone has ever done for me on my big day-normally I try to forget about it and move on). We asked lots of neighbors if they wanted in and picked a place and date and marked our calendars. And the time finally arrived to head to the mountains.

Destination: The Spruces ~Big Cottonwood Canyon
Who: Apparently last minute neighbors are invited
When: July 7-9

We went camping two weekends in a row and didn't put away the camping gear. Although, camping with the Price's is much different then "roughing" it on our own. All we needed with the Price's was a tent, sleeping bags, clothes and a little food to contribute. The "hood" needed a little of this and a little of that. Although, The Hendrickson's are THE family to camp with. They have everything and anything in between (not to single out you other prepared families). We all did good and had a successful camping experience.

Our family arrived Thursday evening and 5 men quickly whipped up our tent in about 5 minutes. The mattresses were next and it was now time to enjoy ourselves. The kids already were. This one went through all of her clothes! And I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was and only had 1 sweat shirt for the us. We really didn't take it off the whole trip. Well, except Lexi of course. She removed most of her clothing several times a day.

The kids found their friends in the woods and it is a must to make silly faces at the camera. Abby, Jack, Reed, Ryan

We found others sitting and relaxing by the fire and the camp smoke that lingers. I've always thought "smoke follows beauty" was the curse I inherited:) Clairesse and Kami

And of course mingle with friends. Abbey & Lexi

And more friends. Macey, Maddy, Makenna


And children made a fort in the forest and played her all day!

Daniel, Macey, Maddy, Christian
Mary, Tenney


And eating is always a priority when camping. We snacked a ton and enjoyed every minute of it.

The men seriously played this game all day. It's called, Koob. You have about 8 wooden pegs and long dowels that you throw at the pegs to knock them over. I really didn't play it, so I shouldn't explain it. BUT it was a hit. Literally you HIT it. Thanks Kevin for bringing it and entertaining young and old with the game.
Mike happily waiting for his turn to go.


She did get a good nights sleep. Just missed nap time. But was very happy despite not having a nap. This camping trip was much more successful with sleeping. She did get cold in the night and cuddled between mom and dad and slept just fine.

In fact our campground was fairly close to the river, which made a white noise that let the kids sleep in til 9:30-10 AM. That's crazy with camping when the tent, your house, gets light at 5 am when the sun goes up. It was an awesome spot to camp and a great place for a tent. And for all of us worry warts, the river was far enough away the kids didn't really even know it was there and never ventured across the road to see it. The potty's, flushing I might add, were decent and cleaned every morning. Garbage cans and a dumpster not to far away so we didn't have to haul out our trash. AND it was really only 10 minutes up the canyon and 30 minutes from home.


And don't forget the fire pit and the food around it. We all roasted hot dogs, smores some with Rollo's and some with pb cups, some with chocolate and graham crackers, starburst (oh and removing the wrapper before you roast it will allow you to eat it), tinfoil dinners and anything else we could think of.

Me, Camille (or one of 3 Cami's up camping), Ann

Rachel, Ann, Me, Camille, Kami
We missed a picture of Ali, Diana, Julianna, Clairesse, Michelle and Cami (and anyone else I may have forgotten)

And Charlies Angels came out and Lexi and Abbey wanted in on the picture.

I missed pictures of the moms playing games. The kids really entertained themselves and stayed in the fort or in the sand pit or the baseball field. The dad's played that wood game and the moms played games or went on a hike. No child was lost (even though I worried Lexi was lost for a while, but nope she was off hiking with Drew and several other kids.

I think we had about 45 people in our group and the number will probably double next year. The ward really needs to host a ward camp out...although we'll probably do this again anyway. We had so much fun!! Can't wait to see the others posts about it. Thanks for letting me steal some of your pictures.