Camping

Leesh and Mom showing off some of the desserts.... the cake on the left won the award for the best dessert of the night... Made by my own mother. Congrats mom!!
Each year the men hold a dutch oven cook off. This was our first year entering. All the men do all the cooking, I think that is why the tradition is sticking so well, after all, the women plan the reunions and this is the most relaxing evening out of them all... with the men doing the cooking and the women doing the tasting.
Look what beautiful meals were created!! And they tasted fantastic. The dutch oven cook off is actually a pretty big deal around camp and the winner usually wears his apron declaring him the winner for the rest of the trip!
Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.... what would I do without you and Emmy? You girls are amazing and I love you sooooo sooooo much.
My hubby walking his dog... yes, HIS dog.
Aunt Leesha taking Olivia for a ride on the quad around camp.
Taytay and Livvy enjoy the cool afternoon.
Emily and Amberlin...what? Amberlin? Where is she? Let's look closer......
Ohhhh, here she is!!
Aunt Michelle is a baby magnet.... or are the babies all aunt Michelle magnets? Either way, it is a win-win situation!!


Last week we traveled to Idaho to do some "camping" with our families. I do not particularly enjoy spending time in a tent. Period. I don't like to do it, haven't done it in 14 or so years. And I am fine with that. Whenever someone suggests a camping trip, I am fine as long as I am staying in a camper or motor home or better yet, a condo. Who would choose to sleep in a cold, one room tent with thin nylon protecting you from the elements and wild animals? Who would choose to subject themselves to a night of no sleep with 4 kids waking all night long? Not me. No siree. I enjoy warmth and comfort and most of all.... SLEEP!!!!
So, we were going camping in Idaho with my family, right? Right. I had arranged to borrow a tent from my parents who don't need theirs because they are sleeping in a CABIN!! Well, that was so nice of them to let us borrow their tent. Thanks mom and dad. We got up to Idaho. My kids were excited to sleep in a tent for the first time in their lives. Sweet. Me too!
So we get the kids out of the car and head up to the cabin to see my parents. Loves and kisses all around. Eat some dinner. Yummy. Say hi to cousins. Then, it happens. The miracle. Yes, miracle. I ask my mom where the tent is so we can get it set up...... uuuuhhhhhhhh, the tent? My mom seems to have forgotten it- darn it! Then I noticed that Travis had a suspicious gleam in his eye and then he suggests (to me, with a straight face)..... let's sleep out under the stars..... UMMMM, How long have we been married? 10 years? Yes folks, 10 years and he said suggested sleeping out under the stars. I told him first and foremost, NO SINKING WAY! Has he every heard of wild animals, coyotes? Skunks? Elk? And secondly, hasn't he been married to me for 10 years? Doesn't he know me? I said that I had seen a motel a couple hundred miles or so back and we would be staying there! But, my mom said, no worries, there is a spare bed and couch in the cabin, we can sleep there until my brother can bring up the tent the next day(the cabin is reserved for the "elderly"). SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
And folks, the rest of the story is history. Of course there was no need for my brother to bring up the tent because once we moved into the cabin, there was no way in the whole wide world they were going to get us out (thanks to great-grandma browning for giving us her room and volunteering to sleep on the couch... we love you).
And that my friends was all part of the plan. I mean, do any of you know me? Do you think that I don't know that I can count on mom to forget the tent unless she's reminded as she is walking out the door to get up to Idaho that she should bring it? I think that any of us could have predicted it, and yet... there I was sleeping in a cabin, with my kids warm and comfy, and not to mention I slept soundly!! Camping? Anytime... as long as there are no tents involved!!