Camping in Aug.

We haven't been campng in such a long time.  The last time I remember camping is before Amber was born.  I might have been pregnant with Amber but I am not for sure on that.  Robert went camping one time with the older girls when Samantha was just a little baby.  I kept Amber home because she was sick.  (It was a horrible night for me, an after hours visit to the dr.'s office where they told me to go to the ER to give Amber an IV, then after tests and a catheter for Amber, me trying to nurse Samantha in the ER room while comforting Amber ALONE.  We finally got back home and to bed at like 3am if I remember correctly.  And this was all in Robert's Mustang, where I had to put the carseats in the small back seat and have my seat pushed all the way forward so Amber could fit in the backseat.  Amber wasn't even 2 yet, she was lifeless, wouldn't walk, so I had to carry her and the carseat/Samantha too.  It was a challenge!  I remember it like it was yesterday!  Oh, the joys of Motherhood!)  As for our most recent camping trip, we all had a great time!  The girls were super excited to go.  We also met up with our friends and their 4 kids, The Johnson's.  I totally forgot my camera so I had to use my phone.  Most my pictures of the camp area came out all fuzzy and blury.  These are the best 2 probably. 

What's camping without roasting some marshmellows?

The camp chairs were such a great thing.  Espeically the little ones for the littler girls.

The first day we took a drive on Skyline I think that is what it is called.  Our camp area was called Bountiful Peak Campground I think.  We went up Farmington canyon area to get there.  We went on this Skyline drive that went across the mountain tops and through them to get to Bountiful if I remember right.  (I am so bad with names and locations of things!)  It was so pretty though!  You could look out over the Great Salt Lake and the city area below.  It seemed like you could see forever.  The girls liked it too.

Amber is always up for a good pose when I have the camera out.

There was a group of 4-wheeler riders at this stop we made.  They offered to take pictures of our family.  Amber wouldn't stand still and Samantha was asleep in the car.  This is one of the most recent pictures of our family, well minus Samantha.  The family picture we have on our wall, the twins are like 4 months old.

We drove up the road a little more and hiked up a little trail to see this view behind the girls.  Smanatha woke up too, so that was good.  But then there wasn't anyone to take our family pics.

Lauren hanging out on a rock that was shaped just like a seat.

Amber found a rock that was like a horse's back, or so she said it was.

Samantha found a seated rock too.

Emily decied she wanted to climb up this big rock area for one of her pics.

Lauren liked those rocks that Emily was on too.

Lindsey thought this would be a good picture too.  She is pretty creative with picture taking.

The girls decided this would be a great place for a picture, until they realized there was ants all around.

Amber kept asking, "Mom, is this a boulder?....  Is it going to fall?"  When we were coming back one year from WA we went to Yellowstone.  One of the roads we were taking was closed because there was a "boulder" about ready to fall into the road so they closed the road.  We had to re-route and back track a bit.  We had to back track a bit too because I left my purse at Robert's parents house.  Ooops!  The girls were talking about the boulder so then Amber was questioning every rock we would see.  They decided to get a picture with this boulder.

This was at the beginning of the trail to go up where all the big rocks were.  This was right in front of the boulder in the picture above.  

We had a really fun time camping.  We left our place on Thursday and came home on Saturday, which was my birthday.  Robert being the late planner he is, had to go to Costco once we got home.  He said he wanted to go get the tire fixed, the oil changed, and the car washed.  It just so happened that it was near Costco too I guess.  I got a treadmil for my birthday.  He always makes me feel bad in the gift giving area... he is getting a book for his birthday.  Yeah lame I know, but what do you get a man that already has bought the things he wants?

Fossil digging

Emily has developed a love for rocks. My dad one time mailed her some rocks to add to her collection and they got lost in the mail... the envelope opened and its contents where empty except for the letter he sent.

My dad was talking to a friend of his in WA about Emily and her love for rocks... he is an "amiture" is what he calls himself but he has fossils or rocks (I can't remember which, or maybe it is both) on display in national museums. He said there was a place nearby that you can dig your own fossils. Emily was so excited about it and was wanting to go do it. Finally it was all planned out and they were off to dig some fossils.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been there in a little while and everything was all grown up so he couldn't find the place he was looking for. It was suppose to be like a mile hike to the location, but they didn't ever find the right place.

This rockhound, he brought Emily a box of all different kinds of rocks, with labels of what they are and where they came from. She thought that was pretty cool. Then when they couldn't find the fossil place, he went home and brought a big rock that had over 100 fossils in it he figured. He also brought a egg carton of lots of other little fossils he had already dug up for Emily to keep. She was SO excited.

These ones are from what is called the "Lincoln Creek Formation" and then the big rock he brought was from the Astoria Formation. I don't know much about it all, but I am guessing that since Emily is pretty interested in it, I maybe learning more about it too.


These were said to be like 13-17 million years old. The joke then was that they are a little older than Emily's grandpa (my dad).

Here Emily is digging away at the rock getting things out of it.

You can see the seashells sticking out of the rock all over.

Here is one that she found.

My dad built her a little wooden box with dividers for her to put all her rocks in. I think he is possibly planning on making more boxes for her too since she now has too many to fit in the first box.

How I will get all this home, I am not real sure.