Rose Canyon Lake Camping Trip- July 2010

Recently, our family ventured to the great outdoors and picked a good spot at Rose Canyon Lake in Arizona.  Below is our our adventure.

July 21:
Our trip started out with gathering up all our camping equipment from there various "hiding" spots.  Then off to bed.

July 22:
After two hours of packing almost every nock and granny in our van, we were ready to go.  Bubba's best friend would be joining us, unknown to him.  We kept it a secret for weeks.  We drove by to pick him up.  He came out with his gear and Bubba asked, "Where are you going?".  He replied with "camping with you".  Bubba was very surprised and happy.  So off we were to the mountains.  About 1.5 hours later we were finally out of the desert heat.  Yeah!!!!  We found our camp site up on a little hill and began to setup camp.  Bubba and his friend stayed in a tent by themselves while the rest of us stayed in our larger tent.  We setup a shad structure over our table which was a comedy act in-and-of-itself.  There were no instructions so we had to figure it out.  After several unsuccessful attempts, we got it setup.  For dinner, we roasted hot dogs over a fire Celeste made.  After a night of joke telling around the camp fire, we turned in for the night.  Sometime that night we had our first rain storm of the trip.

July 23:
After a night of rain (we were dry this time), we woke up and cooked a good breakfast of pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs.  All the boys ate well.  After clean up, we got our fishing gear (special thanks to my friends Eddy and Sue) and headed off to the lake.  This would be the first time fishing for our boys and Bubba's friend.  After getting hooks on the poles and figuring out how to cast, we dropped in our first lines.  After a few unsuccessful attempts, we met a nice lady to helped us.  Here are some pictures of us fishing.

Here I am readying the first pole.

Here is G's first time fishing

Here is Bubba' first time fishing

Here is Bubba and his best friend fishing and contemplating the beauties of the lake. 

Here is bubba with his "home made" fishing pole.

Time for a snack.  Fishing can be tiresome.

G loved to reel in the line.  That is all he really wanted to do.

Two bothers just sitting and talking while fishing.

We gave it our best shot, but we came up empty handed.  Better luck next time.

After fishing and lunch, the older boys and I hiked around the forest and found a large outcropping of rocks.  We proceeded to climb the rocks.  The view from the top was spectacular.  The beauties of God are marvelous.  While up on the rocks, we began to hear thunder off in the distance.  I decided it was time to return to camp.  As we approached the camp grounds, the sky opened up and dumped rain on us.  We all gathered under my rain poncho and slow continued back to camp.  Little did we know that this was an indication of things to come.

The rain did not last long and soon we were cooking dinner.  Celeste tried and was finally successful at starting a fire.  As we were finishing up dinner, we could again hear thunder off in the distance.  Then there was a cool breeze that came through.  Celeste and I knew what that meant so we quickly cleaned up camp, put away all that which we did not want to get wet.  Then we saw some low level clouds come through camp and we knew it was not much longer before the rain would come.  We quickly finished getting ready and no sooner did we get into our tents when it started raining.  It started off as a gentle rain but soon became a down pour.  After about 10 minutes, our tent began to be flooded.  Celeste and I tried to dam the water from reaching the sleeping younger boys, but to no avail.  Soon the tent was soaked.  I ran out to check on the older boys tent and fortunately they were still dry and sleeping.  On my way back to our tent, I stopped under the dinner fly and pondered what to do.  I felt inspired that we should gather up the boys and return home and sleep in a warm and dry place.

I ran back to Celeste to discuss the plan with her and see agreed.  So we gathered the younger boys and ran to the van.  I ran back to gather Bubba and his friend in two separate trips.  This whole time it was raining very heavily.  We slowly drove down the mountain trying our best to avoid the rocks and sand washed by the flowing water.  We finally made it home, dried up and went to bed.

I got up early the next morning and drove back up the mountain to gather all our gear.  I had removed the seats and lined the van inside with a tarp.

Here is what the main tent looked like the next morning.

Here is another view.

Even though it rained and soaked everything, it was a fun trip and one that all will remember for years to come.

Stay tuned for a report from our next trip in mid September.

Camping in the White Mountains

We have recently returned from a family camping trip in the White Mountains of Arizona. The trip started out full of excitement. It did takes us much longer then we expected and had a hard time finding the spot where we would be camping. We drove around the park for about a hour till we finally met up the family that invited us. By the time we parked in camp, it was dark and we were all hungry and tired. I setup our cooking gear and while Celeste was cooking, I setup the tent and sleeping gear. After a very cold night's rest, we woke up and finished arranging our gear. A few more families showed up really made the trip fun. We enjoyed being in the outdoors as some of the pictures below will show and certainly enjoyed the cooler weather. Enjoy the photos below.

Elk watching the first night.

Here is Bubba having a good time, I think!!

Here is "Mud Magnet" number 1. All the boys were so dirty, but had a blast.

Here is "Mud Magnet" number 2.

G was sooo dirty!!!

 

The boys loved playing William Tell.

Bubba in jail!!

Can you tell that G just finished a blue drink?!!!

How can you miss a face like this?

Last is Mom. What a trooper. In fact, she was the one who was most excited about camping for 5 days with four boys and no showers. We are looking forward to another camping season next year.

Family Update

We have been very busy these past few months.  We enjoyed a nice vacation in California over the Christmas break.  Since returning, Ryan has become one more class closer to finishing school.  "Bubba" is still enjoying school and his reading is much improved.  "G" will be starting school in a couple of weeks plus he will be turning 3.  I know, it is hard to believe how fast they grow up.  "Moose" is doing well.  He is eating everything in sight.  We laugh and say we are feeding his tape-worm.  Celeste is busy as ever.  If she is not helping one of her friends, then she is chasing down five or six children in our house.  Anyway, we are doing well and the Lord is truly blessing our little family.  We will try to be better about posting.  Here are some pictures of the boys.

Here is "Bubba" at the Sacramento Train Museum

Here is typical "G" just hanging out

This is our regular cheese-ball "Moose"

Three Little Monkeys

Here are some pictures of our three little monkeys; "Bubba", "G", and "Moose".

Here is a picture of "Moose" playing trains. He ran out of hands so he is using his mouth.

"G" loves to pretend he is a Storm Trooper. Here he is with his weapon in it's "holster".















"Bubba" has recently has been pretending he know karate. Watch out!!















"G" loves to wear "Bubba's" boots. Meet Indiana "G"!!



















Hope you liked the pictures.

Saturday October 25, 2008

Today we went to the Tucson Children's Museum. We all had a good time, especially the boys since this was the first time that Daddy could come along. The boys did enjoy showing Daddy all the "cool" things at the museum. To the left you see Mason playing the bongo drums. He liked the music room.

Here you see Garrett in the fire truck. He really enjoys the fire truck especially when the lights are turned on.

Mason really enjoys the "little tikes" room. He can get out of the stroller and play. This room is really neat. There is a velco conveyer belt on which you can stick some frog. You then pull them to the top where a fan will knock them off and they go flying around the room. The boys really enjoy that.

Here is Bubba pretending to be a firefighter. He loved putting on the fire fighter suit.

Here is Bubba again, poking his head out.

Mason enjoyed rolling the foam pads around.

And here is G trying to be like is older brother. We really enjoyed our time together. It was nice that Daddy could come along. He had this past week off from school and he took advantage of the time. We look forward to our next adventure at the Tucson Children's Museum.

Inspirational Messages

We have all seen the news lately about the nation's financial crisis. Many of us have felt the effects and many of us will soon feel the effects. It can be a depressing time. In fact, I felt a little of this recently. But last weekend, was the semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This is a time for members of the Church and for all the world to hear inspiring messages from members of the general leaders of the Church. This particular conference was especially inspiring to me and my family in the face of weeks of "bad" news. I felt inspired and uplifted by the talks and council given during this conference. Some of you are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and some of are not. But these messages are for the whole world. So, for those who are looking for an inspiring message, here is a link to these messages. We hope you find them as inspiring and uplifting as we did and especially at this time.

October 2008 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

First Lost Tooth

September 22, 2008

Bubba lost his first tooth today. For weeks, the poor tooth held on for a long time till finally Bubby got tired an while in bed, flicked the tooth right out. He was so happy. He came out of his room to show us. Here are some pictures, though it is hard to see the missing tooth since there was  tooth coming up just in back of it.

Here is a close up of the missing tooth

Though it is hard to see, the missing tooth is in front but there is a new tooth just behind the hole.

Here is Bubba being funny!!!