Ward Camp Out 2011

After our backpacking trip, we camped at Warm River with our ward. Byron and Jemayla were kind enough to bring the girls to Ashton so we didn't have to drive home to pick them up. The six of us stopped for dinner at Big Judd's, which is our tradition when we go to the ward camp out.

Some of the youth have a "challenge" that they call "The Big Chill" and each year they recruit more people, namely adults. At 10:00p.m. on Friday night, everyone who's brave enough jumps off the dock into the river and float down to our camp site. They even made t-shirts this year. Dustin is now the proud owner of the t-shirt, but not me. Never me.

Libby and her little friend Ally.

Andrew was kind enough to share his pudding cups with Libby.

Most of the ward members camp Friday night and leave Saturday. We decided to stay behind with a few others and leave on Sunday. That makes sleeping in a tent for me a grand total of three (yes THREE) nights. Saturday night was so much fun! There were about 20 of us who sat and laughed around the camp fire.

We also ran into a little car trouble, a dead battery. Luckily the camp host was able to help us on our way. Dustin forgot to take the keys out of the ignition when he rolled up the windows. I guess he was too excited about floating down the river.

There was also a bear and a moose on the prowl not far from the campground. Luckily all we saw were skunks, but I found it ironic that while deep in Yellowstone we didn't run into any animals, here in a populated area animals were everywhere.

Saturday evening we took a drive to Mesa Falls. The girls loved looking at the water. The Upper Falls area had lots of stairs to climb.

Can't beat that sunset.

A view of the Grand Tetons.

Libby loved taking the Taylor's dog, Sadie, on a walk while holding her leash. When the girls weren't playing with friends or floating the river, they were walking dogs.

On our way home we stopped to feed the fish. There's a great little area where you can feed dozens of trout. We also saw beavers and ducks. Along with the wildlife, we ran into some missionaries from our mission, Justin and Tiffany Nielsen, who were visiting for the weekend from Washington. What are the chances?