Kinder Springs!

Adaira with her wildflower bouquet

We made our annual camping trip to Kinder Springs this year a couple weeks ago. Man I love this place! Looking at these pictures just makes me want to be back there. My family (Ellsworths) have been going to Kinder Springs ever summer for over three decades. When I was younger we would camp for an entire 2 weeks at a time. I have such great memories of this place; you know those places that make you feel nostalgic from all the childhood memories you have there? That is what Kinder Springs is for me. We only camped for four days, but one day when the kids are older I hope to make it a little longer (hopefully at least a week at a time).

The weather was pretty great with lots of rain, though on the one day we didn't have rain it was pretty hot, high eighties to low nineties at least, too hot for a little guy like Dale to take his nap in either the tent, camper or car! Dale was not quite ready to be a good camper this year. Our other kids were always either little babies or already walking by the time we took them camping. Dale is at the crawling/beginning walking stage and was so unhappy that I wouldn't let him on the ground! He still eats everything he can find so I couldn't put him down, so I cleared out the cargo area of my car and let him play in there occasionally with his toys. He slept horribly and would barely nap at all so he was pretty much a miserable mess the last three days!

We did have a great time exploring on the ATV's and hiking. Marathon pictures below and more coming in later posts. I know all of you probably don't care to see so many pictures but my intentions are to turn this blog into a family scrapbook every year and I hate to exclude memories so I have a hard time narrowing down my pictures!

This backpack was our lifesaver! Dale does great in it when we are hiking and riding quads.




Notice Adaira with the camping staple: MUG ROOT BEER! It's just not real camping without it!

Dale enjoying the ride

These ferns were actually pretty tall. We are standing on a stump in this picture.


Two girls with attitude!

Justin brought his bike and really made great time on straights and downhills. We took this picture riding next to him on the quad. Of course I wasn't going that fast since I was carrying all three kids with me.

Yes this is exactly what Dale does when I put him down. Anything and everything from pine cones, dirt, rocks to cow pies...


Cool little crevice Brighton came down on one of our hikes

It was nice for Adaira to have some extended time to play with and get to know her little girl cousins. Here they are playing "Duck Duck Goose" except when they'd chase each other they'd run all over the place!

When the trailer toilet gets full and you have to go, do as David does and grab a shovel and head for the hills!


Marisa (David's wife) with sweet baby Emerson, who is doing great!

Not the best idea to include myself in a picture at the end of our second day camping when I haven't washed my hair and my makeup free face is dirty and oily (enhancing my large forehead!) but the kids look cute. This is us out at night looking for what we call "moonflowers." They are beautiful yellow flowers in the meadows that only open at night (during the day they just look like weeds). They look and are about the same size as the flowers you might find on a hibiscus plant.

Comments

Angie said…
Hey, I don't think you look bad at all in that photo for having been there two days!
7/29/2010 06:11:00 PM
Katrina said…
I can't believe how big your kids are getting! Brighton is so tall!
7/30/2010 07:10:00 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daisy's baptism day

Today Daisy was baptized by her big brother Brighton. My mom and Adaira got to be the witnesses, grandma Joanna gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and Dale gave the closing prayer (after Dad has to rush during the closing song to help him put back on his tie and button up his shirt. Brighton was the pianist except for Adaira who played "When I am Baptized" for a special musical number. (A set of twins from another family was also baptized and their kids sang and played the violin). Here is what she has to say about her special day: I felt happy and felt the Holy Ghost. The water was a little cold. At first I was nervous but now I'm happy. I was excited to be baptized and I want to be a kind member of the church. My dad, grandpa Dean and grandpa Dale, great Uncle Dale, uncles Trent, Dean, Don, Duane and David confirmed me. Dad blessed me to seek a testimony of Jesus Christ and of Joseph Smith. He asked her to find quiet times in her life away from screens and devices to be...
Read more
Image
  Memorial Day A couple months ago I told Justin that we should take our kids and both sets of grandparents to the Mesa City Cemetery and tell our kids stories about our family members buried there. I thought it would make a good Sunday or Family Home Evening activity.  I want my children to identify with their ancestors and feel like they can learn from them. I especially want them to feel like they can develop some of the same good qualities or avoid some of the poor ones. They had also never been to a cemetery so it would be a new experience for them. Justin and I never got around to organizing it until today. Justin's mom was planning a lunch BBQ and swimming for Memorial Day and told me she was thinking of inviting my parents and asked about time preferences since she was thinking of doing it around dinner time. The idea of the cemetery popped into my head and I mentioned that I thought it would be neat to do the BBQ earlier in the day and then take everyone out to the...
Read more