Camping near Big Lake

We went camping last weekend, just our little (or big, depending on how you define a family size) family.  We left on Thursday and headed up to Big Lake, Arizona!  We love camping up there because it is usually much much cooler and it typically rains.  This trip was rain-less, which was a little disappointing, but we still had a great time.  We camped for a few days and then headed home.  Here are some pictures from our trip.

Preston enjoyed some out door, big boy playing!

 Outdoor camping food is truly the best!  Seriously, nothing ever tastes as good as camp food.

 There was no such thing as clean while camping.  It's amazing how fast faces were covered in dirt.

 I love seeing how these kids imaginations work and what fun ideas they come up with.  I also really love seeing them play well together.  It's unfortunate that it isn't always the case.

 There he is... Mr. Wonderful.  Just had to throw that in there.  I think Oliver "took" this picture.

 Male Bonding Time!

 Preston's first hiking experience.

 And look who carried him!  This was a first for both of us.  He rode, and I carried.  Usually Brandon does the carrying.

 Exploring by Crescent Lake

 I mentioned the dirty faces... right?

 Melanie is truly a monkey.  We traded her in at the zoo a long time ago.  Don't let the zoo know though.  She is too cute to give back.

 More Male Bonding.

 Eating their desserts around the "fire".  (It turned out to be no burn this trip, so they had to imagine their fire, but they still insisted having a camp fire moment).

 Camping bath!  How do you like my awesome socks?  They were my Christmas present from Noelle last Christmas!

 More camp fire moments.

 Okay... the Oreos!  This little man may look so innocent, but let me tell you...  it's a facade!  ha ha!  See, we told the kids the last night that if they ate all their dinner, they could have dessert (which is what the girls were eating around their imagined camp fire).  Well, Mr. Red refused to eat his dinner (which was unfortunate because the aforementioned awesome-ness of camp food).  Needless to say, he didn't earn dessert.  The girls both got cupcakes.  Well, Brandon apparently also bought some oreos, which he informed me were dairy free (I'm dairy free right now).  I'm not quite sure what is in oreos that they can be dairy free, but alas, I didn't want to know that particular night.  I opened the package and ate two.  Then I started to get ready to give Preston his bath.  Next thing I know, Oliver has 2 yummy oreos, one in each hand.  He proceeded to do the most amazing "I stole the Oreos" dance imaginable.  It was quite a thing.  It was too cute that I told him that he had just better hurry and eat his stolen goods before it was time for his bath, or I'd take them away.  And he did just that!

In the end, camping was SO much fun.  We were about 2 miles away from any other campers.  I could let the kids go "free range chicken" and not worry.  As long as I could see them from the camp site, they were fine.  The weather was nice (a little hotter then we had planned, but much cooler than at home).  It was fun to spend time with each other and explore.  I can't wait until we can go again, and neither can the kiddos.

Camping with Dad

Camping out back has to be one of the coolest things ever.  Especially when dad comes along!  The kids were super excited about this.

 And do you blame them? 

The three of the "big kids" slept together and by the morning, both girls were hugging Oliver in their sleep.  Brandon slept on an air mattress on the other side of the tent and apparently froze.  He also informed me that our backyard is a loud place when the sun goes down.  It made me smile.  

The tent has been up the entire week, and has been a castle for "Candy Land" (the girls were candy land fairies), a prison for "cops and robbers", a bounce house for their un-birthday parties, and so many more things.  I love their little imaginations (which aren't exactly little). 

Camping bear Big Lake!

Last week we went CAMPING!!!!  We went to Big Lake area and enjoyed much cooler temperatures and some space to roam.  It was such a treat to have to wear long sleeves and sweaters.  The kids were in paradise.

 The kids loved that daddy brought his Samurai and took them on several rides exploring...

 Mom loved it too, because it gave her some reading time.

 Check out this bug that caught up with Brandon.

 Do you like my kid train?  They thought that was hilarious! I thought it was cute.

 Oliver is my future chef.  He really enjoyed helping dad cook.

 The girls gathered sticks.

 When it was slow, Oliver begged for more rides.

 Things were a little messy.

 Check this out, apparently the back of our trailer also functions as a slide.

 Outdoor sports...

 And mud gardening.

 We met a frog!

 We had a blast!

The kids have already started begging to go back.  It was a lot of fun.

We Are Family!

This past weekend was the Smithson Family Reunion. The reunion actually ran the entire weekend; however, our family was only able to go for a Saturday day trip. The reunion was just north of Payson, and beautiful! Even though it was short, we had a ton of fun! When we got there, the rest of the family was heading out to Fossil Creek. I didn't pack bathing suites, or really, adequate clothing for getting wet, so we stayed behind and played with Grandpa and Grandma Smithson.

Melanie enjoyed riding all her cousins bikes in their absence.
And she loved showing her sister around as they wondered the forest. (supervised, of course)

I think Noelle's favorite part of the trip was all the random treats she was given.

Melanie got to wear Grandpa's "Sunshine" hat. She loves sun shines because I sing that song to her every day, so she was giddy to get to wear this hat.

When Grandpa and Grandma went to take a nap, Daddy took the girls for a ride in the Jeep... turns out they were ready for a nap as well!

Here is Noelle... sneaking more treats! This time is was Oreos, and she ate them "undercover!"

I love this picture of my family!

This little man is my nephew, Justin. He was wearing "war paint" (or rather, he crashed in the dirt, but it didn't phase him). Eventually all the cousins came back and Melanie and Noelle got to really have fun! Melanie LOVED playing with her cousins! Noelle loved following them around.

Daddy sure got a work out, pushing the kiddos back and forth in either this tractor, or on a bicycle. We love you daddy!

I think this is cute. Melanie decided to give Noelle a ride. It was funny, she couldn't turn it around, so after she did one pass, she just left Noelle in the tractor... waiting. Poor Noelle!

Noelle's favorite thing was to attempt riding this tricycle. I think she would have succeeded, if it were on concrete. The rocks and twigs just made it too hard for her. I think it may be time to look into getting a tricycle for my baby girl.

Here is Melanie with a few of her cousins... just "hanging out!"

And proof that I was there... (Not the most flattering proof. I had just handed the camera to Brandon and told him there better be at least one picture of me on this trip... and I'd preferred it if it were a decent one. And literally 2 seconds later, this picture was taken. Thanks honey!)

Daddy and Noelle had fun hanging out together. Note: At this point, Noelle was completely covered in dirt! There was no point in cleaning her, it would only last a brief moment.

Okay, this is my Super Woman picture. Look closely, NO ONE is holding Noelle up, except Noelle! She just hung there. This is just crazy! It does certainly beat the "pole dancing" pictures I could have gotten from her. She also enjoyed dancing and swinging around the canopy poles, silly girl. to my relief, she wasn't the only one.

And more proof that I was at the reunion. This one is more flattering. And yep, those two were the only pictures of me. This one was taken during dinner. We had some good food, thanks to my Sister in law, Amber, and her husband Tyler (Brandon's younger brother).

We had a ton of fun at the Smithson Reunion. Thank you Amilee (Brandon's younger sister), and Chad (her husband) for putting everything together! We really enjoyed ourselves!