This land was made for you and me

Well, I survived the camping trip! And not only did I survive it, but I enjoyed every minute of it! Well... almost. To be fair, On day 8 of 10 I did awake from a dream that I was sleeping in this luxurious hotel to find the same nylon tent seams above my head from the previous 7 nights and the same dirt underneath my fingernails from who wants to know where and in that very moment I almost lost it screaming, "I just want to do my hair!"

But aside from that, I had an amazing time. Really!
(Warning.. this post has over 50 pictures in it and I am not wearing make up in any of them. Proceed at your own risk)


Some things I loved about camping:

Being "aunt" Kamille.  Other than Evan himself, I'd say my newly acquired title is pretty much my favorite thing about this marriage of ours. Little nieces following me around and wanting to play 24/7 is absolutely the cutest thing in the world. I'm still working on winning over the boys... But Evan is some steep competition in that department.

John's cobbler. Y'all. Do you know the wonders that can come out of a Dutch oven with some canned fruit and a cake mix? You don't. Because if you did you would build a fire pit out back and make it for dessert at least once a week. Yum. (Unfortunately we don't have a picture of this because John took all the pictures! So here are some other cooking ones instead.)

Agate beach. Now this little promise of a beach was totally and completely misleading and possibly even a little unfair for a newcomer like myself. I thought I was going to be good at this part of camping. A beach? I know how to do that! Beaches are warm and sunny with white sand and turquoise water! Yes? No. Agate beach was cold... As in jeans and a sweatshirt cold, and rainy and rocky. But it was so fun! And we played in the waves and the rain and the rocks anyway and even completed a pretty killer family wiffle ball game. Loved everything about this day.

Fern canyon. Have you ever been to that play ground in Disney World based on the movie Honey I Shrunk the kids? You know where everything is enormous and it makes you feel like you are the size of an ant? That's how I felt here. Only better because it wasn't giant pencils and blown up tennis shoes, it was real stuff.trees and plants,  Everything was enormous, not just pretending to be.

River rafting. This was my favorite part of the whole trip..possibly because I rode down in a raft with a man who says things like "that little smart car looks like a pregnant roller skate". Seriously? My father in law is hilarious and i now know where my husband comes up with this kind of stuff. We don't have any pictures of rafting because everyone assured me our raft would sink like it had every single year for the past 33 years so I figured a camera was a no go. But we didn't! Richard came up big with some fancy patch glue and we made it the whole way down the crystal clear smith river. This dis not however save me from getting into the icy water. Any time I was looking too dry my husband or someone else's paddle took care of that real quick.

Campfires. S'mores, grandpa playing the guitar, or just late night talks around the fire, this makes me warm all over.

Trails. Running and biking or hiking through redwood forests is absolutely gorgeous and so so worth the allergy attack that would inevitably ensue upon completion. Everything is green and gorgeous and it smells incredible, even Yankee candle can't fake this stuff.

Family time. our family is split between California and Utah so it's always so much fun to team up and get to spend time all together. Although ten days was a little too long for me to be sleeping in the great outdoors, I'm glad we had so much time to spend with everyone. It's never enough.

Thank you, thank you to Richard and Marilyn for letting Evan and I tag along with you the whole time, it was amazing! I loved being a part of this huge family tradition and I feel like I am now officially part of the Fox family.