Back-packing Trip (Day 2 & 3)

Morning came thankfully and we got out of our tent, Brent went down to the lake to get some more water so I could make breakfast, when he got back he told me I had to go see it. So I took the camera down and got a decent-ish picture. It was a beautiful sunrise on the lake, that area is just so gorgeous.

Brent got a nice fire going, I made some oatmeal, and the kids had fun roaming around being adorable.

This picture below shows my kitchen set up... it wasn't the flatest of rocks, but it worked. :)

One thing that made this site so perfect for us was that it had this big ol' boulder for the kids to climb on. Chico loved pretending to be a mountain lion up there.

Another great thing about this site was this beautiful meadow right next to where were hidden in the trees.  We kept hoping to see a moose come  through but no such luck. ;)

After breakfast we got our clothes changed, our fishing gear gathered and were off to catch us some lunch!

We decided to fish at Betsy (the lake right next to Grand Daddy) once we were down by the lake, we realized that the boys needed their coats. So Chico and I hiked back to our camp and grabbed them and then we came back and found out Brent had caught a nice sized fish while were gone!  He thought it was about lunch time (which looking back, it was probably like 10:30) and so we pulled out our little stove and cooked the fish right there next to the lake.  I cooked some Ramen too and we had a nice early lunch. It sure was good!

After that Chico and Brent set to work to catch more fish, and I set to work trying to keep Grizwald happy whilst he wasn't getting to fish.  He had his hood on and convinced me that I needed to wear mine and lay back against the rock with him (yes, he doesn't really talk yet, he is just quite good at getting his point across in different ways).

Bustin' out the moves...

Well my handsome hubby only caught the one fish, and after hearing that most people were having about the same success we felt pretty grateful for the one that we did catch! Chico was really glad that we caught one and got to eat it.

When we got back from Betsy I was pooped.  This flat rock at the edge of where we were camping was looking mighty fine and Brent suggested I bring about my sleeping bag and pad.  It was SO comfortable and I fell asleep on it for like an hour and a half. The boys and I each had a turn on it, Brent didn't really which I feel bad about. He is so good to us.

We were a bit bored, but the boys were so tired from the hike the day before that we decided we better take it easy. Brent and Chico were digging in the dirt and had a good time with that.

Gotta love the Nature Valley Bars. What would we do without those?

Can't remember why his shirt was off... probably cuz he's a boy... yeah that's probably it.

Chico does strange things sometimes but they're usually quite adorable.

After a while we decided to go try our luck again.

We didn't catch anything but it was beautiful and the boys had an okay time.  Chico was able to cast his  own pole out all by himself sometimes, it was really impressive.

Then Griz and Chico were fighting over the pole so I finally just left with Griz so Chico and Brent could fish a little easier.

We went and rehydrated some more food on our stove then they came back to eat and then we scrambled to get everything prepared, the campiste back to wilderness mode, and put away and ready to go for the morning because we needed to wake up at 5 to make it back in time for my brother's sealing.  We turned on Brent's phone right before bed (we didn't want to waste battery throughout the trip as it searched for signal) and set the alarm.  I slept pretty good until 2:00 when Griz started crying and took about 20 minutes to get happy again and comfortable (up on my pillow and in my sleeping bag, oh the things we do for our kids!).  Just as I was settling back down to fall back asleep I heard something running through our camp.  I was pretty freaked out but calmed myself down because it sounded too fast and light to be a bear.  I thought that I heard it a bit more so I woke up Brent and told him.  He was listening intently and then I started hearing these weird noises, I wondered if they were an animal growling. It was starting to freak me out even worse and then Brent whispered to me, "Can you hear my stomach grumbling?"  His dang stomach was going crazy!  All was well in the camp and so we tried to settle ourselves back down and eventually fell back asleep for a couple more hours.

We woke up early as planned and it all went really well, it was kinda weird getting all ready to go in the pitch black night.  We got our packs down and started the water boiling, brought the kids in their bags out onto their pads out of the tent so Brent could put everything away. I made them hot cocoa and oatmeal, then helped finish packing.  We got everything ready by 6:20! It was light (enough) by then and we didn't have to use our headlamps to hike.  Griz was NOT in the mood to hike so Brent carried him.  Luckily Chico was in a very good mood and was hiking really well.  He was talking a mile a minute telling me all kinds of stories about his imaginary friends 'Jarom and Adam'. It was awesome, and before we knew it we were to the top of the hardest part of the hike.  Griz was asleep in Brent's arms during that part, he's amazing to carry  him up that mountain!  Then a bit after that Chico face planted and was unable to bring himself to hike again for a while so Brent carried him (he's about 40 pounds so he was carrying WELL over a hundred pounds all together) for quite a while, and I carried Griz as much as I could (he's pretty heavy himself!). We made pretty good time since Griz was carried probably 90-95% of the hike back.  And we got to our car at 9:30!   The kids fell asleep almost immediately on the drive home and we made it back to our house in time to shower really fast, eat a couple quesadillas and pb&j's and then drop the kids off at Brent's mom's house and drive to the Mt. Timpanogas temple to be there at 1:30.  It was amazing how well the timing all worked out, I couldn't believe it!

I was glad we got to see my brother sealed to his wife, it's always wonderful to be reminded of things when you are at a sealing to help you re-charge I guess you could say.

When we got home we did a few things and then went and played volleyball with our group of friends again. Brent took the camera this time and so he got some fun pictures, that will be in the post tomorrow...

Back-packing Trip (First Day)

Brent has been hoping for the past few years that we could go on a backpacking trip.  I've been hesitant, never sure how we could possibly do it with not being able to carry one of the kids in the pack.  We had heard about a beautiful place in the Uintahs called Grand Daddy Basin.  I somehow got it confused with a different place Brent had talked about and got it in my mind that it was only a one mile hike into Grand Daddy lake but that you can keep going and go to other lakes if you want.  Well I thought that would be do-able so we planned the trip and the night before as we were packing everything Brent looked up the hike and told me it was actually a 3 mile hike into the main lake.  I didn't know what to do, I panicked a bit but then decided that I could do it.  I don't know WHAT made me decide that, but that's what I decided.  So after a rough morning we finally got away and drove all the way up there, found out it was actually 4 miles to the lake, and then started our hike at 2:15.

The boys always love hiking and so they of course were having a blast.  Griz fell SO many times, but he was so excited he'd just hop right back up and keep going.  He did have to get carried every once in a while when he was tired, and quite a bit near the end but overall they did really great.  Brent is one STRONG man, his pack was SO heavy and he'd even carry a kid in his arms. He amazes me, I wish I had taken a picture of him wearing the pack, it was packed full and overflowing with additional sleeping bags, pads, and tent attached.

Bringing our nice camera along was not an option, so we borrowed a point and shoot camera from my parents which fit nicely in a side pocket and weighed hardly anything.  Pictures just aren't the same, but Brent edited them up the best he could.  I was glad we had it along.

Chico and Grizzly Bear just love each other so much and sometimes they are just so dang cute together. They were LOVING holding hands at times during the hike.  It was too cute to handle.

They were feeling the love so Chico picked up his brother in a big bear hug.

Griz and I were waiting while Brent filtered some water with Chico.  Griz was sad about being taken away from the water and so I was trying to cheer him up.  I pulled out the camera and we just took a bunch of pictures of ourselves. He LOVED it, and when we'd look at the pictures on the camera he'd point at me and with a big smile on his face and in his cute Grizwald voice he'd say, "mama".  

They did have fun on the hike, I promise. ;) We were all just getting a little tired.  Once we got over the mountain and started down to the other side Chico caught a second wind and we were trucking along and before we knew it, we were to the lake!  Brent found a nice spot and started dashing around getting everything set up and ready before the sun went down. (We weren't sure when that would happen, we weren't really even sure what time it was).

I tried to keep Griz entertained while Brent was working, and while I tried to figure out how to get some water boiling on our little backpackers stoves. (They are amazing little burners, especially if you're not trying to get them started upside down!)

Every time we see this picture we just can't stop laughing...

We brought a couple small toys and a book to keep them happy, I wondered if it was a good idea at home but once we were up there, I was so glad Brent did it.

Brent got our tarp set up for relief from the rain if it poured (which it never did thankfully, we even heard some thunder in the distance but none of it hit us).  We ate dinner and hung up our packs hung up in case of bears. Chico had really been looking forward to going fishing so luckily before it got dark they were able to go down to the lake for a few minutes to give it a try.  When they came back I said, "Hey you guys!!! Did you catch any fish!?", Chico replied, "Yeah!" I said, "Really!?" and he said, "Well.... actually I'm not sure that lake has any fish in it."  He is so funny, but really, in his defense, it had only been a few days before that when he had caught 6 fish in less than an hour at Kaysville Pond so of course if after 5 minutes of trying and no bites, that would mean no fish!

 Brent got a beautiful fire going and we sat around the fire for a bit. The boys then went to bed and we cuddled by the fire for a little longer and watched the stars. It was really nice and relaxing.  After the fire was out enough we went and got in the tent.  This is the first time we've used this tent for the four of us by the way.  We laid down and I discovered this tent must be just under 6 feet long. Because my head hit the top and my feet hit the bottom.  It was quite uncomfortable! Thankfully Griz is short enough that I could lay diagonally, that helped a bit.  I didn't sleep great that night but Griz did which was nice. Chico had a bit of a rough time during part of the night but other than that it was okay!  

Chico's first time Fishing!

It was high time for us to take Chico fishing and so we coordinated with Brent's step-dad, Simon, about going fishing with him and having a picnic that Ellen had been wanting to have with us that week, at the same time. We drove to Kaysville Pond and ate some delicious fried chicken and fruit and such, played with dandelions...

And then we grabbed our fishing poles and a cookie and headed down to the pond to see if we could catch some fish!


Simon led the way to find a good spot, I trailed behind taking pictures.



We found a nice spot on a dock and Brent and Simon set to work getting the poles ready to go.


Chico fell in love with this little green lure. I love when he smiles like that, it just melts my heart to bits.


Brent helped Chico cast it down and within a couple minutes fish number one was caught...


Fish number two a few minutes later...

We thought about keeping that one but decided since it would taste like the pond probably we should release it.  Chico was totally cool about releasing them back in.

Fish number three I think... (Simon had to help us unexperienced fishermen get the fish off sometimes).


Fish number 4 was on video I believe so I didn't catch that in a picture.  Things slowed down for a bit and so I packed up the camera and took off to go help Ellen clean up and help with Griz.  After I left Chico caught two more, and those were all by himself!  Simon and Brent didn't catch any, it was all Chico that night!
I was SO glad he had such a positive experience his first time fishing, he absolutely loved it and was so happy that Simon took us.  He seemed so grown up out there, especially when he'd hold the fish up for us to see and then release them.  It was so awesome.