Thousand Lakes Trip...

At the first of the summer we talked about going on a big family vacation, but after going over some different idea's we decided that the kids would have just as much fun going camping for a week. Casey said he could take off some extra day so that we could go longer than just a weekend. The original plan was to go to Beaver Mountain and leave on a Wednesday and come back Sunday or Monday. Beaver Mountain is my favorite place and I was looking forward to some cooler weather. The guys then decided it would be funner to go to Thousand lakes and take a ride over to the Henry's and look for deer. Now I was not happy about this one bit for many reasons. The first reason was I knew it would be hot. Thousand Lakes is right by Capital Reef (which is desert!) and they were wanting to go to the Henry's (also desert). Next reason was I wanted to camp not be driving all day in the heat to look for deer (it's not the deer hunt!). I used map quest and found out that The Henry's were 2.5 hours away from camp! I just pictured my kids in a truck for 5 hours in the heat. The last reason was that I feel like Thousand Lakes is the only place we go. A couple of years ago Casey had a deer tag down there and we literally went down every other weekend. Anyway, after some arguing and me threatening to not go I finally agreed to go on this trip and not complain if he would take me to Beaver over Labor Day. We had planned on leaving on Wednesday, but then noticed the truck had a bad tire and we had to wait until Thursday to actually leave town. Cael went down on Wednesday with Gary & Linda and we finally made it down there Thursday afternoon. Since we had to wait another day, we made the best of it and went and watch Eclipse. I loved it and I'm Team Jacob for sure!

Kensie with her babies

Even though I was not looking forward to the Henry's drive I kept my promise and didn't complain. We actually had a really good time and I'm glad we went. Most of the truck ride was through Capital Reef and it was a beautiful which made time go by quick.

I know....I know....she's the cutest little biker you've ever seen!

The road had been washed out so we drove the rest of the way on the bikes. This was Casey's favorite part of the whole weekend!

I took this of my Father-in-Law so I had proof a RZR had to pull his 4 wheeler out!

Lunch

excuse this photo of Kensie's baby.... I didn't notice until after.

Beautiful ....but extremely hot!!! I'm pretty sure Satan ran out in front of us at one point cause it was hotter than hell. It was also dusty and Kensie's white shirt was literally brown by the end of the day. We had decided to stop in Torrey and get dinner since we were so late getting back. Torrey is a tourist trap and the drive-in's were bombed. We all had mud and dirt all over us and I thought we would just blend in, but it turns out that people staying in trailer courts don't get as dirty as us. I wiped my kids faces off before we got out and did the best to try and make them look like they didn't just come out of a dust bowl. Kalee almost punched a girl who she said was "looking Kensie up and down with a disgusted look on her face!" This girl obviously has never had fun and got dirty. I'm glad I didn't see her or I might have had to say something especially since Kensie looked cuter dirty than her girl was cleaned up! Snob!

Grandpa Gary gave Cael a knife at the start of the weekend, so he spent a lot of time marking his territory. Right before we left he hurried and carved his name on one last tree. I asked him why he had to do that last one and he answered "i only had done 4 and I'm 5 so I did 5". It kept him entertained and he even carved a C for Casey and a T for me.

This was our Saturday ride and was a little steep and Rocky, but that's how we like um!

Whittling....

Kurt Memmott made the kids these guns.

Casey's fish that he caught within 10 minutes of being there.

Cael reeling his fish in, Kensie was screaming at this point.

Her face was clean before she had an itch.

Kensie & Grandma Linda

Smores...

Kurt & Casey

It turned out to be a great week and I'm glad we had the chance to get away for a few days.