First Family Camping Trip

Two years ago, we received a tent for our first Christmas as a married couple. But then it got shoved in the top of our closet for the "someday" when Tucker is serving in Scouts or something. Neither of us is much of a camping guru. I enjoy it but have only been a few times. And Tucker went many times during his years in Scouts but never really enjoyed it.
So the tent just sat there, unopened, gathering dust.
But then our ward announced that they were planning a ward campout for the first time in years, and I really wanted to go.
Not to mention, Annie is at my favorite age yet, and I knew that she would just love the rocks and the dirt and the campfire and the kids. Sleeping might be hard, but I figured we could survive one night.

I spent the week gathering supplies and planning out the trip. Tent, cooler, hot dogs, hot dog buns, soda, camping chairs, warm clothes, flashlights, and lots and lots of blankets. We don't own any sleeping bags, but I figured with a few blankets and our fuzzy sheepskin under us, warm jammies on us, and cozy blankets over us, we'd be ok.
Friday morning, I packed up the car while Tucker was at work and made a final to-do list. When he got home, I headed to work, leaving him with the last few things to gather together. He picked me up at dinner time, and we headed up the Diamond Fork Canyon in Spanish Fork.

The moment we got out of the car, Annie would not let me pick her up and insisted on walking around and exploring everything all by herself. Tucker and I got the tent set up pretty quickly and transferred our stuff from the car. Other families were arriving and setting up so we snagged some prime spots by the fire before it got too crowded. Tucker roasted hot dogs for us on a wire hanger, and Annie stole sips of homemade root-beer from our cups. Luckily, we brought relish with us, because there were a few young kids who were refusing to eat their hotdogs without it, much to their moms' frustration.

As the sun set, we sat around the fire singing old songs with the old people. We were pleasantly surprised by how many young couples showed up. We thought we'd be alone so it was nice to not be totally outnumbered.

Once the sun sank behind the mountain, the air got noticeably chillier, and Annie began to get tired. I let her stay with me by the fire until she couldn't stand one more second and walked off to the tent to put on her warm jammies and snuggle her to sleep. Unfortunately, tents are super awesome for running around in circles and bouncing off the sides when you're 15 months old. So there was very little no sleeping going on. After way too long of that, I hauled her back to the fire with me, where we found that all the older people and families had turned in for the night. All that was left were the younger newlyweds so we all sat around sharing silly stories and embarrassing moments. It was fun finally getting to know some of the other couples since Tucker and I serve in the Primary and don't get to know many people apart from the children. It wasn't long before Annie fell asleep snuggled up in my arms, and a little after midnight, we let the fire die and headed back to our tents.

Two hours later, Annie started throwing a fit. One of those "I'm still asleep and have no idea what's going on, but I'm MAD!" Kicking, yelling, hitting, flailing, MAD. I think she just scooted away from us and got cold and uncomfortable, but I really have no clue. It took 10 minutes to settle her back down, but 20 minutes later, as soon as I laid back down, she started kicking and yelling again. This went on for an hour, and I was starting to worry we were bugging the other campers. Tucker mumbled something about trying the car, so I picked Annie up, wrapped us up in a blanket, and headed out into the frigid night.
Annie and I climbed into the car and got the heater going. At first, she just wanted to play with all the lights on the dashboard so I had to dim everything. But as soon as the lights were out and the car was warm, I got her to settle down by me. I showed her the gorgeous, diamond-filled night sky through the window, and we fell asleep looking at the stars. As uncomfortable as it was, I think that little memory of watching my toddler first discover the beauty of stars will be one I'll always treasure.
Once she was totally out, she tried to take up more than her share of room in the front seat so I transferred her to the back seat and got a couple hours of shut-eye. Left alone in the tent in 20-degrees, Tucker came to join us in the toasty warm car around 5AM, and we all slept soundly until 6:30 or 7.
Some other non-campers arrived with the sunrise, and soon, the air was filled with the yummy smells of hash-browns, eggs, and cinnamon French toast. Even though it was still only in the 30s, Annie wanted nothing more than to continue her adventures running and playing in the dirt. Once some of the older kids woke up, they hauled her around on their adventures, taking turns carrying her and kissing the top of her head. One of the moms who'd left the night before with her toddler returned with the family dog, and Annie probably spent over an hour sitting right in front of its face, waving "hi" frantically, and trying to work up the courage to touch his fur while his head was turned.

I was in no rush to cut her playing short, but soon it was time to pack up and head back out the canyon. Dirty and smelling like campfire, we headed back to Provo. Annie was totally zonked out in the first 5 minutes of the car ride, poor kid.

Even though the night was rough, I'm so glad we went camping and got to make those fun memories. It will be more fun as she gets older, I'm sure, and we'll definitely make sure we take real sleeping bags next time so we don't freeze. But all in all, I'd say it was a successful trip, dirty fingers and all.