Family Camp-Out

We went camping last weekend with Marks 2 brothers. We couldn't find any friends to go with us, so at the last minute we practically had to beg and plead Mark's brothers to come with us. Since we were just going to get our fill of camping in, we did the basic mandatory camping foods: Foil dinners (chicken potatoes, carrots and onions), S'mores, and Muffins for breakfast the next morning.

We left after the boys finished work at 5 and took the 30 minute drive up Mapleton Canyon to Whiting Campground. It really is only about 10 minutes from civilization. But it's just far enough up the canyon to get dirty, smell like campfire and escape the brutal valley heat for a bit. The campsites were nice (though small) and had a lot of families camping. We were also surprised when the host came up and told us we COULD use sticks and lose brush to kindle our fire. Most places that's a felony. So that was nice, though this time we remembered to pack extra wood. 

 This is Ryan surprised how good the foil dinners taste. (Let's admit it, it's hard to get them to really taste good)

 I figured I ought to get a picture of Mark and I since these were for our blog. He did this one and Ryan willingly put up with the pose. 

 

 After enjoying foil dinners we played a few card games and then figured we might as well start enjoying s'mores. There was quite the debate on how s'mores should be cooked (charcoal outside vs golden brown). This is definitely where I differ from Mark. I believe light brown and bubbly are the best characteristics of a marshmallow where he believes the more burned the better.

 Yummy marshmallows!

After s'mores we sat around and told "Ghost Stories". Really they were just random stories being retold or made to sound scary but weren't. We had a lot of good laughs. I wasn't sure what to expect camping with 3 boys but I was surprised at how much fun we did have. Sure I got a little nostalgic for Girls' Camp and wanted to sing a round of the Jell-O song or Princess Pat but since I would have been singing alone, I decided I could survive and take a more "masculine" (read: normal) approach to camping.

We had so much fun camping and are thinking about going again before the summer is out. There are just never enough weekends for us to do everything we want!