Camping Aficionado

Yep, that's me: camping aficionado. Maybe that's stretching the term aficionado a bit, but it is kind of true.

It hasn't always been true. The people who know me best would never describe me that way. My sister's husband, before he officially became part of the family, used to call us - and not without a little disdain - City Slickers. I took it as a compliment (although I'm pretty sure my sister didn't).

A few years ago, when I got asked to be the Young Women's camp director I panicked because I had only made it through one week of girl's camp as a youth, and never went back. I thought there must have been some mistake and that they clearly did not know who they were asking to head this up. How could I direct a camp of 19 young girls? Plan for the tents, the food, the activities to be done in the wilderness? It seemed like an overwhelming task. But it turned out to be really fun, especially with the advice of a great Young Women's President and a helpful assistant.



The following year Chris and I went with the youth on a four day high-adventure camp in Wyoming. It pushed me way beyond my level of comfort. It was like Survivor or Fear Factor, but without any cash prizes. We had to do a ropes course, a very steep and difficult mountain bike ride, river rafting and a super long (and beautiful) hike in the Tetons. Except for the hike I'd never harbored a remote desire to do any of the rest of that stuff. But again, I came home feeling happy that I'd been there and experienced it.

Yes, Chris had the pleasure of joining me at that camp

Later that year, again with the youth, we camped at Goblin Valley. It was November and it was freezing (at night)! I never would have thought camping in November was a wise thing to do, but it was great.

By the way, here are a few tips for camping in 30 degree weather:

• Sleep with a hat on


• Use two sleeping bags (one inside the other)


• Plan on not changing your clothes (you'll be way too cold)


• Make hot chocolate by placing a gallon of chocolate milk in a pot of boiling water until the milk is nice and warmed through.
  
  
  Last year, I got to go to Youth Conference, again in Wyoming (it was one of my very first blog posts). This time, the whole experience of sleeping in tents, hanging tarps and preparing food in pouring rain, along with all the activities we managed to pull off turned out to feel extremely rewarding.
  

So all of this recent camping activity has resulted in a change of heart. I'm quite happily anticipating our upcoming camping trip. We'll be on water, so that will be nice, but it still requires a lot of gear and thinking ahead. The difference is, now I feel like I can and will manage. I've come to terms with not showering for days on end. (It makes the first shower upon returning oh so sweet.) And camping food can be very good. And being completely out of your element for a few days usually results in new and refreshed perspectives. How is that so bad?

In a Dither

I like to think that I'm a pretty flexible person, not stuck in any sort of routine, but really our days do have a familiar pattern to them. We get used to it at each change of season and settle into knowing what it's like on a typical Monday, Tuesday, etc.... Last week all that changed.

Friday (the 29th) was my birthday. Jordan was out of school, so I also took the day off and we did some things. My work schedule changed. Monday was a holiday and it felt like a Saturday. The weather got drastically colder. Tuesday felt like Monday and Jemma started school and our power went out so I couldn't work from home (that always throws me off). Wednesday felt like Monday again. I can't even remember Thursday. And now last week seems like a year ago!

Having this new format to our days with kids in school, a quiet house in the mornings, arranging car pools, homework in the evenings (oh the homework! I get to brush up on my pre-algebra and Utah geography skills), I've got a long list of things that must get done now that I seemingly have some uninterrupted time, and it's this that has me in a dither. It always takes some getting used to.

So the birthday did not involve any big celebrations or balloons or cake or anything, but it was good. We went to the lake in the morning. (I do not like to post this photo, but someday I might be glad I did.)

Then Chris went to work and the kids and I went to visit one of our newest little nephews, Jack:


Next we visited my dad who was in the hospital fighting an infection. He's home now and much better. And we stopped in to see my mom and Maya, Avery and Jackson before heading home. (My mom took this picture of us right before we left.)

Happily, when we got home the mailbox had some very nice things in it! Blogging friends Michelle and Jill sent me some of the fruits of their Creative Fridays!

I also had a nice surprise from my parents, sisters-in-law Michelle, Leanne, Laur and Maryann! A beautiful card from Claudia. My email box also had some greetings, as did my voicemail. I got instant messaged a happy birthday greeting, and text messaged too. Got an e-card and an e-video, a couple of phone calls.... Isn't technology great?

My mother-in-law gave me this cute picture that shows a dad & mom, two kids and a dog. Jemma has fallen completely in love with it.

We went out to dinner, which is something we rarely do all together. Japanese food.

Skipping to Tuesday. Jordan got back into the swing of things after a four day weekend and Jemma started kindergarten.

Five for Friday

1. Jordan got up early this morning to go to Jr. High Orientation. I'm remembering how I love the first few weeks of school when, with renewed ambition, he hops right up with the alarm - dreading the thought of sleeping past it. In about a month it'll probably be back to me shaking him awake and prodding him out of bed....

After the orientation there was a pool party for all the Sevies (7th Graders). I had to be very discreet about getting a photo (for fear of embarrassment). They had a great time and I think most of them are anxiously excited about starting school on Monday.

2. I did it! I made jam! I was at the store and there was a display of Sure-Jell packages and these plastic containers. It was almost like they noticed me! It was a pretty easy process but...we haven't tasted it yet.

3. Yesterday the kids really wanted to go swimming. As we were leaving Jemma wasn't wearing her shoes and I had my arms full of stuff, so I told her to wait by the door while I ran to the car and came right back to carry her. Jordan and his friend had been lagging behind us, but when I turned around to go get Jemma this is what I saw:

Isn't that so sweet?

Photo credit here

4. Chris sometimes teases me about my time-management skills - or lack of. With the kids going back to school soon I need to be more in control of my days, rather than letting the time control me. I have not been very good about focusing on my "word of the year" this year - FOCUS. No matter what I'm doing I'm usually thinking about what else I should be doing. I really must change this, and soon. With their new schedules and my work schedule, more than ever I will need organization and focus for the coming school year. Any advice in this area is welcome.

5. On a more positive note, the menu plan I came up with last week was a success. It was less stress just knowing what was for dinner. And we had some great leftovers for lunches!