The Great Outdoors

So after Hunter's morning of hanging over the bucket, he was feeling much more himself by 1pm and ready to camp. Since we were now going to be camping in the "Great Richardson Outdoors (ie our back yard)", we realized we needed a fire log for our small pit out back. So the kids and I headed up the street on scooters/stroller to "save the day". How could you have a true campout without hot dogs over the fire and s'mores?!? Anyhow, Steven beat us to the store, but we still had a fun walk which helped stir up our appetites. Hunter was a HUGE help setting the tent up. He can be so sweet and selfless sometimes. He's trying so hard to be more grown-up, like his Daddy! We had Reese's s'mores, which I highly recommend! Yummy!!! One of the luxeries of campin' in your own backyard is getting to watch a movie and so the kids picked out Dolphin Tail. Super cute movie. I love hearing Hunter laugh out loud every time the helicopter scene comes on. Go rent it and you'll see what I mean! One more cool thing about our campout. Around 11pm, I was lying down looking up at the moon and stars and heard a group of coyotes yelping and howling back and forth. We are definitely not in North Carolina anymore! They were very close and probably running on the golf course across the street. It was very cool and authentic for this area of the country!!! Following are a few pictures of our camping adventure, including Kinley's style of camping (her crib). I secretly wish I could have jumped in there with her instead of sleeping on the rock hard ground. What we won't do for our kids! Also notice Kailyn's beautiful staticky hair when she is in the tent. Too fun!

This morning we woke up and had yummy bacon with eggs "light and fluffy" (it's a Veggie Tales saying") as per the kids request. Steven had also bought the kids some Halloween marshmallow cereal. They thought they had died and gone to heaven! We then filled our camelbacks with water and snacks and headed up to one of the most beautiful bridges around, Tonto Natural Bridge. It is up near Payson, AZ and worth a trip if you are ever out this way. We took the kids on the more adventurous path, filled with boulders and beauty. We actually hiked along the river bed (which was discouraged by other older hikers coming out because we had such little kiddos), but I am glad we took this route because it was a great challenge for the kids. We have found that if they each can find then the "perfect" hiking stick (all the parents out there know his hard this seemingly simple task can be), they are awesome hikers. They also loved finding the arrows, which showed us the way. It was like an awesome scavenger hung for them. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we had fun making them! (The little celebration dance after they made it through the arch was priceless).

It looks like the pictures are all out of order. Sorry. Still fun to look at!

We were also able to enjoy some of he great talks from General Conference and look forward to hearing more tomorrow. How amazing to have the ages for missionaries changed! I will never forget this Conference.