Gone Camping...Again

If you read my post a little while ago, you saw that we attempted to go camping but it ended up with us driving through the Chick-Fil-A drive through and coming home to sleep in our own bed... along with packing up the entire campsite that we had completely set up...

They look like cute homesteaders to me in this photo. 

I was determined to try again before school started for Ryan though, and this time, it worked out! We had a great time!

We got to the area we were staying at in the late afternoon. Ryan set up our tent, and I held Rose, who was very excited about everything that was going on.

We hung out in the tent for a while, before making dinner, so that Rose could crawl around a bit and play.

Funny story with these pack n' play photos: Rose was in a bit of a naughty mood. Pretty much everything that we didn't want her to play with was what she wanted to be around most. Dirty shoes, dirty diapers, hammer, bug spray, etc. She also kept doing things she wasn't supposed to like hitting the sides of the tent or even throwing a rock at the side of the tent. We decided that after she started throwing rocks it was time to put her in "time out" (we were literally right next to her in the tent, so it wasn't that horrible for her. She didn't even realize she was being disciplined at first.) At first she just crawled around and just played in the crib, but then she started showing signs of boredom so Ryan told her "If you say 'Daddy' right now, I will let you come out early." and right after that she looked him straight in the eye and said "Mama" I was rolling around laughing, Ryan told her she could stay in there forever, and I got her out of the crib so we could make dinner.

But also, aren't those little legs so cute? And all of the rest of her too?

For dinner we had roasted hot dogs, which is one of my favorites. Ryan is disgusted by me, he prefers "real meat" like a bratwurst or a burger or something. We also had s'mores...but like the thoughtful parents we are, we waited until Rose was asleep to make them. She had lots of marshmallow on the drive up, so I don't feel that bad.

The sunset was beautiful, but it went down fast. I got some beautiful photos's that made me feel like I was in a Pride and Prejudice movie.

Pride and Prejudice right here... with frumpy characters dressed in comfy clothes instead of fancy dresses and fancy hair. 

Isn't this meadow beautiful? 

We left the rain fly off the top of the tent so we could see the stars when we went to bed. It was a really nice view to go to sleep to...however the moon came out in full force and woke up a little baby/toddler who must have been cursed or something by the moon powers because she was WIDE AWAKE at 3 am. Ryan and I were SO tired, and we tried everything to get her to go back to sleep, but she just had the most wide open eyes I have ever seen. She wanted to play, and talk, and giggle and all we wanted to do was sleep. So, you can probably imagine how the rest of our night went. She did eventually fall asleep next to me, but I couldn't move and my arm was completely numb.

My attempt at a hipster ish sunset photo. :) 

I hate how cold it gets at night in Utah, even in the middle of the summer. I have never had a comfortable morning experience while camping in Utah because I'm always way too cold. 

In the morning we had oatmeal and then went on a very short hike. Our campsite had a steep hill to go up and down to get everything, so once we had the truck loaded back up we were done with walking up hills, so we were on the hike as long as we possibly could be without having to walk up any hills. We camped at Buffalo Peak which is up waaaaaaay past Squaw Peak and gets you up pretty high in the mountains. So, even though we didn't hike the entire trail, we still got to see some pretty spectacular views of Rock Canyon.

This photo doesn't even partially do the view justice. We were SO high up. 

All in all, it was a slightly tiring, but good camp out and it was nice to spend some time out in nature before Ryan started school back up.

July in (too many) Pictures (as always)

Occasionally, I just have too many pictures to find a spot for them in blog posts that I choose to do.  July was a busy month (although, I'm writing this blog post at work at 2:40 am, and I can't think of anything we did... my brain is feeling a little foggy) Ask me about my month another time and I'll give you more details, if you'd like.

Fourth of July firsts. "What is this magic??? and why won't you let me touch it?!" 

Watching the parade that Chuck Norris was in! The parade went right past our house so we didn't even have to save a spot. We just walked outside when it got to our house, went back inside when it was over. And Rose was amazing at clapping for everyone!

Baby treasures. <3

It's fun to find what "toys" will be the most effective each day. Her hair bows? A cardboard box? Dishes? Actual baby toys from the store? It changes every day. 

I'm very proud of this drool shot!

This picture above needs it's very own paragraph. A caption won't do. When we moved into this apartment we thought it had AC, but we were quite wrong. May and June weren't so bad, we had fans and the weather was pretty nice keeping our apartment bearable. July, though, was MISERABLE. Moving was unbearable. We couldn't bring ourselves to make dinner because it heated our house up to a million degrees, our living room was a sauna... When Ryan and I watched movies together in bed, we sat at least a foot apart from each other always. When I had to go to work I'd go to hug him and then we couldn't stand it because of how hot it was, so we blew kisses goodbye. The further along the month got, we would take ice cold baths before going to bed or soaking a bath towel in water and using that as a blanket. This photo above is what our butter looked like in the MORNING. I had gotten it out of the fridge the night before, and when I woke up it looked like this. Later on in the pictures I have a photo of our thermostat letting us know that our apartment was 93 degrees. July was probably one of the most uncomfortable months I've ever experienced.... but Ryan's mom had a spare AC unit she didn't need anymore and we just put that in our room last week! <3<3<3 That AC unit is probably one of the top ten best things that has ever happened to us! We will never ever ever take AC for granted ever again!

Rose discovered a love for stuffed animals in July. She likes to be completely surrounded by them these days. 

Bedtime routine with Dad. *be still my beating heart!*

Camping trip gone wrong. (Read blog post before this. )

Outfits sent in the mail from Granny and Mikayla. Unfortunately the flower crown met a devastating and tragic ending because it was left too close to the crib before a nap... crib had the remains of flowers, leaves, and ribbon by the time baby was taken out. :'(

I still might see if I can salvage some of the crown, because it is really too cute!

I let Rose hold these flowers on this hike... until she started eating them, then we had to take them away. 

This hike led us to Observation Point, which overlooks Zion National Park. The view is amazing... the hike is not as much. We were expecting 4 miles at the most... and it ended up being closer to 7... which we were not exactly entirely prepared for.

One of Ryan's hobbies is building dams in rivers or streams and then making dam jokes. He spent half a day of the family reunion building this one. :)

Can you spot my sunburn line? It's kind of hard to find.... haha #candycanestripes

The Narrows at Zion National Park. Everyone told me "Wow Kinsey, that's so brave of you to bring your nice camera on this hike!" and I responded that I somehow missed the part of the conversation that discussed that this entire hike is through the water.... Oops. I only tripped once, and it was only on dry rocks, not in the water. 

Rose with her grandpa helping her dip her feet in the frigid water. 

<3

Being carried along a hike is exhausting stuff. She slept the entire walk back. 

Sometimes we think Rose is interested in being close to us... but then we realize that she actually just wants something that we have at the moment. Like this hat. Or when I have my phone or keys or food or anything else, for that matter. But these two are still super cute in this photo, don't you think?

Those eyes! Those cheeks! That smile! This girl! <3

Not sure what's going on here, but it makes me laugh. So it's sticking around. 

"Hand over the camera, Mom, and no one gets hurt." 

"Are you sure this is how family pictures are supposed to be taken?" 

*sigh*

Yep, I'm a photographer who gets family pictures that end up like this. *eye roll*

Sledding at Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park

Mini date in Orderville, UT. We bought rocks at a rock shop (stop at one if you ever get a chance! It's definitely a tourist trap, but it's a cool one!), went to the worlds smallest Antique store and then got pie... (see below).

They do have delicious pie. We had strawberry rhubarb. 

Most of the Vorkink crew who came to the reunion. 

She learned how to sign the word "again" just so that Ryan would read more books to her. It's the cutest thing ever. 

Unflattering picture from walking around the temple on a Sunday. 

Pool time and a cute yellow swimsuit. It would look quite cute with that flower crown if only it hadn't been demolished by the little destructive hands of a toddler. 

Eating starburst wrappers and whatever else she could find in the places where trash goes to hide in the car. 

My very least favorite photography subject matter. 

Rose and I drove to Brigham City to visit my grandparents for a day and Rose enjoyed playing with their toys and wearing Papa's hat. 

Cuddly moments are fleeting, so I take advantage of them as often as I can. 

A yogurt hair treatment. 

The cutest pig I have ever seen. <3

featuring a pile of dirty laundry

 

We have a subscription to Little Poppy Co bows and when they come in the mail Rose gets excited and wants to put them all on at once. <3 

The sunrise when I'm heading home from work. 

So, there you go. Our July was full of celebrating the freedom we have, a family reunion in southern Utah, a very very hot apartment, a super duper cute baby, and then, of course, all the normal everyday boring stuff that I don't take pictures of, like work and more work and grumpiness because of heat and doing the laundry, trying to motivate myself to do the dishes in our horribly hot kitchen, etc.

I hope you enjoy the photos. But if not, I will and that's what matters. ;)