July 6 - 11
Camping with the Bateman Side up American Fork Canyon
I was able to spend the whole week, what a blast!

This deer didn't seem to give a hoot that we had him surrounded. She showed up a few times during our stay.

We played a lot of games, a lot of games. We learned some new ones too, and my family kept the fighting to a playful minimum.

Karli and Anna came up and entertained Em for a bit.
I barely remember them marching me out close to the stream to take their pictures. (They accidentally woke me up from hibernation.)
Em's leading us, then me, then Karli, then Anna behind the camera.

No bears here.

Mosquitoes?!
I think I escaped without a bite.
Thank you Bug Spray. I did taste you a couple of times in my food, but I forgive you.

Where we spit after brushing our teeth.

Em got in trouble our first morning. The ranger guy pulled up in his golf cart and chastised her for brushing her teeth by the tap. "It attracts bears."
Wouldn't you rather we diluted the toothpaste rather than leave it in big globs in the marsh?

Where we met Mothra (the Hummingbird Moth) and the cutest little giraffe clad chairs.

Late at night, we'd sit up here between campers to play games. There was a break from the wind, a bit of warmth from the lanterns, but many bugs.

While we were playing a rousing game of Hand and Foot, Monster Moth decided to make our acquaintance. We = me, Em, my Aunt Becky, my cousin Jessica, and Dra. We squealed and laughed as he glided around us, but then he kept dive-bombing my Aunt Becky's bright green jacket. He landed on her and was making his way to her neck, when we noticed, screamed, and swatted. She was so scared she just shook her hands in place, her eyes frozen wide open.

Lots of laughs.

Then later, Jessica called out, "Mom! He's on there again!" Screams, laughs, swats from all of us except Becky who was again frozen.

Dra jumped up and grabbed the bug spray and doused it, then Jessica carried him far away. Em and I laughed so hard we were doubled over. My Grandma jumped out of her trailer, her pajama buttons askew, her hands on her hips, "Hey you Yayhoos!" but I can't remember what she said after that because that made me laugh even harder. The gist of her message was that we were being too loud.

In the morning my Aunt Becky told me that she and Jessica saw Monster Moth later that night as they made their way back from the bathroom. He was on a rock by their camper trying to catch his breath.

Finally, I get to cook me up a banana boat!

These two weren't excited that they had to wait for my banana boat before we could continue playing games.

Can't forget the flag.

My Aunt Becky laughed/rolled her eyes, "Who brought the flag?" Turns out it was her husband and son.

A small glimpse of Cascade Springs.

My dad brought food for the trout, then we saw a ranger, and he reverently folded his arms to hide his fistfuls of pretzel.

Hiking around Cascade Springs.

Dad: "Remember the time we hiked Cascade Springs?"
Me with some sass: "Yup. You mean right now?"
Dad: "Ugh! I meant Clover Springs!"

I love shadows.

The first day we got to camp, I was standing side by side with Em. I looked down and noticed our shadows. I had the revolutionary idea to try to make my shadow slap Em's shadow. My shadow slapped and missed, so I stepped up and closer, but my shadow missed again. Em was completely oblivious. I decided I better give it one more try. As I was biting my lip and thinking to myself, "This time ..." I ended up blindly slapping Em right across her nose.

This guy finally showed up.

He originally told us he was too busy. The truth is that he loves to work, but more importantly, he loves to be home alone.

Zach asked him if he wore his church shoes on purpose. We all looked down to his feet and had a good laugh. Jay, Zach, Em, and Toby only stayed a few hours, but it was so fun to have them there. Oh the laughs we had.

Toby's first camp out.

Another Story:

Need-to-know: My parents have an amazing ten-man tent. It has four exits: one out of the "main room" and three in their own corners. Dra, Em, and I got to sleep in the corners. There are even little dividers you can put up in the tent to claim your spot.

Here goes (forgive me Em): Friday afternoon, as we (Aunt Becky, Uncle Norman, Dad, Emily, me, Dra, Mom) were sitting around the tables playing games, Em turned to me confessing that she almost got sick in the tent the night before. She was talking loud enough for all to hear. She told of how she woke up, got rumbly in the tummy, then started cataloguing the items she had eaten that day ... so many airheads ... then she felt even worse.

My Uncle Norman pointed out that at least she had her own exit.
Em looked up, her eyes clouded over, then she nodded in agreement.
I noticed, "Oh Em! He meant your own exit out of the tent, not your bottom!"

My dad laughed so hard he had tears dropping on his cards.

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Not shown in the above pictures, but an integral part of our camp out:

• Extreme Bean Bag Toss (Alley-Oop was my favorite.)
  
• Double Dutch (Em had no idea that I was so skilled.)
• Long boarding / Scooters / Bikes galore
• Rock climbing
  
• LuAnne