Ward Campout

We attended our ward campout a couple of weekends ago. We had a really great time with people from our ward who went, and had a little excitement by way of bees (yes, bees again... but it was only us this time, not the whole ward), and a vehicle issue....

But first, a picture of Simon "The Situation" Williams.......... (no six-pack but much cuter by far)

The kids really enjoyed climbing trees--- this one in particular. Here's Clayton. Neither the tree nor Clayton are really sideways, just the way the picture came out :-) (matching sideway smiley face)

Mom and Dad Williams and Michelle and Jonathan came up with us. Here's the campsite (actually missing Michelle and Jonathan's tent)--


I was more than a little worried that Simon wouldn't be warm enough. I found this cute pajama outfit that was lined and furry, with feet and mittens built in and all that...Simon was warm, and adorable!! We had a nice program and spiritual thought, and ate goodies by the fire that all the families in the ward brought up to share--it was really nice.

Simon slept really well--he actually didn't wake up in the middle of the night until the normal 4 am feeding that he's accustomed to because of my work schedule. The other kids slept great, everyone was warm enough, and I think even Aaron slept this time around!

Here's Simon in his warm outfit at breakfast in the morning:


The next day we had a yummy breakfast cooked by the men in the ward, and the kids all ran around and played. Suzi Johnson had brought up a bouncer thing for Simon to play in (life-saver! Thanks Suzi!) So Simon was able to play while we cleaned up the tent and stuff.


Dad and Tommy and Clayton played checkers

We took a little longer than the rest of the ward to get all packed up, and we ate lunch there and let the kids run around a little more. The bees were more active as we were packing up, and sure enough, it turns out that the little copse of trees that the ward kids were all playing in (their "fort") had a big ol' beehive in it.... Tommy was the victim of a nasty bee sting, RIGHT on the top of his ear:

Anyone who's had a bee sting knows that they are a special kind of pain-- after the initial horror wore off, Tommy was a trooper about it.

On our way home, our van threw its serpentine belt. It was as we were travelling up the switchbacks up the mountains south of Cottonwood/Camp Verde. It was........interesting...... with my already healthy phobia of windy mountain roads and Aaron saying "oh, I have no power steering" as we're whipping back and forth on the switchbacks-- anyway we got over to the shoulder and discovered the problem. Funny thing, if you call AAA and they ask "how many people are riding with the tow truck driver?" they will actually laugh if you say "seven. Plus a dog." Turns out there are no tow trucks around with a bus on the front :-) Our good friends Natalie and David live in Cottonwood and came and rescued us. Natalie's dad has a mechanic shop and they fixed the belt while we cooled off at Natalie and David's house. The down side was all the breaking down and stranded-ness with a baby and stuff, and not being able to go to the Relief Society broadcast--- but the up-side was getting to visit with Natalie and David and Brooke and Braeden and Devin. (Sorry, no pictures. I didn't think to take pictures while avoiding freaking out at having an infant on the side of a road in the heat)

All in all it was a fun weekend, and even the bad stuff, wasn't that bad. We LOVE our ward campouts!