The Great Outdoors!!!

The Annual Gadd Family Camping Trip 2008

So each year we like to take the family up to the mountains camping. Last year we had a little trouble. We got all ready to go and 2 days before, Ethan got sick. Well he got better in 2 days so we decided to go. In the middle of our first night, I got sick; spent most of the day in bed and finally had Matt drive me home. He stayed up camping with Spencer and Ethan only to have Spencer get sick that night. So they all came home.

After this nightmare of an experience, we were very nervous to try camping again. The rule had to be no one was sick 7 days prior to the day we leave. I even put off food shopping until the last minute with anticipation that someone would get sick. Well, no one did! HOORAY!

So we were able to spend 4 glorious days in the Utah wilderness at Spruces Campground. It was a great week. Here are just a few of the fun highlights...

This is our 1987 HiLo trailer. We are quit a sight pulling this baby with our Honda Odyssey Minivan. I told Matt most people that see us are only slowing down to stare because they are jealous, not because we look weird.
As part of our camping tradition, we always try to do some hiking. This year would be a little on the light side, since Sadie is too heavy to sit in the backpack, she would have to walk herself. And hiking with a two-year-old is, well, slow. We decided to try a new trail... the Butler Fork trail. It did not disappoint. It was a beautiful canyon with a small trail that paralleled a small creek. The entire trail was very picturesque.

Ethan is a great hiker. He practically jogs up the trail! He's always picking up rocks and throwing them in the water whenever he gets a chance.

Spencer loves to be the leader. This year he was given the responsibility of wearing the snack and water pack. He did a great job and practically skipped up the steep trail. He is a natural born hiker. He always has to have his walking stick. The funny thing is, he uses the stick to wack the leaves of the bushes he walks by.

Here we stopped for a little water break. Sadie, bless her heart, liked to stop a lot. Most of the time it was to pick up a stick or pick a flower.
A little waze up the trail we came upon the most beautiful flower field. The trail cut through the center of it. It sort of reminded me of the wizard of oz and the field of flowers. It was so beautiful. Sadie loved looking at and picking lots of flowers. Ethan even picked a couple and brought them to me saying, "these are for you Mom." What a little cutie.

In the middle of the trail we came across a huge flock of butter flies. It was awesome to see so many varieties and colors. They were just flying all over and sitting on the ground. If you click on the picture below you can see a close up of the butterflies. There were hundreds of them!

After an hour and a half Sadie had had enough, so we started back down the trail. I couldn't resist these cute pictures of Matt carrying Sadie on his shoulders and the boys out it front. It was a beautiful hike.

Matt and I always ask each other why we go to the same campground each year. We always talk about going somewhere else. But then we get up there and realize why we like it so much...it's so beautiful. And not too far from home. All of these next pictures were taken in the campground.

One of the nights we invited all of Matt's family up to roast hot dogs and smores. We had lots of fun laughing and visiting with everyone.

It was also Matt's birthday. The kids and I made a fun little candy bar card for him and then the group sang Happy Birthday. I love you babe! Happy Birthday!!!

MORE HIKING.....

A camping trip to Spruces wouldn't be complete without a hike to the famous Donut Falls. It's a tradition! The hike isn't very hard and the waterfall is always really pretty. This year the water was so high, it was very difficult to cross the river near the falls. So Matt took the boys across, (well, the boys waded through) the river, while Sadie and I hung out and took pictures of the falls.

After Donut Falls we headed up to Silver Lake. Another Spruces camping tradition. It doesn't matter how many times I've been there or how many pictures I've taken, (100's) it's beauty is still breath taking. The peacefulness of the lake combined with the surrounding mountain vistas..ahhh, what a delicious sight!

So I guess our trip is filled with traditions...another big tradition is the large squirrels and chipmunks that hang out at camp. Some of these squirrels are so large we call them "potguts". They get fat off of all the food humans leave out, and they are very brave about getting their food! These are a few of the shots that me and the kids were able to capture as we sat at our campsite waiting and watching for them to come out. We could hear them squealing to each other...I wonder what they were saying?

Here are the kids just hanging out at camp. They had so much fun running around, finding cool rocks, cool sticks and pine cones.

On the last day, some people next to our camp came over and told us there was a moose close by...they weren't kidding. A huge moose wandered it's way around the outskirts of our site. It hung out all day long. Here are some of the pictures...We would hike around trying to get a better view of the moose. Matt and Spencer climbed onto this log on the river. They hung out there for a little while just watching the moose eat the grass.

The grand finale....

On the last night we had a big fire and I mean big!! The boys loved putting pine needles on the fire and watch them spark and crackle. The boys kept hunting all around for more pine needles to burn. They loved the fire....

So all in all it was a really fun week. I think my favorite part of the week was just sitting back and watching my family. I realize how much I love them. I'm so blessed to have such a great husband and sweet kids. After a week without TV, Movies, video games, or computers, all you have is each other. And it was perfect.