We feel so blessed to have been given a new camper! Kurt and Shelly gave us Grandma and Grandpa Casper's fifth wheel trailer and we gladly accepted. Zac went right to work finding a truck that would work to haul it. Once we had the truck we headed to Tetonia and picked it up. They had gotten everything cleaned out and ready for us and we were all so excited!!! It took a while to go through all of the great stuff grandma had! Boxes of dishes, cups, towels, sheets, blankets and so much more! We didn't have to really get anything to stock it! The kids love to spend any time out there that they possibly can. They loved finding treasures like grandma's old pinocle visors, books and the garbage grabber. Once we got it all ready, we went camping every chance that we got.
Killgore
Our first trip was with the Ivins and we headed north to the Kilgore area. We had taken the trailer into get it checked out and they said that everything was working great so we believed them, oops. On the way there we had to go past the sand dunes and we decided that it would be fun to stop and let the kids play in the sand. There were signs constantly that said "do not park on the shoulder!" For some reason I didn't think that it applied to us so I told Zac to pull over in a nice gravely looking area. Unfortunately it was sand, several inches deep and we got stuck pretty bad. It was also super hot and the sand was burning. I walked down the road to a campground and somebody came and helped to pull us out. It was a kind of rough way to start our trip. haha We eventually got there and it was beautiful! The spring flower were blooming, there weren't too many people and the company was fantastic. We loved going with the Ivins so much! We did have some major hiccups with the camper and tried not to let the fact that the water didn't work and the battery didn't work ruin our trip. We forged ahead and definitely did some more thorough checking when we got home.
Twin Bridges
Our next trip took us with the Heath family to Twin Bridges. It ended up being the home base of a Renaissance fair which was kind of fun and interesting. We just camped at the other end and had a great time. We wandered around trails, played Kubb, sat by the fire. Teased Jared about his fire OCD and just had a really fun time! So much fun that we decided to extend for a few days and go to Rigby Lake. Sunday morning we got up, drove our camper to Rigby Lake and parked it there and then headed home for a shower and church. That night we headed back out and camped for two more nights. It was a blast! Brian and Elise came to play at the beach with us for a day and it was so fun to have them there! We ended up going to Twin Bridges later in the summer with a few families from our ward. It was really fun and the kids absolutely loved running around wild all night. The adults played cards all day and we just had so much fun!
Teton Canyon
The extended Durtschi family reunion was at Teton Canyon again this year and we went up early on Thursday to do a big hike with the Grant Durtschi family. We went up to the wind caves and it was so amazing! Teagan and Eloise both did the whole thing without too much whining. Teagan was an all star and basically ran up the mountain with Ethan. Eloise did awesome and just needed some fun singing and encouragement to finish the last mile. Adeline did so well. She got carried a few times, but probably walk 75-80% on her own. She loved walking with Grandpa Durtschi and he taught her that even if your legs are tired you can still do hard things and just keep on moving forward. She is still repeating some of his motivational speeches. Everly was a peach and slept off and on in the carrier. The next day we did an all day tour of Yellowstone National Park. That wasn't a highlight, but we still had a blast and got to know some of the extended cousins better!
The extended Durtschi family reunion was at Teton Canyon again this year and we went up early on Thursday to do a big hike with the Grant Durtschi family. We went up to the wind caves and it was so amazing! Teagan and Eloise both did the whole thing without too much whining. Teagan was an all star and basically ran up the mountain with Ethan. Eloise did awesome and just needed some fun singing and encouragement to finish the last mile. Adeline did so well. She got carried a few times, but probably walk 75-80% on her own. She loved walking with Grandpa Durtschi and he taught her that even if your legs are tired you can still do hard things and just keep on moving forward. She is still repeating some of his motivational speeches. Everly was a peach and slept off and on in the carrier. The next day we did an all day tour of Yellowstone National Park. That wasn't a highlight, but we still had a blast and got to know some of the extended cousins better!
Island Park
To get to Island park you must climb a huge hill all at once. By the time we were nearing the top the truck was maxing out at 30 mph and was not smelling good. It was pretty scary, we were all just silently praying and wondering if we were going to make it to the top before the truck died. Our prayers were answered and we made it, barely! We decided to pull off one of the first roads that we found and found a super amazing spot to camp. There were lots of forest service roads so we did a lot of exploring. We looked at a map and saw a river and decided to walk to it using the gps on our phone. That turned out to be pretty hilarious. We are not a pioneer family and we decided to give up and turn around since we were out of water in the middle of a forest and were loosing phone battery fast. Also, some kids, who will remain nameless (but you might be able to tell in the pictures) were not having a super positive attitude about the whole experience. The next day, we embraced our non-pioneer selves and drove into island park and went and played at the "beach" at one of the hotels. They had water trampolines and a park with sand. It was a really fun outing. It was super dry so we didn't have any fires, but we spent tons of time making pony bead projects and cool walking sticks. We also went and visited a national park (or something, I can't remember exactly) and hiked around looking for wildlife. They gave us a bug catcher, binoculars, and a magnifying glass and we had fun catching grasshoppers and looking for birds. It was a great time camping with just our family!
To get to Island park you must climb a huge hill all at once. By the time we were nearing the top the truck was maxing out at 30 mph and was not smelling good. It was pretty scary, we were all just silently praying and wondering if we were going to make it to the top before the truck died. Our prayers were answered and we made it, barely! We decided to pull off one of the first roads that we found and found a super amazing spot to camp. There were lots of forest service roads so we did a lot of exploring. We looked at a map and saw a river and decided to walk to it using the gps on our phone. That turned out to be pretty hilarious. We are not a pioneer family and we decided to give up and turn around since we were out of water in the middle of a forest and were loosing phone battery fast. Also, some kids, who will remain nameless (but you might be able to tell in the pictures) were not having a super positive attitude about the whole experience. The next day, we embraced our non-pioneer selves and drove into island park and went and played at the "beach" at one of the hotels. They had water trampolines and a park with sand. It was a really fun outing. It was super dry so we didn't have any fires, but we spent tons of time making pony bead projects and cool walking sticks. We also went and visited a national park (or something, I can't remember exactly) and hiked around looking for wildlife. They gave us a bug catcher, binoculars, and a magnifying glass and we had fun catching grasshoppers and looking for birds. It was a great time camping with just our family!
Rigby Lake
School had started already, but we were ready for one last hoorah and we had a credit at Rigby Lake so we went for one last camping trip. Friday night cousin Grant had a cross country meet at Rigby Lake so we were greeted by about 1000 middle schoolers running through our campground. We laughed, we seem to pick busy times for camping...Renaissance fair, cross country meets. Who knows what's next. We loved getting to watch him and cheer him on. Zac spent the afternoon fixing the tennis court nets (he took his toolbox over and really gave it the one over) which was super fun to be able to play! The Daniels family came and spent the afternoon with us on Saturday and that was super fun. As we were finishing up our s'mores a storm blew in and we had to clean everything up super fast before it blew away so we just jumped in the truck and went home that night at about 8 pm. It was perfect because with the storm we all just went into super fast mode and cleaned up all of camp in about 5 minutes. We got to spend the whole day having fun and we got to sleep in our own beds that night. We love Rigby Lake!
Father and Sons at Cannon Pond
I wasn't there, but by the looks of things, Teagan spent a lot of time having fun with his friends in boats at the Cannon's pond. I'm guessing there was a lot of yummy food, visiting and messing around to be had. Hooray that Teagan and Zac have each other.
We absolutely love camping! We had to stay close to home this year because the truck was having some problems with its overdrive and we just didn't trust it. It also gets about 5 miles per gallon so going far can get pretty expensive. There are plenty of places close by so we are so lucky. One day we will get a more reliable truck and we'll be able to travel further to see even more of this amazing world our Heavenly Father made for us!
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