Our Epic 24 hour Camping Adventure

We went camping at Timpooneke, which is in American Fork Canyon. Ian camped there with Aven two years ago and loved it and was excited to take me camping there. We were supposed to camp for two nights. I originally wondered if two nights would really be enough, but I thought it was a good start since I hadn't camped in about eight or nine years. Well, apparently one night was enough. Etta took her sweet time getting to sleep and both Aven and Etta woke up during the night more than once. I woke up feeling like I'd been run over by a truck and when Ian uttered the words "I'm thinking that maybe we should go home today instead of staying another night." I was both shocked and very relieved. Camping with a two-year-old is a special kind of torture. If they would have sent those Guantanamo detainees camping with two-year-olds then bin Laden might have been found years earlier.

Don't get me wrong, Etta is completely delightful, but she is Trouble. She ate dirt and squished bugs with her fingers. She fell off the picnic table multiple times. She stomped dirt in the tent. She tried to jump in the creek by our campsite- that's just to name a few. When we were outside the tent there was not one moment of rest. Between going on bug hunts with Aven and trying to keep Etta alive I was completely exhausted by 4:30 pm (we arrived at 1:45). The most relaxing part of the trip was the 45 minutes after dinner that I spent doing homework in the tent while Aven and Etta watched Frozen on the iPad.

I fully admit to my camping wimpiness- we'll try again next year. Now enjoy some pictures of our amazingly exhausting trip:

Things were good in the beginning.

"Hiking" before dinner. "Hiking" is just another fancy word for "trying to protect Etta from herself".

The view from our campsite was incredible.

A brief moment of peace.

My hunky honey chopping firewood.

Yep, they sure are cute!

I would like everyone to note that in this picture I am actively preparing a meal in the out-of-doors.

Making breakfast "together" i.e. fighting over who gets to hold the whisk.

What did I tell you? She loved eating that dirt!

After breakfast Etta pointed to the woods and said "is Emmo" (it's Elmo). I looked to where she was pointing and instead of Elmo I saw this deer. I guess to Etta deer and Elmo are one in the same.

On the way home we limped around Cascade Springs in an effort to show that we aren't complete lame-os.

It was pretty.

This sweet kid very sincerely thanked her daddy for planning such a fun camping trip. That's all he needed to hear!

More prettiness.