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Monday, July 23, 2012

Happy campers?

We went camping Friday - Sunday.

The drive there was just unbearably awful. Straight up h-e-double hockey sticks. We realized too late that we forgot Nathan's Pack n' Play. Tried to find a Wal-Mart to buy one so we could possibly think about getting some sleep the next two nights. Didn't happen. Finding the Wal-Mart, nor getting some sleep the next two nights.

Sharing a tent with a 4 and 2 year old, and a 7 month old... with two deflating air mattresses... yeah good times.

But at least I wasn't on the broken cot. That was Aaron's pleasure. Every so often I would hear the loud snap of another coil breaking.

Seriously fun times.

We wanted to have friends join us at our camp site for dinner... but the KOA charges $4 per person to even step on their sacred grounds. Crazy! We just met at a park instead and it was fine, but seriously. $4 a person?!

It was also humid and muggy and so hot during the day... and then somehow insanely cold at night. Like frost on our car windows in the morning and we could see our breath.

And then there was the fact that Olivia had to pee 50 million times the first night. At about the 49,999,999th time I was sure she couldn't really have anything left. So instead of risking waking up Nathan who had finally settled down, I dug through the duffle bag and found one of Aaron's shirts. I wrapped it around Olivia like a diaper and told her to just pee on it. Totally expecting nothing, or very little to come out. I am sure this is WAY more information than you wanted to read, but oh it just gets better. She soaked through the shirt, and was on my lap, so through my pants, and sleeping bag and air mattress. Definitely not my brightest idea.

That first night I literally did not sleep at all. There wasn't a moment where all three children were asleep at the same time. As soon as one would fall asleep, another would wake up. Aaron declared that we were going home after the pageant and forget about another night.

Oh the pageant? Yes, that was the reason for all of this craziness. We were in Palmyra, NY for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. And that part was awesome. Really nothing I can complain about there. Olivia loved it, and seeing her face and listening to her talk about it really made the whole experience worth it.

Plus we met some awesome people at our camp site. The kids had an absolute blast. And it was fun to bond as a family.

The best part was probably the Spanish Branch that was camping next to us. They had like a million avocados and I was salivating imagining the yummy guacamole they were going to be making. And then they started cooking all this delicious food, and I kept telling Aaron, "I hope they invite us over." And a few minutes later they came over and asked us if we wanted any food. It was awesome. I walked over and immediately someone took my baby, handed me a plate, and there was a whirl of people filling my plate with all kind of mexican, delicious, goodness.

And actually... it wasn't that good. But they were so generous, I so appreciated it. And if I didn't have it, I would have spent my whole life thinking I missed out on the best Mexican food ever. Now I know it was only so-so Mexican food. I know, I know, I'm weird.

Oh and on our way out of town Aaron pulled into the mall parking lot, handed me $100 and told me to go buy the Vibrams I've been wanting. Best. Husband. Ever.

And now it's almost 1:00AM and I'm so not tired. My brain just won't stop. In two weeks I'll be living in AZ. I can't even wrap my mind around it. It's going to feel like these two years never even happened and we never left. It's crazy how time does that.

One more thing... there was this horrible tragic story of a boy who was digging a hole on the beach, and the hole collapsed and he suffocated and died. So, so, sad. And I don't mean to compare at all, moving to dying. No, not at all. But when I first heard about it, I felt like I could perfectly imagine what that would feel like. When I start to think about everything that's going to happen in the next two weeks, and everything I have to do, I feel the sand falling in on me, and a literal tightness in my chest, and I can't breathe until I remind myself I only have to do one thing at a time. One day at a time.

1 comment:

  1. Oh man, Lauren! This is like The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Camping Trip. I appreciate the post b/c now when my husband starts up with the lets-go-camping-w/-the-kids, I'll send him here for some educational reading. OK, I just burst out laughing (and startled my kids here) when I read "And actually...it wasn't that good". HAHAHAHA!!! Poor Lauren, can't even get a bit of decent guacamole! Well, at least you didn't have to cook I guess... But I so love your husband doing such a sweet husband move at the end! That was so sweet! I wish you were in our ward and I could whip up a bunch of sisters to help you with the packing. I had a great group of sisters help me with my last move. Maybe call your visiting teacher, maybe it's time to call in a favor? It helped me so much! Hard to ask for help, but sometimes Heavenly Father wants us to humble ourselves and ask??? Chris even had some of the priesthood come out and help to, and we got everything done in one day! OK, I think I just wrote my own post here in response to your post... :)

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