Camping!

As much as I'd like it to change I think camping at Redfish lake is a Beal family tradition that is going to stick. I mean we have been doing it for at least the last 15 years straight. Before that our family would camp where there was no water or bathrooms. Oh man! My dad hates camping in the "city" i.e. "Redfish" i.e. running water. However he conceded so many years ago and nobody wanted to go back. They still go camping up in no man's land as well I think. I do have great memories of camping as a kid and I hope that my kids have the same memories. So I commit to 1 night of camping and get the heck home.

Really I'm glad we went but camping with 3 small children is not fun. I think I had to hold Piper practically the whole time. We did have some fun playing in the lake and Corbin had fun playing with his cousins. Gabby LOVED playing in the dirt and Piper loved being held. I loved being around the campfire talking to the family. Scott was a trooper and went to bed with the kids and I stayed up and had a great time around the fire with my family. Luckily we borrowed my visiting teachers tent, our tent is ridiculously small. I had my bed all set up in the back of my dad's truck but decided to go tough it out with the family. I didn't sleep for most of the night. Luckily Scott has his iPod so I could at least listen to music. Piper woke up at 3:00 a.m. and she had to sleep cuddled next to me the rest of the night. Really I'm kind of glad for an excuse to do that since I never do. It was kind of cute. Piper, Corbin, Scott and I were all piled onto the air mattress. Gabby was a little trooper and slept all night by herself, even though it was freezing. Go Gabby! Alright well as my brother Chase would say to me "stop whining" so I guess I will. I survived yet another camping trip. Go me.

Other than that pretty much same old same old around here. Piper is crabby as the dickens lately and she has the most blood curdling scream you have ever heard. Wow, parenting is hard. But sometimes your kids do the cutest things in the whole world and that is the best. In fact they do adorable things all the time. Thank goodness! Ha.  Sometimes I wish I could remember or quickly video tape the conversations that Corbin and Gabby have with each other. Priceless. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Corbin pushed me around on the floaty forever. It was awesome.

Just wait for it.

My needy girls!

One of my favorite times was when Scott took Corbin and Piper for a walk to play with swords and I got to french braid some of my nieces hair. It was fun. I am not very good, but I sure liked having some practice.

I love my face here. I think my face explains my feelings about camping and my daughter playing in the dirt.

Gabby running fitly, barefoot, in the middle of the road. Oh ya. Told you ya to wait for it! I really did try in the beginning to keep them somewhat clean. I would wipe them off and 2 seconds later they were filthy again. Clearly I gave up.

Just lovely!

On the way home Piper kept screaming off and on so I gave her some black licorice to suck on. She looked like a filthy animal when we got home, kind of like my other kids.

My nieces and nephews built this fort. It was cool.

I had to steal this picture from my mom's blog. My sister in law Christy with her 2 year old. Hilarious.

Scott took all three kids to the store yesterday. It was lovely. I actually used that quiet time to prepare my Young Women's lesson even though I really wanted to make some wedding crafts and watch Psych. Go me.