Torah Life

The end of the camping vacation

After our time spent at the deer farm we headed back to camp where we played with Devin....

 Had to share this pic cause it was the only one I caught of him smiling the whole weekend ( not that he wasn't smiling just not when I had the camera out) 

and Fishing with Papa, Uncle Ryan and Daddy!! actually they spent most of the rest of the day fishing first with Me, Tyna, and Abby. Since it was Devin's first fishing trip I had to take pics because he was so excited about his "Taco Box" and fishing pole.  so here are my favorite pics of the fishing with Uncle and Papa.

 
 
and look MIKE caught a big one!!!  he was the only one to get something!!

Joe and Kat were not going to be out done so they went back after dinner and they caught 26 fish in total this is the biggest one caught by Katie!!

 not the biggest fish I have ever seen but by far the biggest of the weekend. 

She was so thrilled!!! I was very proud!!

Next morning we packed up and got ready to head home but before we left the great outdoors we stopped to visit Sycamore canyon.

 pretty!!!

 
 Ok enough fooling around time to GO HOME!!! WHEW!!! long but Great trip!!! if you want any of the pics they will be up on Snapfish and walgreens at the end of the month. 

 

 

Camping Vacation ( Sunday, Deer farm)

The Grand Canyon Deer farm was somewhere I remembered going and loving and Joe remember being an ok place, so we thought our girls would love it, we were right.

Had to take this pic for my dad ;) everytime we are near a green tractor I just can't help but taking a pic

we bought feed for the girls to feed the deer which was there favorite part

when we got out there the girls were just so excited, all but abby who hid behind me and joe until we helped her to feed the deer

after we were done with feeding the deer we went around the area to look at the other animals there.... here are the pics

 Tyna was excited to see this one!!!

 Caribou

 Abby was so excited to see the donkey and was begging me to take a picture... Joe and I didn't see the need to take the picture!

  is he a sick Zebu, a sad Zebu or a MUTE zebu? ( veggie tales people if you didn't get the joke you need more veggies!!)

 My little pony......

 


 

Ok just had to post the song........... sorry!!!! well sort of ;)

and that is the end of the deer farm..... tomorrow will be the end of the camping trip updates!!

Camping Vacation ( SATURDAY)

Well I am back with more on our Camping Adventure.....

As you know Saturday is Shabbat so NO WORK which is harder at camp I must say but we did do our best and rested and had a lot of  Fun.... the first thing we did is make a FORT!!!which we  felt is was more fun than work, plus educational for the girls.  

The kids  picking up wood from right around camp and Mike, Joe and Ryan help build  the Fort, it was so much fun for the kids, and it was so cool to see how proud they were of the fort and how they could see that you can make a shelter anywhere in the woods as long as you know how. And a perfect example of how GOD will supply all your needs, PERFECT TORAH LESSON!!!  

 

Tyna made a fire pit in the shape of a heart !!!

after playing in the FORT for a long while, we went to the lake with Savannah and fished a bit and only caught 1 fish and since it was Savannah's first time catching a fish we let her real it in.

Huge fish righ?! so after we laughed we threw him back and headed back to camp for me to start dinner ( my night to cook)  we had Chili, which I premade and only had to dump it in OUR Dutch oven and let it heat up. It turned out pretty good although not very spicy at all. 

while we waited for it to cook Joe and I spent alone time at the lake to watch the sunset.I didn't bring my camera with me ( I know BAD CRYSTAL) but I did have my phone which is what I used to take this picture of the sunset.  

I have to say this was my favorite part of the trip. I love watching sunsets and most of the time the girls can't just sit and watch the sunsets so it was a nice and queit time (even if Joe got out his pole and fished a bit). 

when we got back to camp we found that dinner was done and everyone had started eating. no biggie we had PLENTY of food.  after dinner for desert we had smores... And Ryan was so sweet to find Kosher marshmallows at natures way in prescott.

The girls already experts on roasting marshmallow were thrilled that they got to do this, but Devin on the other hand was not loving the idea of getting any where close to the fire.

but he did like the smores....

and so did the GIRLS.....

Camping Vacation ( Thursday - Friday)

well we made it back home safe and sound, it is going to take me a bit to get everything back to normal. We are all worn out but it was such a blessed time. Much needed rest and relaxation  ( well as much as you can get camping with 4 girls)   when we got there on thursday we had our token mishap but as Tyna pointed out to me it was not so much a mishap as a blessing, we got a flat tire about 1 mile outside of where we wanted to camp but we got the spare on in no time and got camp set up long before dark.  here is our campsite....

 
 
we didn't sleep really well that night it was cold and we just couldn't seem to get comfortable. We got up WAY TOO early on friday ( 5 ish)  

But even though it was early it was a beautiful way to wake up..... so pretty to see the sun through the trees. We left camp pretty quick in the morning maybe 6 and  went to Dogwood lake, now the girls were fishing for all of 10 mins when the little ones ( and Tyna) got board so we left daddy to fish with Kat and we took a walk  
around the lake to see what we could see....

 

 
 
 
 
when we got back to camp we had a bit of down time so we played games...

  

after Lunch and helping Sue get her stuff unloaded we went to White Horse lake...

 
 
 
 
 
at white horse lake is where we have a scary story to tell, we got to the lake and some REDNECK had his STUPID pit bull dog and 2 young boys, and I guess he thought his boys were watching the dog and that he didn't have to have ANYONE hold the leash cause when we went down to the lake that dog came right at us or to be morespecific at Elijah and preceded to attack my dog ( whom I had a hold on). NOW we have Multiple problems, first off I have no way to separate these dogs cause I am not messing with a pit, I have GIRLS SCREAMING, the Redneck isn't doing anything, And Joe is far enough away from me that he can't really do anything but RUN back to me to help me ( which he did). NOW Joe is trying to help and after YELLING at the REDNECK he is now SLOWLY coming over to get his DOG off mine. Finally the Redneck removes his dog and then says " wow he has never done that before " then tries to call my dog over to his to show his dog that my dog is ok, which Elijah is having none of, Elijah wants to BITE this idiot and is "SMILING" at him and growling.  later we get to see how nice his dog is when someone else walks by and his dog tries to attack someone else.  and the only nice thing I can say about this is " SOME PEOPLE'S CHILDREN" ARGGGGGG!!!!

after all that excitement we headed back to camp and had dinner and headed to bed. 

A very eventful first day of camping if I do say so myself?! 

 

And we are off......

we are offically Packed and ready to go!!! we leave in a few hours. I got everything done last night so I had some time to Make some cookies for dessert. BONUS!!! I am sure happy everything is done. this trip has been a lot of planing, but I think it will be worth all the work. this is a much needed break for us. 

 

 

Let's talk Tyna! First Tyna must be excited about this trip more so than I am cause she woke up before me which never happens. actually all the girls are excited it just seems to me that Tyna needs this vaction as much as Joe and I, she is such a help to me. Anyways lets get back to the mini me..... Tyna who is becoming like mom more and more every day made the to do list ( I forgot to do it before I went to bed). she did such a cute job I have to share.

and last bit of news if you have a special day coming up this is for you....

Happy Special Days To My Parents who are celebrating 36 years of marriage and Holly who is celebrating 20 of being HOLLY ;) 

 

AND the PREP work goes On........ 7 more days......

Just  wanted to share with you how the prep is going for our big Camping trip. the girls and I are getting very excited. we baged up all the clothes to make for a easy grab for them and us and less digging. what we did is packed everyone an outfit in one bag for each day. then we put there PJ's and slip on shoes in  one bag and the headcoverings in a bag for easy grab. 

These are the girls camping Journals, this for them to write or draw in of all there experiences camping and visiting the grand canyon. I did this cause I want them to pay attention to what they see and I figured they would enjoy this project. I think I will be making one for myself too so I will post that when I am done. 

Here is our FUN bag... fits all in 2 bags (since the bowling is in it's own bag) we are bringing Cards, Phase 10, skip O, Dominos, Frisbee for Frisbee Golf, and Horse shoes, I don't think the girls will have the opertunity to get board, especially when we have fun activities planned for those days too. 

 

 

Today we are going to finish up on the food we are taking with us camping I will be making some cinnamon rolls  to freeze, now do to the weather right now and it being AZ I have to pay attention to the fire conditions where we are going if we CAN have a campfire we will be making up the cinnamon rolls in the Dutch oven, if not we will be baking them before we leave. we will have to see how this goes. Also today I will be  make up the breakfast sausage and combine it with the hash browns and put it in a tupperware container. I have learned from Sue that it is a God sent to do as much prep as you can. this way all we have to do is make up the eggs and put poor it on and add cheese.  These two things will make the END of the food prep for the camping trip and I must say that is really cool that we are 7 days early  very happy about that. 

also today I will be packing for Elijah,  making sure his bag is packed.Now I know it sounds silly to prep for the dog but I don't want to forget anything for him either.  here is all of His essentials 

Snacks, Food, tie out, small leash, food dish, water dish and his Chewy bone.also his frisbee

 

And this is our final bag, our First aid  bag and box, also got 6 flashlights, and our lantern.

In the bag is aspirin, our oils, hand soap, sun screen, aloe, contact solution and case, Bug repellent 

also extra batteries for the kids flashlights and for there cameras. 

so I think we are about set. 

also some share Pictures we took when it rained cause I think they came out nice

Camping Prep ...... 8 days to go

it is that time .... time to prep for the Grand Canyon Camping trip. 

we have been blessed with a four day weekend, and we are going to take advantage of it. we are going to go camping and fishing at scholz lake, We are also taking the girls to the Grand Canyon and the deer farm. It should be loads of fun and I have to say I am so excited to get to do this with the girls. I have never been to the grand canyon and I am just thrilled to get to share this with the girls. And I am so thrilled to get to take them to the deer farm somewhere that I have been many times, I think they will love it.

This will be a big trip for our family as we will be leaving Thursday night and coming home on Monday. So we are starting to pack for this trip and do some prep work.

• first step was to pick up a new memory card for my camera. as you know I am a shutter bug and 4 days in the woods and 2 major outings I need a bit more memory then I have had in the past. so I found a 4 gm memory card for less than I bought the 1gm 3 years ago. I had to order it though so I am glad that it is already here so that I don't have to worry. we will also be bringing the spare cameras for the girls to take pictures. they loved doing this last time and I think this will be fun for them again.
•  now I have got the girls packed 4 pairs of clothes and one extra (just in case)
• we got out the sleeping bags
• camp stove
• water bottles washed
• our flashlights and lantern ( need to pick up extra batteries for the girls ) Joe and I bought some new flashlights that you wind up which is nice on a trip like this cause you don't have to worry about if you have batteries. 
• a table
• 6 camp chairs
• game bag. 
• first aid bag ( still to do) 
• towel, washcloth and soap ( still to do)
• dogs to go bag ( still to do) 
• coolers ( still to do) 
• water ( still to do) 

Menu for the trip 

Breakfasts....

• muffins ( we will pre make these)
• farmers breakfast
• Pancakes and eggs
• Cinnamon rolls

Lunches... 

Just sandwiches, this will make life easier. 

Dinners

• Tuna casserole
• Chili
• Hamburgers and Hot dogs.

out of that list 4 of the meals need to be pre made, I have already done the chili and froze it, now I just need to get the farmers breakfast started and frozen, the cinnamon rolls and the muffins.  this should be loads of fun cause the girls are helping me!!

also for a fun activity for the girls we are going to make journals this weekend where they can draw or write, plants or animals that they see, also any fun things they did that day. this should be a great project for them. I can't wait to see what they are going to draw.

well that is it for me back to my laundry then to bed with me long day ahead for me tomorrow