WARD CAMPOUT
Our ward campout was October 6-7th up near Prescott, AZ. I was quite reluctant to drive all that way just to sleep poorly and play cheesy party games, but we went and had a pretty good time. The boys were really good. Zach loved being outside so much that he hardly even wanted to eat.
It was cold when we got there, for the boys at least. Zach has never felt cold in his life, and Jared I'm sure doesn't remember it. Ryan and I thought it was a wonderful respite from the valley weather.
Jared had a hard time falling asleep because he'd eaten too many marshmallows (mosh-a-wow-woes) by the campfire, but otherwise we slept pretty well. The next morning the ward cooked breakfast. Then we went exploring in the woods. Ryan kept finding rotten stumps and kicking them down the hill. It was so weird to see them come out so easily! Jared tried his darndest to help. Ryan even uprooted an entire tree! It had been dead for a while, and he just pulled it up. Zach rode along in the Snugli. He is getting so very heavy. When Ryan finally lifted him off of me, I felt two inches taller! Ryan got the next turn for sure.
While we broke camp, Jared collected pine cones for a while, then played "tractor" in the dirt. Then he joined in a rousing game of pinecone kicking with one of the 8 year old boys from our ward. That was really really fun.
We helped get the ward's things packed up, put out the fires, and headed out for another little hike. But Jared sucked his thumb the whole time (meaning he was tired), so we cut it short and got in the Jeep to come home. We took the scenic route back, and boy was that ever a great idea! We drove through a little town called Peeple's Valley that has gorgeous, Lexington-KY-worthy horse farms, complete with giant stone gateways and resplendant barns. Oh, and black rail fences, even. Who knew that was in AZ?
It was depressing, as always, to descend into the Valley of the Sun and turn on our a/c again. We immediately started making plans to leave again!
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