spring itch

It all started innocently enough. Just a little review of the latest REI mailer. But that was all it took. Once Marie looked through the small catalog of outdoor equipment spring fever had taken full hold and a camping trip was in the works. Marie and I talked about it for a few minutes and agreed it was a wonderful idea. A couple of hours later we realized it wasn't actually warm yet, that we had other commitments and that going camping with a 2 and 4 year old was a lot of work. These other things however were not enough to deter us. We had started to get the camping itch and we were going to scratch that itch for better or worse.

Luckily it was for the better and Saturday morning we were on the road for Goblin Valley. Campsite reservation in hand we set out with a dvd player occupying the kids so we could listen to conference (until we completely lost all radio contact of course.) So, true confession, sometimes I forget how much fun our kids are and how great it can be to spend the weekend together. It is so easy to get distracted at home. I get distracted by work, phone calls, the mail, the internet, blogs, callings, whatever. There are plenty of things that are less important than my kids but nevertheless distract me from being a dad. Among my friends I have been known for years as a dead beat dad. But it is time the rest of you know. I gag (and sometimes throw up) when I have to change diapers. I only feed them peanut butter and jelly or cheerios. I don't always help with the dishes and I can be very impatient with the over active imaginations that are too busy running from a dragon to put on clothes so we can go to church.

Once we are camping however all those seem to go away. When you're camping everything can be made better with a fire and some marshmallows. Life is good and full of moments like Romney waking up out of a dead sleep in the morning and yelling - "Laine, lets so see whats outside of the tent!" Moments like Laine loosing complete control and just laughing and laughing and then saying, "hey, we are laughing in the tent, can you believe we are laughing so much in the tent? Isn't laughing in the tent so funny? Can I have another marshmallow?" (in the past it has also been full of moments like throwing up all over the tent, actually we had a pretty good consistent record last year but so far this year we are 1 for 1 with no puke! I'm pretty sure it was thanks to marie's zip lock labeled emergency puke kit.)

Saturday was spent playing hide and seek, freeze tag, and how high can Laine jump off of a goblin to daddy? (she suddenly lost all fear of jumping and was doing crazy things!) The evening finished off with a wrestling match to the death in the tent - cage match style. We almost killed the kids but in the end they survived.

The next morning was filled with oatmeal, exploring, and hot chocolate. We then decided to go on a little hike up Little Wild Horse canyon. We didn't expect to get far but thought as long as the kids were having fun it wouldn't really matter. In the end we made it just far enough for them to see some real narrows and had a great time trying to find the smallest place we could. It was amazing how long it took us since we didn't go very far but how can you complain when your time is spent in the very diligent searching for the most beautiful rocks and trying to chase lizards out of bushes?

In the end it was a great weekend for us as a family. A lot of new goals set and re commitments to remember what is most important in our lives.