Camping in Audra

Last week we went camping with Justin's parents down in Audra State Park, West Virginia. Audra has been a tradition in Justin's family ever since his dad was a kid. I've been hearing about it for years, and now I was finally able to go.

The campsites are back in the woods by this quiet, shallow river. Most places you can stand in it and the water is clean and clear and you can see the bottom even from the land.

Here is our campsite. Justin's parents brought a pop-up trailer and a tent that attaches to the back of your car so you can sleep in the car with the seats down.
We got there on a Monday, so we got to pretty much choose whichever site we wanted. A little while after we got set up it rained really hard, but not for too long. And it stormed once during the night, so we had pretty good weather during the day, although it was extremely HUMID!! We had a good time though. As you can see in the picture above we brought bikes and a tricycle, which got lots of use. We also spent time in the water.

The boys were really excited at first, but this was really the only time they got in. I think they didn't like the cold water and were a little scared of the rapids, although the rapids are not really that rapid.

Here's Logan with Justin's brother, Gary.

We can see Logan and Tolan are both in the raft with Justin from our campsite:
We also spent lots of time in the hammock. I think Logan spent the most time in it though. It was at just the right height for him to swing.
Ella and me

me hanging out with all three of my kiddos

Tolan hanging out on the tube on dry land

Justin played the guitar

Grandpa got the boys squirt guns

There was also a nice little playground for the kids

The boys thought the pop-up trailer was so cool!

And we spent lots of time by the fire!

so cute!
I think Logan was as tired as Ella
heading to bed in the pop-up

and when the boys got a little dirty....we gave them a redneck style bath!

they thought it was funny!

But I think Logan and Ella get the cutest pictures of the week award:
She loves her big brother Logan and he loves her too

I think our first family camping trip (bedsides the cabin in Canada) was a success! I'm sure we will be going back to Audra again.

Ella's Blessing

We don't get baptized in our church until we are eight years old, but when you are a baby you do get a special priesthood blessing. Ella was blessed the first Sunday this June. Justin did the blessing and both of our dads and my brother Neal were able to stand in the circle and participate in the blessing.

After church we had both families over for lunch and we tried to get a family picture. This never goes very well for us...

But we managed to get a cute one of Logan and Tolan:

I made the skirt Ella wore for the blessing. You can't really see them, but there are some pleats in there. Here's a link to the instructions on the Rubber Punkin.