the one about our camp trailer

We go camping quite a bit and I realized that some of you probably don't even know what our trailer looks like, some of you probably didn't even know we had a trailer, and most of you probably don't really care! But I am going to post about it anyway. It is a pretty big part of who we are so now you can love it just as much as we do! ;)

First, let me tell you how our trailer came into our lives... When we were first married, Aunt Rhonda had an old hand-me-down trailer that we used for a couple of years. It was tiny! It didn't have a bathroom or anything, but it worked for us. We really only used it for sleeping and storing stuff. We camped in it several times and it was just fine for us. Oh! And it was free! Anyway, once we had Quayd, we wanted something a little more comfortable and we wanted to have a bathtub so we could bathe him. Grandma and Grandpa Lane had an old trailer that was PERFECT for us! And free! It had been sitting in storage for awhile so we had to do some major clean up. Brett worked hard to get everything running, but he did it. It still had a few minor problems, but we didn't care. It worked for us, and again, the price was right. Once we fixed that one up, Grandpa decided to start using it again. He took it on a couple of elk hunting trips. We just sorta shared it. It was great. Anyway, when he was coming home one time, he wrecked it. Like, really bad. He somehow crashed it into a big rock mountain or something. It was totaled. And most of the stuff inside was lost in the accident. (Don't be alarmed. Grandpa was fine. In fact, the whole thing was really funny and we continue to tease him about it today! I think that when he crashed it, he didn't realize how bad it was so he just kept on driving. After awhile he noticed things were flying out. Anyway, we never really got the whole story. If you know Grandpa Lane, you just have to shake your head and laugh about the whole thing.) So after that happened, we were pretty sad that we didn't have a trailer anymore and since we had exhausted all of our free options, we knew it was time to buy a new one. Two springs ago, Brett, Quayd and I took a trip to the big city in search of our dream trailer. (We wanted to include Quayd in the decision since he loves camping more than Brett and I put together!) We didn't want anything too big, or too fancy. We are not showy that way. We also didn't want something super heavy and hard to pull. We kind of knew what we wanted so we started looking at the trailers on the lot. We spent hours looking! We would walk in one, and walk back out, not impressed. We were so sad, because we wanted one so bad. We were just getting ready to give up when we saw one lone small trailer on the other side of the lot with the huge ones. We decided we had nothing to lose so we went into it. No joke, the second we walked in, we all three knew it was the one! Isn't that silly? It is a camp trailer! But it was perfect for us. We just loved it. It was a great price and we just knew it was the one. Anyway, we got all of the paperwork taken care of and it was ours! No joke, every time we go camping, Brett and I look around and we are so proud of our purchase






At a family camp out awhile back, I made this to hang on the wall. It hangs by the door.
Our trailer is just so US! It's small, but comfortable. It has everything we need and it is truly our second home.

the one about our fun 4th of July weekend

We had SUCH a fun 4th of July weekend! It was so nice and relaxing and we got to enjoy some of the best company we know. The Galleys. We usually camp quite a bit in the summer, but we haven't been yet this year. We decided that since the 4th fell on a Friday and most people had a long weekend from work, we would jump on the opportunity. I seriously worked all week getting our camper ready. After it had been winterized last fall, we hadn't even been in it, except when I realized I was out of something and had to steal from the camper! Needless to say, I had a lot of re-stocking to do. Also, Brett had to check and make sure everything wintered well and was still in working order. We are actually having a little trouble with the hot water heater so we will have to get that fixed before our next trip, next week. It's frustrating to have something not work since we just bought our trailer BRAND SPANKING NEW two years ago. It is so nice and new though and we love it so much. It still has that "new trailer smell." Anyway, enough of that. Lets talk about the fun weekend had by us...

We got out of town on Thursday evening. It was a nice drive up the mountain and we were greeted by millions of mosquitoes! Don't worry, we had the OFF Deep Woods spray and we were swimming in it all weekend! I am a little freaked out by West Nile Virus so I spray this stuff on myself and Quayd everyday. Really. Anyway, some of our fellow campers were already there. We set up camp quickly, ate dinner and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. It was starting to get dark and Gleneita hadn't made it yet. We had talked to her so we knew she was ok. Quayd had fallen asleep on my lap and we were just starting to roast some marshmallows when Talia's phone rang. This is what we heard..

"Hi."

"What?!?!?"

"You hit and ELK!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Brett jumped up, grabbed Talia's arm and lead her to the truck and they were gone. We had no details. It was a couple of hours before they got back to camp. We had called a few times and found out that Gleneita did hit an elk and it pretty much totaled her car. Luckily, she was ok. They had to wait for the tow truck and get all of the stuff out of the car before they could get back to camp. She was only a couple of miles away when it happened. It was crazy. We had already planned for her to stay in our trailer with us, so I had her bed all made but she was restless all night. I felt so bad for her! I am sure she was so rattled, but she was trying to be so tough. Anyway, that wasn't a very good start to our weekend, but it got better, I swear!

The next day, the 4th, we decided to go to Flaming Gorge and swim. Marcie has a big water trampoline so they blew it up and the kids were able to play for awhile. Tara was in charge of lunch that day, so she brought sandwich stuff to the lake. It was so yummy! The adults just sat and visited while the kids played in the freezing water. Quayd didn't like swimming in the lake. He said it was too squishy. I don't blame him, I HATE swimming in the lake. I really need to see what I am stepping on. That dirty nastiness is just too much for me! So Quayd pretty much played in the dirt by us. He did go out to the trampoline a couple of times but he made Shae, CJ or Ty carry him.

That night, because we were on the mountain, we missed fireworks. But on the 5th, in Dutch John they do a pretty good fireworks show, so we headed over for that. It was only about a 15 minute drive from our camp. I had bought glow sticks for the kids to play with and Gleneita bought pixie sticks for everyone. The kids had so much fun playing around in the grass waiting for the show.


There was also a band playing so we wandered over with Gary, Tara and Shae and listened to them for awhile.


Before we went to watch the fireworks, we stopped at the store in Dutch John to get a treat. Quayd wasn't with us because he wanted to ride with Drake, so Shae rode with us. We saw a guy that Brett works with and he asked us if Shae was our daughter. I was SHOCKED! I know I look old, but do I look THAT old?!?!? Technically, it could happen I guess, but she is 15!! I am 29!! So we were laughing about it at the fireworks so we decided to take a family picture. Shae is so funny... look at her face in the second picture!
The little stinker!! She is LUCKY to have cool parents like us!!!!

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.

CJ, Ty, Amy and Rhonda

Scott, Shala and Dalex

Jason and Alise, they are still newlyweds. Can you tell? ;)

Brett and Quayd

Brett, Mandy, Shae and Talia

US!

Talia and Gleneita

Grandma and Grandpa. Aren't they cute!!!

Talia and Shae

Me and Shae ... Then I was asking Shae why all of the teenage girls pull that weird face in their pictures. She didn't know why, but it sorta looks like this.

Shae pulled it off alot better than I did.

Finally, the fireworks started.


Back at camp that night.... Quayd and his hero CJ at the campfire...
The next morning as were packing up camp, we discovered that Brett ran over Quayd's bike the night before. We knew Quayd would be devastated and we didn't know how to tell him. But after much thought, we decided to approach like any good, honest parent would... The conversation went something like this... ;)

"Hey, Quayd! Guess what?!?!?! We are going to let you pick out a new bike!!!!!"

He said, "COOL! How come?"

"Because dad accidentally ran yours over."

"Oh, that sucks. When are we going to the store??? And can I get one with a kickstand?"

EASY PEASY!

It was such a fun weekend. I love camping, especially with the Galleys. It is always an adventure! I want to finish with this picture... The kids had so much fun "fishing" from the back of Scott's truck. It kept them entertained all weekend. We would take treats out there and they made up games and played the whole time. I am sure the mess in the back of the truck was unbelievable, but at least they had fun! Right?