Camping, camping & more camping!!!

That's what our summer has consisted of.  I guess we got a bug after not camping while in Texas AT ALL (3 years) and then having our stuff in storage for 3 years... we're so happy to have it back and love using it to enjoy the great outdoors.  Our family and local friends probably think we're nuts by now... I haven't even kept track of the times this summer we've been camping.  More weekends than we haven't, I think.  We finish unpacking our stuff just in time to re-pack it all almost every week.  We just love it.  Who wouldn't want to spend the day and night in the beautiful outdoors, rather than in a stuffy house?  I love our new home, but I love being outside even more.  My dream home is something similar to this one of Richard Branson's:

Patio
Living Area
Hammock

The whole house is outdoors.  Amazing.

Anyway... We've had so much fun and even have plans for more camping fun next month!  Summer's quickly getting away from us though.  And before you know it this baby will be here!  We can't wait for that!

Our first trip of the summer: Papa (my dad) & Grana came up to meet us for breakfast.

Our next trip: Papa and Grana came up to meet us for breakfast again.

The best part of camping of course...

Papa & Haylee made leaf boats for the river

My super-delicious dutch-oven cobbler my dad taught me how to make on this trip.  MY favorite part of camping.  :)

   Our next trip was just Brandon and I because we went up north for a wedding and decided to camp the night before.  We packed in a little ways, and I didn't have my chair which wasn't much fun at four months pregnant.  It was the last time I camped without my chair.

We got to drive through some of the redwoods on the way home... that was amazing.

Not sure which trip these are from... they're from my phone.

Nice... (no, she didn't suffocate.  It was cute though.)

How sweet is this?

In June we went on a four night campout with friends.  We had such a great time and can't wait till next year.  Here are a few from that trip:

So lucky are we to be included among such great friends!

The campsite we were at was on a beach so we got to spend a lot of time there.  The kids loved playing in the sand (even though they wouldn't go near the water.)

Four of the six moms were pregnant.  Its so fun to be pregnant with good friends.

Thanks guys for such a great time!

A couple weekends ago we got to go camping with Ahma (my mom), Ampa, Aunt Hannah, Auntie Janeal and her friend Joey.  Another awesome trip.  We had such a good time with them all.

As you can see, with the new baby on the way and needing a new tent anyway (we'd been squishing into a little four man...) and we needed an extra tent for all the people coming, we upgraded to a condo for this trip.  Lol... j/k... we did get a huge tent though.  An 8 man.  It has a closet...!  Its a beast, but it sure was and will be nice to spread out and actually be able to keep our stuff in our tent, instead of in the car!

I didn't take very many pictures on this trip and my mom has a bunch I want... I'll have to post more later.

Haylee, the budding photographer (girl after my own heart...); "Make a sad face" she says... :)

Balancing on a log

Hangin' out at the stink-holes... fumaroles at Mt. Lassen National Park

We don't know what we're going to do with this kid's super-human strength!

We have a couple more trips to post about but those pictures are on Brandon's phone or another  so I'll have to get them later.  We also have at least one more campings planned this summer...  So I'll be back some time with more.  And I still have Hawaii to post about so you can look forward to that!  I know you'll just be loosing sleep over it.  :)

Thanks for looking... and mostly, thanks for being someone who loves and cares about our family.  We're lucky to have friends and family like you.