Camping in Co-Op

It's just about time for my yearly praise of Co-Op Valley.  On July 29-30 and August 12-13 we did some overnight camping at our favorite bit of secluded paradise up Parowan Canyon.  This year we decided to splurge and buy a tent.  I had never stayed in a trailer before I married into the Adams family and although it is convenient and comfortable, I don't feel like I am actually camping unless I stay in a tent.  Burke humored me and we purchased a roomy six-person tent that we'll definitely be getting our moneys worth as we plan to use it for years to come with our little family.

Our first trip up in July we joined Kevin and Danelle and Marie's family for the weekend, plus Alan, Marie, Brett and the Rowleys who all came up for a delicious BBQ chicken dinner with dutch oven potatoes on Friday night.  We had a great time, except for a little snafu that happened to Burke and I.  On Saturday morning when Daphne fell asleep we put her in the tent and Danelle agreed to listen for her while we went on a solo 4-wheeler ride.  It was the first time we had left her since she was born and it felt so nice to ride off with Burke for some alone time.  We went on a short ride and took an off rode detour where we stopped and took some pictures of the scenery.

When we went to start the 4-wheeler we realized Burke had shut it off in second gear and it wouldn't start unless it was in neutral.  It wasn't a huge deal, but I had this horrible thought of Daphne waking up and freaking out while we tried to hike back (on a still recovering C-section belly) a couple of miles to camp.  Luckily Burke was able to call his Dad and use a tool to manually downshift  so the crisis was averted and of course she was still snoozing when we rushed back to camp.

Daphne slept so good in the top part of her bassinet and we decided we could definitely do more camping this summer.  So we did!

This past weekend my parents and the Kirby family joined us for another trip to Co-op.  Tasha was supposed to come to, but she had a job interview and landed the spot!  I guess we'll forgive her for missing. :)  This is only the second time my family has seen Daphne and as you can see she was in popular demand.

The Kirby kids were awesome and we only have one regret about the visit - that Gideon didn't get a chance to fulfill his dream of fishing with "Uncle Bouwrk."  At least they got to ride together often.

The Gid-Box entertained us to no end with his recent luchador acquisition and Kaleo had me giggling with her impersonation of "Marcel the Shell."  (Ex: Guess what I use for treasure? A piece of glitter! Ha!)

It was so nice to have the time to sit around and visit with no distractions.  We enjoyed yummy meals, horse shoes, 4-wheeling, guitar playing sing-a-longs, and a full moon peeking up over the cliffs and lighting up the entire camp ground with pale light.

Probably my favorite "Bush" moment that my family will all appreciate is when Dad decided that he needed a challenge.  He saw a tall quaky aspen tree with another thick tree branch stuck high up in its upper branches that clearly needed to be brought down.  It ended up being a joint effort of wacking and swaying until finally the branch dislodged and came crashing down.  I guess you had to be there, but it was hilarious.

Thanks family for the wonderful visit.  Mark your calendars, because we will most certainly be doing our Third Annual Bush Campout at Co-op next year!