Manti

We finally got the trailer out for the first camping trip of the year.  We headed down to Manti for the Barnes annual family camping trip.  We had a bit of a rough start.  When we got to Lehi, we heard a big bang.  Luckily we were right by the exit, so we quickly pulled over and found that we had blown a tire on the trailer.  Travis was able to quickly change it and find the nearest Big O Tires.  We had to replace all four tires.  Ouch!  It was about a two hour detour.  I was so proud of Travis for keeping his cool.  He is to be commended!!!

Every year I marvel at how absolutely beautiful it is down there.  I love to go on drives and just take it all in.  Watching for deer is my favorite thing to do.  We saw plenty this time.  There were a couple right in our camp.  

Emily proved to be quite the fisherwoman (is that a word?)  She caught the biggest fish and even dared to TOUCH it!!!  The second picture is her holding an albino trout.  It was a really interesting looking fish.  It was orange with red eyes.  I had never seen one before.

Tyler needs a little lesson in patience.  He had a hard time keeping his pole in the water long enough to catch a fish.  He was constantly reeling it in, sure that he needed to "check his bait".  Once he decided to keep the pole in the water, he did great!

Gavin is so darn hard headed, he insisted on doing everything himself.  He finally agreed to let grandpa help him cast it out and every time he did, he had a fish on the line every three minutes!  He was really fun to watch.  It never got old to him!

Here's Travis and his big catch!  

Just kidding.... Tyler had caught the bottom and Travis hammed it up!

Kate and I didn't get much fishing in this time, but we had lots of fun watching the kids.

Kate had a horrible first night.  I bet I got 2 hours of sleep total.  I remember sitting by the fire and watching the sun go down and then thinking how ridiculous it was that I was laying with Kate watching the sun come up.  Not much rest in between.  It was awful!  I was so paranoid about her falling out of bed that I decided to sleep right next to her.  She did good until she decided to roll over and there wasn't enough room for her to move.  The next night we decided to let her sleep by herself, surrounded with cushions and pillows and she did much better!  THANK GOODNESS!  I guess she just likes her space.

As we were going fishing one afternoon and passed this creek, there was an overweight man bathing.  The kids thought it was hilarious and wanted to re-create the scene that won't be erased from my memory anytime soon.  So funny!  It makes me wonder what goes through people's head.  If I were going to bath, I would make sure I was off the road a little bit :)

Here's Gavin with his "Diamond Coke".  (It was actually grape soda)

The kids had a great time shooting BB guns, fishing, watching movies, hiking, riding 4 wheelers, exploring camp, fishing, looking for deer and playing with cousins.  We can't wait for our next camping trip!