On Friday we left the extreme heat of the valley to go camping up in the mountains. Our ward campout was near Clint's Well. This is about 30 miles north of Payson past Pine and Strawberry. We camped in an undeveloped camp area and tons of fun. Mitchell left to go camping with the boys his age on Monday and met up with us on Friday at the campsite. So while I set up camp, he was off shooting rifles with Brent and others.
Grant brought his buddy, Jordan, on the campout. These two boys are pretty funny together. They had no problem setting up a tent.
Once their tent was set up, they gave me a hand in setting up my tent. Yes, this is Max's first campout too. This little dog had so much fun sniffing everything on the trip. He loves the great outdoors!
After we set up camp and had sub sandwiches for lunch, Grant, Jordan and I headed off on a hike to a cave we heard was in the area. Unfortunately, we did not get the complete set of directions so we never found the cave. We did find this large rock formation in the middle of a canyon with trees growing on it. We also found some cows grazing along a creek. Grant tried to go and talk to them but they ran off.
Later that day, we went with another group to the cave since they actually knew where it was. The cave was awesome! You had to have your own flashlight to get around. Inside the cave is where a natural spring is that pumps water down into a creek. It's a challenge to crawl into the cave without slipping off a rock into the water. Once you get past the opening of the cave, you can stand up. Brent was near the front of our group that went into the cave. I was at the end. So by the time I got inside the cave, he and the group had disappeared.
This left Matt and I to find them and the rest of the cave on our own. We did find an opening on the side of the cave but neither of us wanted to try to climb through it.
We crawled through another tight spot and then made it to this crack where the water was coming from. Brent and his group were no where around so we assumed that they must of crawled through this small opening. Matt didn't mind getting wet so he started to army crawl through the area. But it was too tight and he came back out. We couldn't figure out how Brent and his group did it. So we turned around and made our way back through the cave.
When I crawled out of the cave, I found Brent, Grant, Jordan and all of the others. When Matt and I were trying to find a way through the small area, the rest of the group had looked up and found a hole in the ceiling which led to another cave. They crawled through the 2nd cave which was dry, until they got outside. Pretty tricky! The best thing about the cave is that it felt like an air conditioned room. It was fabulous!
One of Max's favorite things to do on the campout was to find food people had dropped. But what was better than food was bacon grease. In this picture Max is licking up bacon grease off of the ground. He had been at it for a couple of minutes when a couple of teenage boys came by. They both went down by Max and put their heads next to his to pretend to want to get some bacon grease too. Surprisingly, Max growled at them. He wasn't going to share his bacon grease with anyone!
When Mitchell got back from shooting guns, he started playing the game Apples to Apples. He played this game all day Friday and part of Saturday. He was the ringleader of the group and had a ton of fun. I played a few rounds with him too. He kept telling me I talk too much during the game. Imagine, me talking too much compared to Mitchell!!! Hard to imagine. There were lots of laughs during the game.
It was a fun overnight campout. We are looking forward to going again next year! Maybe you can come too!
The grand entrance to LoMia has changed from a log pole sign to this lovely rock wall entrance.
One of my main responsibilities at camp was to co-teach archery classes. This is why I took the class at Archery Headquarters the week before. I even told the girls that's where I got my great skills. One class was totally convinced of my technique when I hit a Bullseye on my practice shot. They were very impressed! I was ecstatic!!!! It was super fun to teach all of the girls at camp archery. We had several girls get the bullseye award.
This is a picture of all the third year girls right before we climbed up the 45 foot rock wall. Along the trail after climbing this wall, there were wild raspberry bushes. The girls picked and ate tons of raspberries. Many of them had purply/red stained hands. Once we were out of the canyon we had to hike to highway 260 and then walk along the road for just over a mile until we reached the trail head for the switchbacks. Then we hiked the switchbacks back down the mountain. The switchbacks are in the sun and it was very hot. Many of us were very low on water.
We were really hot and tired by the time we reached the creek. We all stuck our hands in the cold water and splashed water on ourselves. It felt soooooo goooood! After crossing the creek, we had about a half hour left of hiking before being back into camp. The hike was over 10 miles and it took about 7 hours to do the whole thing. We were all tired and sweaty when we made it into camp.
Our camp theme was "Curtain Call - Are you in Tune." Each ward and cabin was assigned a different movie/Broadway musical to represent. I stayed in the stake Young Women's Leader cabin and they were Phantom of the Opera. My friend Jeanine and I made all of the masks that decorated the cabin. We also made phantom pillow cases for the inside of the cabin. We thought the decorations turned out pretty good.
This is Orchard Chapel aka The Sacred Grove where we have church. I was one of the speakers at church on Sunday. Going to church while camping can be an inconvenience. However, the programs for sacrament meeting, Sunday school, the evening programs and evening testimony meetings at each cabin were very spiritual and amazing! The big purpose of coming to camp is to have each girls' testimony grow. 
This is the gate as of November 2008. The basic frame is started. Finding time to work on the gate is a challenge. There are so many other things to do and projects around the house that need his attention.
By June the wood slats were done. Before Brent could start installing them I had to weather proof them. This is the only part of the project I could do. I do happen to have painting skills and I was happy to do something to help get the gate done.
On July 6th, Brent finished installing the wood slats on the last section of the gate.
We now have an amazing custom gate. The only thing left to do is put in the lock and handle. It looks pretty awesome! 
The two baby birds had feathers growing in and were very healthy. They were just too young to be on their own.
After a few hours, the grown up bird started to fly around the office. So Brent set it free. Brent also found a bird rescue place nearby and was able to take the baby birds there so they could get all of the care they needed. When Brent dropped off the birds at the rescue center, they told him that he had two baby boy birds. I guess with morning doves the color of the feathers on the wings is the give away of the sex of the bird. We're all glad the birds were healthy and will be able to be on their own soon.
Madison was quite proud of her creation!
This is train we rode through town today. 
Before we could board the train, we had to purchase tickets. An all day pass on the light rail was $3.50; however, Grandma's ticket was half as much (lucky!). Mitchell tried to convince Grandma that we didn't really need to buy tickets. After a few stops on the rail, a police assistant came on board and checked everyone's ticket. One man didn't have a ticket. At the next stop he was escorted off to the ticket station to purchase a ticket.
Mitchell and Grant observed all of the interesting passengers that boarded the train. One guy that sat across from the boys was quite strange. He was missing most of his teeth and had a large cup of ice water. He told everyone around him to wake him up at a particular stop. Unfortunately, he really did fall asleep, dropped his cup of ice water, and made a huge mess all over the floor. This did wake him up and he started kicking the ice cubes under Mitchell and Grant's seat. Then this other odd lady who likes to press the emergency button, pressed the emergency button just to tell the driver that the floor had ice water all over it. The further we drove into downtown Phoenix, the more interesting the passengers became.
Don't less this picture fool you into thinking Grandma didn't have a good time because she did. She enjoyed seeing all of the shops and businesses all along the tracks. I can even tell you where all of the "adult" shops are now and topless bars. Some parts of the trip were quite educational ;)
Once we were in Mesa, we had a delicious lunch at IHOP. Then it was back on the train to ride back to Phoenix. Mitchell took a nap on the way back.