First try at blogging!

Well - this is for family (particularly my parents in Africa) so they can see and read about some of the fun stuff going on in Tempe! We went camping recently and I must admit that it was quite the adventure. We left Friday afternoon and drove up to Payson. After checking out some of the campsites, we decided on Christopher Creek - mainly because there was running water in the creek that you get to drive over - and that's really cool. I forgot to mention that we took our two dogs with us on this little overnight adventure. Toby has already traveled with us - he went with us to Utah and did really well. Tula - our new dog (she's a Bichon) - didn't do as well. Infact about half way to Payson, she let us know that she wasn't doing well by puking all over the back seat! We quickly rolled down the windows so that we wouldn't start gagging from the smell!

Back to the camping. We pitched the tent and got camp set up. We didn't bring a lot due to it only being an overnight excursion. Daniel and I decided to take the dogs for a little walk around camp. It's amazing to me that so many people take their dogs camping. Seriously - like 80% of the people had at least one dog with them. (I'm not really sure where I came up with the number of 80% - but it sounds like a lot.) The dogs loved it. Tula is in that "everything is new" stage. She chases butterflies, smells everything and then poops out and goes for a nap. Well - that probably describes most dogs. But she is really cute to watch doing it all.

Saturday night, Daniel decided that I hadn't brought enough food (which I didn't) and decided to go 20 minutes into town and get some snackies. Over an hour later, he returned, with lots of stuff. He was so sweet to get me stuff to make S'Mores - since I had forgotten this essential camping treat. After unloading everything, he noticed out of the corner of his eye something by the outhouse (yes, we had an outhouse - that's the way I camp). We quickly flashed the flashlight over in that direction and gasped. There was a huge skunk, bigger than Tula and almost as big as Toby! He was just smelling things and walking around. We had the dogs out and quickly got them in the tent before they could see what was going on. Then we just began praying that it wouldn't get any closer. (This reminded me of Mom's story from Girl's Camp - where she heard something in the addy, but didn't dare get up - thinking it may have been a skunk, and if she would have gotten up the other girls would have heard and screamed - creating an aweful smelly mess.) Anyhow - the skunk passed by and left no marks! Yeah! Well, we weren't out of the woods just yet - no pun intended. After this ordeal, Daniel asked me, "Where are the keys?" Uh, oh. I didn't have the keys and Daniel didn't have the keys, the dogs definitely didn't have the keys. So we started looking, but it was dark. After a good search, the prognosis got worse. We thought that he must have locked them in the trunk. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night. On the brighter side - at least he had gotten all of the food out of the car so we could have breakfast.

The next morning, we woke up and took another look around. Still no keys. The camp hosts drove by, making their rounds. As they approached us, we explained what had happened. They quickly pulled out what appeared to be a hanger that had been straighted out, with a little loop on the end. He said, "You're not the first this has happened to." He explained that he wasn't allowed to unlock the car, due to liability issues, but explained how to maneuver the wire in the door jam to unlock the car. After several failed attempts, his wife looked at him with a look of, "Go over there and help these kids." He got up and noted that he needed a flathead screwdriver to pry the door open a little more. After he go the right tool, it took him all of about two minutes to get the door open and unlocked, all this while smoking a cigarette. Pretty impressive. Daniel had to comment on how fast he was able to get the door open. The camp host stated, "I used to be quicker when I was younger, but I'm on a different path now." Hmmm... I guess some skills are useful in the future.

Yeah - so with the keys in our hands, we were now able to enjoy the rest of the trip. We took the dogs on their first swim in the creek. Toby was like jungle dog - I can only imagine if we didn't have him on a leash where he would be now. He loved it. We also found a rope swing and decided to test it out. Unfortunately - we didn't bring any change of clothing (again, we only planned for one night). So - we spent the rest of the trip a little damp. We went up to the lake on the Rim. Everything was breath-taking. The air was so cool and clean, you just wanted to drink it all in.

On the way home, going through the various landscapes, your mind just starts to appreciate the creativity and love that our Father in Heaven has for us. He created this all for us to enjoy, use and take care of. What a neat gift!