Happy Campers!

Never say never!  This has to be my favorite motto, as it has proven true time and time again in my life!  But NEVER did I imagine that I would be the proud new owner of a camper trailer!  Blaine would correct me…. it is actually a toy hauler.  Most of you that know me know that camping is not and has never really been my thing.  Blaine has talked about getting a trailer for several years now, only to meet my many objections.  Well, he either caught me on a really good day or after a few glasses of wine, but I finally caved in to the idea, and I have to be honest, I am super excited about it now!  This brings camping to a whole new level with warm beds, a BATHROOM, warm baths at night for the kids, a kitchen to to cook in, heating, cooling…. you name it!  We have come a long ways from the summer in the sweet little Love Chariot!

Blaine brought it home at 2pm the Saturday before New Year’s and announced “we’re going camping!”  We packed it with everything we could think of, grabbed some food at the store and were out the door by 5!  We joined a group of friends out in the desert, luckily only about an hour from the house.  We ended up spending New Year’s out there and had a blast!  It definitely forced all of us to just SLOW DOWN, relax and enjoy each other’s company.  It was so fun for the kids to run around and explore, play with the other kids and roast marshmallows by the camp fire.  We’re looking forward to using it in the white mountains this summer and who knows where else we will take it! 

So never say never…..I am one happy camper now!

It was so nice not to have to worry about any cars out here.  The kids had a ball driving around the wide open spaces!

Chasers made himself right at home in the new camper!  Grayson buddied up with Chris, the son of one of the family’s that we camped with.

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kim joined us for a day.  Colbie sharing her lunch with Aunt Kimmie!

I can’t believe I actually let my kids swing around a real coyote tail!  Looking back at these sort of makes me sick!  Could we get any more redneck?!

Playing with his new tablet before bed.

Checking out the beautiful sunrise!

…And just looking cute!

Grayson had his first couple of soccer games the past two Saturdays!  I wish I could say he loved it and it was going awesome, but I can’t lie.  To cut to the chase, we have a total drama mama on our hands, who loves to play at home and has fun at practice, but completely falls apart come game day!  He is so brutally shy at times and takes life so seriously already, so a part of me feels terrible and I wish so badly that I could make things easier for him.  On the flip side, he can be SO STUBBORN and so overly dramatic about things, he makes me want to pull my hair out!  While he did stay on the field for the whole game, it was painful to watch…. it was almost comical….. for anyone other than Blaine and I that is!  He looked so completely miserable….hands clasped, head down, pretend crying every time he caught our eye, and basically just pouting and shuffling around the field the entire time.  He had absolutely no interest in ever touching the ball.  Every once in a while, he would forget he was upset and for a moment, he would almost look like he was having fun, but then he would see us again and remember that he was supposed to be miserable.  If he wasn’t this way about everything, then we would probably just pull him and try again next year.  However, we STILL have melt downs every day we take him to school or to church or to anywhere we have to leave him on his own.  We’re going to finish the season out, continue the pep talks and positive thoughts and pray that by the end of it all, we will get to see our little guy loosen up and have SOME FUN!