We went camping with my Flake family--all except for Shiloh and Danica (who live in Utah), and Jayze (who is on his mission). To be entirely truthful, I was a little nervous about camping at 7 months pregnant, our first trip with a 18-month-old, and the fact that the campgrounds we chose had neither running water nor toilets...but it ended up being an AWESOME experience.
Daliah with her "camping hairstyle," thanks to NaElle
Jack loves his Uncle Cody--here they are discussing in depth the assorted plants growing around them. Cody was so good about keeping Jack entertained when he would start to get cranky!
This place was so gorgeous--even though we didn't end up even leaving till 8:00 on Friday night (typical Flake tradition--we planned on leaving by 4. Hah!), we ended up getting lucky and finding this beautiful, clover-filled meadow--in the dark! It was great, because Jack didn't end up getting nearly as dirty as I had planned on him getting!
And my dad, being the amazing man that he is, cooked ALL of the meals. Every single one. He would recruit some of us kids occasionally to help, but he was in charge. And they were delicious. 
On Sunday, we went up to Green's Peak. Here are my parents, enjoying the view--isn't it amazing? I felt like Julie Andrews in Sound of Music-- "The hills are aliiiiiive...."
Molly, Noah, and McKay, sitting around the campfire, waiting for dinner...
Jack was yelling at me for some reason or other...although he did surprisingly well at sleeping through the night (all except the third night we were there, which was miserable), his naps were a different story--so he definitely had his cranky moments (or hours, as it were). Luckily, there was usually enough stuff around to distract him. That kid LOVES being outside.
Our family at Green's Peak. Note the fact that I'm wearing Jack's hat--he desperately wanted me to wear it and would get mad at me when I took it off.
Steve and I snuggling by the campfire--so romantic. Note--Steve has lost 20 pounds lately. Doesn't he look great?!
Cody, teaching Jack the finer points of horseshoe. Jack was pretty much enthralled by anything Cody did.
We did have some neighbors, who brought horses--and Jack loved to try to go chase them. My siblings were really good sports about chasing after Jack, however, which was nice for me. Here's Levi, bringing Jack back for me.
Noah brought a guitar, and Jack, of course, loved that!
Isn't he just so darn cute?
This is our "Pregnancy Pose" at Green's Peak. I'm learning that T-shirts--even the XL ones--don't make great maternity shirts. They're just too short in front for me. Sigh. It's a little hard on the old ego to not be able to fit into an XL.
My parents took Jack on a little walk while we were up there, so I wouldn't have to be chasing him the entire time--because the hill was so steep, I was pretty nervous about Jack wandering (I kept picturing a reenactment of The Princess Bride: "Aaaaas...yoooooooou....wiiiiiiish...."). So this was nice of them. Note the flowers in my dad's pocket--he picked my mom a bouquet of wildflowers. Isn't that just cute?
Basking in the beauty--except for Jack. He didn't really care for the scenic view--he was more interested in picking up and throwing rocks.
Levi, Katie, Cody, Molly, Noah, Jack, Daliah, Steve, and I, sitting on the side of the hill--I'm literally getting up to go chase Jack. That kid is so dang fast!
Steve was done with his diet on the first day of the camping trip, so he finally got to eat!! Hallelujah!
There was a pretty crazy cave that several of the group went to go check out. Looking at these pictures makes me glad that Jack and I opted out of this particular outing. Left to Right: Molly, Steve, Levi, Noah, Abe, Katie, McKay, Cody, and Dad (NaElle was the one taking the picture)
Steve said there was one point where they literally had to army crawl through sludge for about 30 yards--hence the fact that everyone (especially my dad) is filthy
Do you see that mud? I really am glad I wasn't there, but had I not been pregnant, I would have probably really wanted to check it out. It sounded like it was pretty cool--although kind of scary and gross.
Daliah with her "camping hairstyle," thanks to NaElle
Jack loves his Uncle Cody--here they are discussing in depth the assorted plants growing around them. Cody was so good about keeping Jack entertained when he would start to get cranky!
This place was so gorgeous--even though we didn't end up even leaving till 8:00 on Friday night (typical Flake tradition--we planned on leaving by 4. Hah!), we ended up getting lucky and finding this beautiful, clover-filled meadow--in the dark! It was great, because Jack didn't end up getting nearly as dirty as I had planned on him getting!
And my dad, being the amazing man that he is, cooked ALL of the meals. Every single one. He would recruit some of us kids occasionally to help, but he was in charge. And they were delicious. 
On Sunday, we went up to Green's Peak. Here are my parents, enjoying the view--isn't it amazing? I felt like Julie Andrews in Sound of Music-- "The hills are aliiiiiive...."
Molly, Noah, and McKay, sitting around the campfire, waiting for dinner...
Jack was yelling at me for some reason or other...although he did surprisingly well at sleeping through the night (all except the third night we were there, which was miserable), his naps were a different story--so he definitely had his cranky moments (or hours, as it were). Luckily, there was usually enough stuff around to distract him. That kid LOVES being outside.
Our family at Green's Peak. Note the fact that I'm wearing Jack's hat--he desperately wanted me to wear it and would get mad at me when I took it off.
Steve and I snuggling by the campfire--so romantic. Note--Steve has lost 20 pounds lately. Doesn't he look great?!
Cody, teaching Jack the finer points of horseshoe. Jack was pretty much enthralled by anything Cody did.
We did have some neighbors, who brought horses--and Jack loved to try to go chase them. My siblings were really good sports about chasing after Jack, however, which was nice for me. Here's Levi, bringing Jack back for me.
Noah brought a guitar, and Jack, of course, loved that!
Isn't he just so darn cute?
This is our "Pregnancy Pose" at Green's Peak. I'm learning that T-shirts--even the XL ones--don't make great maternity shirts. They're just too short in front for me. Sigh. It's a little hard on the old ego to not be able to fit into an XL.
My parents took Jack on a little walk while we were up there, so I wouldn't have to be chasing him the entire time--because the hill was so steep, I was pretty nervous about Jack wandering (I kept picturing a reenactment of The Princess Bride: "Aaaaas...yoooooooou....wiiiiiiish...."). So this was nice of them. Note the flowers in my dad's pocket--he picked my mom a bouquet of wildflowers. Isn't that just cute?
Basking in the beauty--except for Jack. He didn't really care for the scenic view--he was more interested in picking up and throwing rocks.
Levi, Katie, Cody, Molly, Noah, Jack, Daliah, Steve, and I, sitting on the side of the hill--I'm literally getting up to go chase Jack. That kid is so dang fast!
Steve was done with his diet on the first day of the camping trip, so he finally got to eat!! Hallelujah!
There was a pretty crazy cave that several of the group went to go check out. Looking at these pictures makes me glad that Jack and I opted out of this particular outing. Left to Right: Molly, Steve, Levi, Noah, Abe, Katie, McKay, Cody, and Dad (NaElle was the one taking the picture)
Steve said there was one point where they literally had to army crawl through sludge for about 30 yards--hence the fact that everyone (especially my dad) is filthy
Do you see that mud? I really am glad I wasn't there, but had I not been pregnant, I would have probably really wanted to check it out. It sounded like it was pretty cool--although kind of scary and gross.
The triumphant explorers, after the cave!! L-R: McKay, Levi, Katie, Steve, Noah, Cody, NaElle, Dad, Abe, Molly
So, despite the nervousness I had going in to this whole camping experience, it was actually wonderful. Good company, good food, good entertainment...what more could you ask?
Comments
I loved seeing pictures of your parents. The wildflowers in your Dad's pocket are so sweet!!! What a great family!
I had no idea Steve HAD 20 lbs to lose!