Fathers & Sons

During the middle part of May, when all male church members traditionally celebrate the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood to the earth by holding Father & Sons Campouts, our family males did likewise. Robert, Jamie and Kevin had to stay behind due to work obligations, along with J.T., Jake and Daron, but the rest of us took for the Rim Country late on a Friday afternoon. The younger boys were starving by the time we reached Payson (only one hour later) so we did the obligatory stop at the Golden Arches! Then it was back on the road to try and join up with R. B.'s ward near Woods Canyon Lake. The directions we had from his ward were pretty terse and no help at all...eventually we gave up looking for the ward and started just looking for a good campsite before dark. We settled on a nice spot and began setting up camp- Nate and Jeff set-up their brand-new tents for their boys and them, and I set-up our old green tent for R.B., his boys and me (I immediately declared this the last campout for "old Green!").





We got a fire going as quickly as possible to start getting coals for the adult's dinner- good 'ol "yucka" burros!
Everyone ate to their hearts content and we had plenty left over. After sitting around the campfire for a while, one by one everyone turned in for the night.

The next morning I got up first and took a little hike to look for Elk. I think Jeff and his boys did the same not too long after me. Since we had planned to be with R.B.'s ward for the traditional pancake breakfast, our breakfast was pretty strange- twinkies, chips, cookies, candy and soda/juice. Luckily I brought myself an apple...otherwise my diet would have taken a big hit from that conglomeration! :-) After snacking, R.B. broke out the B-B guns and everyone from him down to Carson and Aden got a crack at hitting the targets.





For a while there I had a bit of intrepidation about what was going on, but we all survived without anyone getting hit! Then we took the boys on a long hike (walk) to tire them out for the drive home. After a few rest-stops for the shorter-legged campers, we returned to camp, took a few pics and packed-up for home. R.B. and I took his boys and Taylor to lunch at Sonic on the way home, thinking Nate and Jeff would follow, but they shot by us like they needed (or wanted) to get home quick!




On the drive home, R.B. asked me to reach into his bag and get a snack for Carson. Out with the snack came a piece of paper that had the exact directions to the place where R,B's ward was camped! and with them, our pancake breakfast! oh well...But all-in-all we had a great time together and it was especially nice for me to spend time with the majority of "my boys" all at once. Hopefully, Robert, Jamie and his boys and Kevin and Daron will be able to come with us next year!