Camping with friends. And three babies.

We lucked out in the friend department.  We like our friends and they have boys the same age as Beck, how perfect is that?

We all wanted to try our hand at camping with the babies so went camping up American Fork Canyon (free camping y'all) and got the perfect little spot by the river (which was heaven sent, it was the perfect white noise to help Beck sleep that night).

Beck was still crawling at this point (he knew how to walk but was still not quite confident enough) so he was a MESS.  I gave up keeping him clean on the drive up the canyon.  I just knew he would get dirty and accepted it.  And dirty he got.  He loved it.

Beck was the last baby to go to sleep (10:45), and fell asleep in Kevin's arms at the fire.  When he was in bed and it was just us adults at the fire, I felt like I was a teenager with a newly extended curfew.  It was such a treat to just talk with our friends, outside, camping, around the fire eating s'mores.

Madsen.

The Max.

Our boys with their boys. And Beck's cheesy grin.

just chillin.

It was Kevin's 30th birthday on this trip, so we had to get a family picture.

beck: one

Heres a little video I put together of our most recent adventures:

the beck from Mal Brower on Vimeo.

camp food

Just because your camping doesn't mean your food has to suck!  If you make a meal plan and a list of everything you need to prepare it; cooking real food while camping is easy and oh so worth it.

Here was our weekly dinner menu:

Wednesday:  Costco hot dogs (the best!) with all the fix-ins.  S'mores on the side!

Thursday: Tilapia fish tacos with homemade tarter sauce and sautéed green beans with onions.

Friday:  Teriyaki marinated chicken, cous cous, and asparagus.  Costco rolls with creamy honey.

Saturday:  Spaghetti with meat sauce and green beans.

Sunday:  Chicken fajitas with corn and bell peppers, sautéed cabbage on the side.  The boys also made cheesy potatoes.

I was really surprised how quickly the food disappeared.  I went on a huge Costco run before this trip, not knowing how much food four boys would eat.  But somehow I got it spot on, and we ran out of food right on the last day.  Huzzah.

camping in the uintas

We try not to pay to go camping, so we usually drive up into the mountains until we find a good spot.  We found a great little meadow up in the Uintas this weekend.  The whole mountain felt like it was ours.

We brought up good food, a good book, and some good company. 

Even though it got chilly that night, we still had a great time.

I love tin foil dinners.   This time I did sweet sausage, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil.  Mmm mmm good.
I also have an obsession with s'mores when I camp.  I can eat a lot.  But this time every one was making fun of me so I only ate two.  And... maybe five extra marshmallows.  One time camping in Bryce, I was known to have eaten s'mores for every meal.  It happens.

I even wore my camping shirt. 

The Machete.

Oh yeah, these guys came!  They almost got away with no pictures.
They love their new car.  We made sure we went off road so they could test it out.