Young Men's Camp

This year the young men's presidency planned a more fun type camp instead of a rigid watch your clock and pass of as many badges as possible. Sometimes if you plan it to tight you suck the fun out of what you're trying to teach the youth. I'm pretty sure we could have gotten most of the kids gear over to the church in one car, but we would have had to leave the kids at home. In order to pack everything they would need for all week last week (7-18 to 7-22) we had to use both cars.

Kenny's back seat with Kelton's gear. Of course no one was on the same page, so some people were told to be at the church at noon (us) others at 1 pm. We husled to get the cars loaded, me ready to drive and get to the church on time.

This is my trunk with both of the boys bikes in there. Kenny did some creative loading to fit 2 mountain bikes into our trunk.

My back seat with Taylor's gear. I love how he has his new fedora on top of his bag with his glasses. He also had a goodie bag that was never out of his sight. Kelton's was always in sight, but a little less conspicuous. Taylor had on the fedora, glasses and goodie bag protected under his arm.

Last, but not least, Kenny's trunk. He had all the bedding, foam sleeping mats and camp chairs in there. I know it doesn't sound like much, but he doesn't have much of a trunk. Most of the "usable" space is being taken up with one of Kenny's hobbies.

Kelton testing out his bike before they go. We took it to Taylor's Bike Shop on 5400 south and they did an amazing job. They did a complete overhaul on this bike (it is the one that Kenny got hit on). Their work is amazing and they went above what we asked for and their prices are very reasonable. Even with what Kenny already has so he can do his own tune-ups on his bikes, he couldn't buy the parts or the one other tool that he needed for less than what they charged us.

Taylor trying out his bike. They had both been in storage for a while and I think that it was good for them to both try out their bikes before leaving.

Taylor's bike was having some problems that Kenny needed to fix. We had plenty of time to use the parking lot while it was empty since we were there at noon! I just couldn't help taking a picture of Kenny on a little bike :)

Brother Bigelow is the person who has the membership up East Canyon where they went for their camp. He is also the proud owner of this boat. He took the boys out water skiing. I didn't hear how that went but I do know that some of them were also pulled on intertubes. They all had so much fun. Taylor went out on one of the tubes and had a blast.

These are the boys that are closer to my boys ages and who they mostly hang around with. They are all really good boys. One has a little bit of an attention issue, but I told my boys that maybe if all 4 of the other boys invite him to more things and try to befriend him and teach him a few things that he might be just fine and a lot of fun to be with.

This is the Suburban that our boys quickly disappeared into to leave. I had horrible mom guilt all day that I didn't do the whole hug and I Love You thing before we left.

I can't remember who this Brother is but he was a hoot. He ended up with all the older boys in his car together and he was teasing them that he didn't want them all in one car. As he was pulling away it could be heard by all around, this Brother announcing, "I already need a Valium!"

Of course there were some bumps in the road. Kelton broke his brother's sleeping bag and then gave it back to him and took the non broken sleeping bag. Yes, there was a discussion when he arrived home. I've been a little out of it, but I do know that they went swimming in the swimming pools and in the lake. They also did a downhill mountain bike ride that resulted in many bruises and a broken helmet. That was just what happened to Taylor.

I have to add Taylor's bike ride because it is classic Taylor. I guess he walked his bike for a little bit and thought that it had leveled out a bit so he got on his bike and started down, mind you never having gone mountain biking. He soon went over his handlebars, landed on his head and went skidding down the mountain for quit a ways (his sound effect: ugugugugugugugugugugug). Taylor totally broke the front of his helmet, gashed open his elbow and has "road rash" all down his right side. He has some narly bruises. Taylor jumped up once he stopped sliding and said, "that was so cool!"

Even though they both called once to come home, they made it until Friday and came home safe and only a little damaged. In all fairness, we would have gone and gotten them earlier but with my complications everyone was already run down and couldn't drive up to get them. Sorry boys, it was because of me and now you will have something really juicy to talk about in therapy.