Our Summer Vacation

Well, since school is about to start, I figured I better get one of our greatest parts of summer posted. We had the chance this year to go to Philmont in Cimmaron, New Mexico. It's the king of boy scout camps! It was amazing!!! We had such a good time and if the opportunity ever presents itself again- you can bet we will be there!
It was a long drive, but so pretty- as we pulled in there was a welcoming committee. The general young men's president and primary president were there to greet us and introduce themselves. Amazing people! There was also this wagon welcoming us into camp.

Then we checked in and got our tent assignment. They had two 'tent cities'. I will have to come back and update this post with actual numbers and such, but I think there were around 600 people total there this week. We were there with two other families from our stake. It was such a neat thing to get to know them better! The kids were always hopping from one tent to another and were soooo happy! We made some great friendships in our little city that I will never forget!

Here is Taybri hanging out inside the tent. The days were nice and warm and the nights were cool. Each tent had one outlet so we could use a fan and heater for her. Taybri was 2 months old when we went and she was the youngest member of Philmont that week. She got a lot of attention for that! She did so good! Brylie, Taybri, and I all slept in one tent and then Dean, Ryman and Kayden in the other.

Here is just one picture of what it looked like there. Not really what I was picturing for New Mexico- it was gorgeous! We were in the mountains. These are some of the buildings we had meetings in and some are historical buildings.

We got to be upclose and personal with the leaders of the Church that were there. This is Sister Wixom and her husband. She is the general primary president. She was always coming to check on Taybri and me. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet!! I can't tell you how many amazing people we met there! The week consisted of lots of classes for everyone! The kids got to do things like pony rides, crafts, air rifle shooting, hiking, tons of fun stuff during the day. We just sent them off everyday and got them back for meals and a few hours of family time here and there. The evenings were filled with programs put on by the staff there. They LOVED it!!! I wish I had pictures of stuff they got to do, but I was never really with their classes. They made some great friends. Dean had a lot of classes and training, and I also had classes and lots of free time for naps, crafts, anything! The classes were amazing. The Spirit was so strong there. I honestly feel like it was a small glimpse of heaven. We were surrounded by such amazing people. I don't think even after a week of cafeteria food and sleeping in tents that we were ready to leave. It is an experience that I will never forget and I hope my children never do.

On our way home, we had a little more time- so we made a stop at Dinosaur Land! Here is a picture someone was nice enough to snap for us looking at the fossils, you can't see it in the picture, but we are up on a ledge and I was totally freaked out! Taybri was such a trooper- it was HOT!

Then we checked out some museums! I think these pictures sort of speak for themselves....

Silly kids! We had a great week together. Everything was perfect! The did so good traveling in the car and we made some great memories. Just sad that it's over!!