July 23-25 2010
Over the 24 of July weekend, we went up to the Uintas Mountains. We stayed in the Critchfield's cabin (my brother Nate's foster parents). They own around 20 acres of land surrounding the cabin. The cabin was still unfinished and ran on a generator at night. The plumbing was 3rd world country where you use a bucket to flush it down, lol luckily we had a toilet! We had to bring up our own water and "rough it" without a shower. We had an incredible view of the valley below the cabin.
We shared the cabin with my brother Nate, sister Karen, brother in-law Adam, their two boys, and dog Harley the Hog (Basset Hound).
There is an interesting story about the hog, which we were happy he came up to the cabin with us over the weekend... While we were gone to Deer Creek, Nate was doing some handyman stuff around the cabin. There was a giant gray wolf that was lurking around the cabin. The basset hound was on the deck. He started growling at the wolf and scared her away. The funny thing is the wolf was easily three times the size of Harley. We believed the wolf was a mother and had some puppies near by. She seemed harmless and we never saw her again thank goodness.
There were several coolers that held our food and drinks! We ate lots of BBQ meats, pasta salad, homemade bagels with cream cheese, made smores, and ate huge hoggie sandwiches.
We stayed up late playing card games like Uno and Phase 10. My brother Nate brought his flat screen TV and Xbox. The kids played with their Game boy DS, watched movies, played Uno, or played video games. They also caught some lizards too.
On Saturday morning, we went to Deer Creek. It was about 30 minutes away from the cabin. We had a BBQ lunch with the Smith family (my sister's in-laws). The kids enjoyed swimming and playing with water toys. In addition, we went boating in my sister's father in-law's boat. The best part of the weekend was when we were all pulled on a large three person tube. My girls absolutely loved tubbing. They laughed and smiled the whole time out while in the tube. When it was the adults turn, we were in for a ride! Karen's father in-law loves to flip the tube around and go very fast! Karen, Adam, and I were the first adults to accept the challenge of not being tossed out! Karen was the first to fly out, then me, and Adam. Next round, I did a back flip into the water! My youngest daughter screamed and cried for me in the boat. She was so afraid when I fell in the water. John had to calm her down and tell her the importance of wearing a life jacket. It was a lot of fun but I could tell I was sooooo out of shape trying to swim in that cold deep water! Next was John and Adam's turn to endure scary tube ride. Some how Adam was able to hold on and not get thrown out. Poor Johnny got whipped out of the tube twice! He was done tubbing after that! The kids went again and then we went back to the shore! We drove to Heber to get the kids ice cream cones and headed back to the cabin for dinner.
Here is a video of Adam, Karen, and I falling off the tube.....
When we got back to the cabin, Karen did my hair as well as my girls. When we were kids, she learned how to French braid and still this day I cannot style hair very well. Our hair style was perfect after a couple days of no showering!
On Sunday, we woke up early and found the boys in the loft with a deflated mattress and sleeping uncomfortably on the floor. Later the boys went four wheeling and motor cycling. We cleaned up the cabin, packed, and then we went swimming in a very cold stream down the hill from the cabin. We got home later in the afternoon. We were extremely tired from all the excitement and lack of sleep! We sure enjoyed spending time with my brother and sister's family! We look forward to making more fun memories in the future!
