We had our ward camp out last weekend. I was extremely nervous about possibly going camping with Kaley and was ready to send Steve and the big kids without us, but since this was the ward camp out it was at the regional church girls' camp ground that is super nice. They have a lodge with showers and bathrooms, electricity and they had dinner and breakfast provided which meant I barely had to do anything! If we were going to go camping once this summer, this was the one to do it! And it's only about 40 minutes away! Dinner was great and the kids had fun running around with the other kids. A lot of people in our ward come up just for Friday night and then go home for the night. I was proud of us for staying! The kids stayed up until after 10 before asking to go to bed. They went to sleep great but Kaley was a different story. She had a hard time falling asleep and then wouldn't stay asleep in her pack and play. She ended up sleeping with me where she would wake up any time we moved or she got uncomfortable. It was a LONG night with little sleep for both of us, but I expected that.
Our morning started early and after breakfast and cleaning up, we let the kids play in the little lake. It was a gorgeous day with beautiful surroundings! We left about 11:30 but were glad to come home to showers and to take it easy the rest of the day. Our first camping adventure as a family of 5 was a big success!!
A couple weeks ago during fast Sunday, I got a surprising prompting to bear my testimony, even though I wasn't planning to at all. Something that had been on my mind a lot and that I spoke about, was my testimony of having a ward family to support us. In the past I have never felt strongly about having a ward family. Our ward isn't perfect by any means, we have a ton of young newlyweds that are too busy being newlyweds to get involved in the ward, and we have a LOT of elderly people too. And we definitely don't have enough families, or women that I can be friends with. But what I do know is that our ward cares about us, loves us, and supports us. There are so many people that we could call on in an emergency. With no family around, this is very comforting. It definitely took quite awhile for us to feel this way, but I am grateful for our ward family now.
We had an experience a couple weeks ago that definitely reminded us of this. Steve and Preston went on the Fathers & Sons camp out that Preston was so excited about. They had a good time Friday night and all was going well until Saturday morning when one of the dads (our friend) was found unresponsive in his car. No one could wake him up so Steve had to call an ambulance and the situation got pretty crazy. Steve was able to answer a lot of the questions since he's his friend so when the paramedics asked if anyone was going to go with to the hospital, Steve volunteered and they had to leave that instant. Steve had to go with no warning and without being able to tell Preston. There were a couple great guys there with their boys and Steve knew that Preston would totally be ok. The day turned into a crazy one with Steve rushing to the hospital and then I watched their other kids so that his wife could go to the hospital. It was a long day and Preston was brought home safe and sound by one of these guys and Steve got home a few hours later. (our friend is fine by the way). Steve and I kept talking about how we knew that Preston would be well taken care of by others in our ward. I was worried about him being scared but I knew he was safe and would be watched over. That was a good feeling. ...That day also taught us a lot about being grateful for our own trials, as apposed to what others have to deal with, and to be so, so grateful for our stable, respectful, and loving marriage (but I won't get into that!!). Grateful that even crazy experiences like that can teach us so much!
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