Camping with Friends

I know I did a slide show on my last post, but I had a lot of pictures this time and I think they're fun so I thought I'd do another one for this post. Last weekend we went camping by Echo Lake with our friends Kelly, Melissa and Dave. Just as we got to camp we saw these moose! They were only about 20 feet away from our car and probably 50 feet away from our camp! It was really cool to see them up close like this, but kind of nerve racking since moose are known for attacking ESPECIALLy when they are with their young. As you can see we saw the mamma moose with two baby moose and the daddy moose was just across from them. I guess the correct thing to call them would be the Bull, Cow and Calfs, but then that sounds like we aren't talking about moose. I like Mamma, Daddy and babies better :) We set up camp, ate dinner, then Kelly was nice enough to make everyone a smore. (as you can tell, they were very good!) Then we just kind of hung out by the fire trying to keep warm. As you can see we had chili for dinner, which probably wasn't such a great idea knowing we were all going to be sleeping in the same tent with 3 boys! All I can say is there were a lot of noises going on and they weren't animals.

The next morning we got up, cleaned up camp and drove to "No Worries Cafe" for breakfast. Then we all went home and did our own thing. That night Ryan went to an "Ultimate Fight Night" (is what he likes to call it) with our friends while I went to the movie "1408" with Ryan's mom, Cathie. So, as you may have noticed, Sunday started out with pretty good weather and it just kept getting colder and colder. Well, we drove back to Logan Sunday night and driving to work this morning, there was snow in Logan canyon :( I tried to take a picture of it but it didn't turn out very well. That's one thing Ryan and I are going to have to get used to living up here is the snow. So Ryan and I are at work in my turtlneck, his sweater, and our boots with the heat on. Hopefully it's not this chilly for anyone else. All I can say is enjoy the warmth while you can. At least we got in one more camping trip before winter!

Weekend Paintballing

As you all know, Tanner is leaving on a mission soon. So, this last weekend my dad planned an overnighter at his friend Ron's cabin where we all spent the night and went paintballing, as kind of a last family get together before Tanner leaves. We got there Friday night around 5:00 and the girls made dinner while Whit, Jer and the guys went on a fourwheeler ride. After dinner we all played games, then came up with teams and rules for paintballing. Ron's cabin was on 500 acres and had made his own paintball zone. It had a fort on each end for each team, a kill house, a sniper fort and plenty of ground and trees to play on. Saturday morning after breakfast we got dressed into our outfits and picked out our guns and were off to battle. It was a little scary at first, but ended up being a lot of fun.

Luckily we got Tanner on our team, however Trent was on the other team and he had absoutely no mercy! Teneil and I thought we were being sneaky by climbing into the sniper fort which was in a tree. Then we got caught and were trapped while my dad and Trent shot about 50 or more paintballs at us. (even after we said "surrender!" and told them we had been shot and were dead) So we both had some pretty good battle wounds after only the first game! We tried to stick together again the next game, but the same thing ended up happening. We were stuck in our fort with my dad and Trent endlessly shooting at us. All in all, it was so much fun! I highly recommend it to everyone. As long as you abide by the rules!

- No shooting less than 20 feet apart (I ended up bleeding and Teneil had some pretty ugly wounds from my mom shooting at her from only 4 feet away!)
- No shooting in the head if you can help it (both Ryan and I were shot in the head by, who else but Trent)
- No shooting someone once they are dead!!!
- No shooting once someone surrenders!

I swear the other team broke all of these rules. I guess I shouldn't really say the other team- Trent, my Dad and my Mom! But hey, it's all in good fun right?

The Garden

Ryan, Ty, Dad and Tanner Well Tanner went through the temple for the the first time Wednesday night, so Ryan and I drove down to SLC to support him. Afterwards we went and ate at "The Garden" restaurant on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. It was really nice and we all had a great time. So I thought I'd post some pictures of our outing at The Garden.

Grandma Bettty and Tanner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tawnya and Dad

My Mom and Grandma Walker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Whitney and Ty

Ryan, Me and Tanner

Family Message: Ron's Cabin

Hey everyone, here is just another message for the fam. Dad wanted me to post the directions on how to get to Ron's cabin in Duchesne:

Just drive to Duchesne (he's hoping everyone knows how to get there, if not, just print off a map). <http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Duchesne,+UT&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=Salt+Lake+City&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;f=d&hl=en&sll=40.16371,-110.40136&sspn=0.041913,0.079823&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ie=UTF8&z=9&om=1> Once you're there, head north on highway 87. (or turn north at the Zions Bank) Drive North on that road for about 18-20 miles. (stay right, don't turn at the moonlake or reservoir exit) just stay on north 87 'til you past the church and you get to the river bottom. (the highway will drop down to a river bottom) There are only 2 houses/cabins there, Ron's is the newest one.

Dad wants everyone to meet there Friday at 6:00, we'll have dinner there that night. Then go paintballing all day Saturday and just leave to go home after that. I guess if you have any questions, give Dad a call.

Dad also put me in charge of the food. After talking with Teneil about it, we decided it might be fun to make pizzas Friday night, then just do muffins and hashbrowns Saturday morning. Here are the food assignments for this weekend:

Tawnya & Chaz: Dessert

Teneil & Mike: Rolls and Cheese

Ty & Whitney: Pizza Sauce and Toppings

Trent: Drinks

Me, Ryan & Tanner: Hashbrowns and Muffins

Hope everyone is okay with everything. Let me know if you have any questions!

One more thing! Dad just called and wanted me to tell everyone to bring some hiking shoes or some shoes you won't care to get dirty. You might want to bring a sleeping bag or blanket too.

Tuacahn Trip

Cathie, me and my Mom, waiting for the show to start at Tuacahn!

Last weekend was one of the funnest weekends I've had this summer. I went on a trip to St. George with my mother-in-law Cathie, and my Mom. (if any of you know either of them, you know why I had so much fun) We left Friday morning, because we had tickets for that night to the play "Cinderella" at Tuacahn. As soon as we got there we started shopping, and never really stopped. No, we did- to eat, sleep and go to our shows :) So after dinner we went to the play which was really really good. My cousin Jenny played Cinderella which made it even more fun.Me, Cinderella and Prince Charming!

The next morning it took us about an hour to decide what we wanted to do for the day (besides shop). So we all finally agreed on hanging out at the pool that morning, then driving to Vegas to have some fun. We got to vegas around 4:00 and spent about 3 hours doing the stupid pictures where your head is on a different body, after the guy spent so much time on us, he was starting to get frustrated because we were only going to buy one picture and he couldn't talk us into more. So he printed out the pictures and we were ready to pay, but he saw new customers and just ignored us- we stood there for about 10 minutes trying to decide what to do and we ended up sneaking away without paying. Come to find out- there is only one way to the parking garage and we had to go by this guy who took those pictures again, who was probably really pissed off after spending that much time on us for nothing. So we tried to sneak by, but he spotted us and all three of us took off running in the opposite direction and hid in a store. It sounds so dumb now, but we really were scared! We asked 3 different people if there was another way to the parking garage, including a security guard who wanted to escort us to it, but they all said there was only that one way. After roaming around for a bit, and finally going outside to see if we could get to it that way- we broke a few more laws jaywalking and probably trespassing, but finally made it to the car. All of this wasted time and trouble just to see what our heads would look like on a couple of nice bods. So, we ended up going to the hotels we, I mean I was a little more familiar with and shopped. Then we headed over to the Belagio where my mom and Cathie played Casino War. That night we . . .ummm, well, let's just say- what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas ; )

So we ended up getting back to St. George around 5:00 in the morning. That was our last night at the hotel so we had to wake up early enough to get ready and check out. So, we got about 4-5 hours of sleep. But then again, you can never be too tired to shop! So, of course we did some more shopping that day. We thought we'd just hit up TJ Maxx, since St. George has the best TJ Maxx ever! Then of course we ended up spending about 3-4 hours there. I'll tell you what, it's dangerous having the 3 most professional shoppers go shopping together, we can never get ourselves to leave! While we were at TJ's we found out Cathie had never been to Ross. If any of you know the Christensen family, you know we spent most of our shopping lives at Ross growing up, all of our school shopping, prom dress shopping, home decor shopping and more was done at Ross Dress for Less! So we headed over to Ross and didn't end up leaving 'til about 4:00 in the afternoon. Out of all 3 of us, I started the trip with the least amount of money, and came home with the most. By most I mean, no debt. You think it'd be me asking my mom for more money- nope, my mom and mother-in-law were the ones asking me to lend them some money, but they promised to pay me back :)

Me, my Mom and Cathie, leaving the last store we shopped at on our trip, Ross! With some of our shopping bags. We did not go into one store where we did not buy something. That's what vacation is all about right? As you can see, we had the time of our lives and can't wait 'til our next Tuacahn Trip which is in October. Hopefully it will be just as successful, but maybe minus the few times we were running late, or got lost or running away from scary guys. But then again . . . that was half the fun!