Yurt Camping

The kids were out of school again last Friday. And our smart friends came up with the best idea ever for our weekend. Matt and Katie invited us and four other families to go up East Canyon (about 45 minutes away) to camp in Yurts. Well, we've never stayed in a yurt before. We were excited for the adventure and even more excited to be with some of our and our kid's best friends (Mellenthins, Toas, Petersons, Youngs, Winns). It all adds up to a perfect weekend. 

We drove up on Friday and as soon as we were unloaded we all headed down to the lake to watch Matt catch trout. 

The kids got bored with that in about 5 minutes and found their own fun - carrying the heaviest rocks they could lift along the dock and throwing them in the lake. Katie, Jen and I stood guard for when one of them was going to go in with the rock they were throwing.

We grilled up dinner and all ate together. Matt even showed up with a little trout to show the kids how to clean it and cook it.

We put all the kids to bed and the adults got to hang out and talk in the Toas yurt. Our night was an absolute miracle. We NEVER sleep well with all of us in one room together. It just has never worked well. This was different. It was really cold outside and so very warm and cozy inside. The dome at the top let us look up at the stars while we laid in bed. Each of the kids had their own beds and everyone slept SO WELL. Amazing. I loved sleeping in that yurt.

Waking up in the morning.

Soon all the friends were awake and came to join us.

Scott and Matt had gone out at the break of dawn to get another fish. Scott got to attempt cleaning and cutting it's guts out so that we could add a few morsels of trout to our big breakfast feast.

Everyone working hard in the "kitchen".

We took all the kids down to the lake again for some more attempts at fishing. It was kind of a joke. They each got to try and lasted only a couple minutes holding the fishing rod before they were bored and back to hefting rocks. The very funniest was when poor Matt was trying to get the line all set up on one fishing pole and five girls managed to entangle themselves in it all at once. Katie and I were untying girls completely raveled up in fishing line.

Sam

This is what kept them entertained for a long time.

Jen and Aaron.

Kate and the princess fishing pole.

My favorite picture. These boys were so excited to play together all weekend. Love them. I hope they are still fishing together when they are sixteen. (Joshua, Zachary, "Little Sam", "Big Sam")

Scott and Zachary making an attempt on the Spider Man fishing pole.

Ava fishing.

We all came back up for lunch and a girls vs. boys game of Kubb.

"Girl Power!" They totally won.

And some baseball.

Then it was finally time for the adults to play Kubb - men against women. Girl power didn't work out so well for us.

We decided to stay one more night because we just loved sleeping in that cozy yurt. We actually planned to stay the night, wake up in the morning, pack up, drive home, bathe everyone and be to church by 9am. Thank heaven for daylight savings time giving us an extra hour. It actually worked. The kids kept snoozing and snoozing until we finally woke them up (told you it was cozy) and we did it. We made it to church on time, bathed and dressed.

And we left just in time. The snow started coming down as we were packing up.

This has to be something we do every year together. It was so fun! Our kids were in heaven. I don't think I even spoke to them other than putting meals out for them. They just ran around outside with all their favorite friends. And we got to hang out with some of our favorite friends. A great get-away.