Gone...Home...and Gone again!

One thing my family is ...is an outdoor family. But, it hasn't been that way since we haven't been camping in a looooong time.

Well, this past weekend this mommy braved the woods. We were so completely excited to head up north for a family only camping trip. Why? This trip was actually the first camping trip as just a family...no friends...just us and our trailer...smack dab in the middle of no where. We loved it.

We camped right outside of Heber, Arizona. Sadly, one of the towns that was affected by the worst fire in Arizona history. This fire burned over 467,000 acres of beautiful county. An absolutely horrible fire.

Although we camped in an area that didn't suffer too much devastation, there were were charred trees surrounding us. When we went on hikes, we could look left and right to easily find sides of trees completely black from the fire. Here was one tree that we actually camped under. There it was, completely bare but surrounded by full trees.

On our way up there, we drove through Payson and my husband had the fabulous idea to start our family get away with a treat for our girls. The best kind of treat in my book...a ice cream cone from McDonalds. He actually ordered two large cones...I told him that I thought that might be a bit much for the girls. Then I giggled when he said, "I was ordering larges for us to endulge a bit before passing back!" And endulge we did...his licks went much faster than mine. Oh, tasty treats!

We filled our trip up there with tons of chat time. The best part was asking the girls what they wanted to do most once we got there. I giggled when they said..."We want to see a bear!" Say what.....A BEAR! This made my husband, their dad, smile BIG!

For those that haven't met my husband...he is a HUGE mountain man! Not meaning size, but if he had it his way he would build our house in the middle of the forest and probably live off the land. AND he'd change his name to Grizzly Adams...carve canoes for fishing rivers/lakes, grow a beard to braid, wear a large cowboy hat and make his boots from the hides of his home grown cattle.... or something like that! Okay, I probably exaggerated but...he is definitely an outdoor man. And an avid hunter...sorry animal activists(ahem, my twin sister). Me, I do love the outdoors, but I love shopping, Starbucks, and everything else that comes with the city life. I know, not exactly the perfect match on the outside but we sooooo click on the inside.

Now, one thing about my husband is he doesn't work too hard to find animals. I swear they come to him. Needless to say, when we were driving to our campspot...my husband and I both see something right on the side of the road. In unison we say, "what's that?" Holy...{bleep}...it's a bear. We both were giggling while quickly telling the girls to look at the bear, just as the bear sloooooowly started walking across the road right in front of us. I grabbed my camera to take a picture...now me, I love the outdoors and love wild animals, but do prefer then from the view of my front seat. So I handed my camera to my husband and off he went. Only problem, I sent him with my camera in M mode with my 35mm lens. NOT exactly the best for someone who isn't familiar with a fixed lens OR shooting manual. But he did pretty good. Here is the most in focus picture of the bear and it's pretty good. What was scary was my husband even said the bear wasn't freaked out by us.

So, yep...my girls got their wish ! They saw a bear. Soon they started saying they wanted to see an elk...ha, then we saw wild turkeys two different times and two very nice bucks. Ahhhhh, living the life as children of a moutain man.

Now, onto my cute camping kids. Nothing too grand, but my baby Easton with his two new chompers. When he wasn't hanging on a lap, he had fun playing in his pack-n-play.
Okay...now the light in the forest is just B-E-A-Utiful! Ahhhh, I loved every second of it.

The other bonus to our camping trip was my husband's parents joining us for a night. My girls love them to pieces and especially love their papa since he brings them chocolate. AND, I let my girls enjoy finger licking good Snicker's bars. Camping and chocolate go hand and hand!

Another reason for our camping trip was my husband needed to sight in his bow. He was drew an amazing elk tag for the beginning of September in a unit that only gives our 150 archery tags.

Here are a few shots he took at 50 yards...yep, he pretty much nailed it.

..................................................Now, I'm popping in for a quick update.
For the next two days, I will be getting filled with nothing but photography. I will be attending a workshop for the next two days. The first day....the hours are 9 am -7 pm...and could potentially go longer. Tuesday...9-5ish! This is where I'll be glassy eyed and have the glazed over look but will be hanging on every word, trying new things on my camera, brushing up on the latest and greatest to add to my sessions and nonstop photography talk. I. CAN'T. WAIT!So, I will be totally M.I.A. in not only blogland but emailland!
LASTLY, wow....wow is all I can write! I opened up my fall calendar and mini sessions last week. One mini session date is filled and two sessions dates have 1 spot left. AND, my fall calendar is just about booked....by my clients and new clients that moved FAST. I do have plans on releasing mini session dates on my blog on Thursday. But for now, if you want a mini session date...email me to see what's left AND...if you want a regular session...let's chat soon!
Until then...TA TA!