Adventures in my driveway: extended family

Family Home Evening with a toddler is always a bit of a challenge (one that I'm not really expecting to get any easier with teenagers, but).....

To start with, Little Man has a fairly short attention span on things he isn't directing. This is where all that mission training on how to teach one gospel topic in a clear CONCISE manner really comes in handy.

Then, Little Man has a very long attention span on something he is directing. (Can you say "WHY?")

But perhaps one of the most challenging aspects is that no matter where we do FHE or how clean the room is, there always seems to be something to distract his attention from the lesson. Even if that something isn't in the room, or house, or isn't a something, but a some-event or some-conversation, or some random thought that happened to cross his mind because of what we said.

And as parents, we must learn to work around those distractions or do our best to use them to our advantage.

One recent "use it to our advantage" occurred in our family not too long ago.

Because of our driveway, Jake and I have been planning on buying a 4-wheeler since we made an offer on the house. We are SO GRATEFUL to our wonderful family and neighbors who have come to our rescue and plowed us out each snow storm, but we still feel it is best for us to be as self-sufficient as possible. So we recently purchased our "snow plow."

And Little Man loves going on rides with Daddy.

Well, not too long ago, Daddy took Little Man out for a ride so I could get the FHE lesson ready. Only when they got home, Little Man did NOT want to get off the 4-wheeler. So instead of making Little Man come to FHE, we took FHE to him!

All 4 of us sat on the 4-wheeler and had our (3 minute) FHE lesson. And since Little Man was where he wanted to be, he was happy and attentive. He probably paid better attention that time than he has in any other lesson. Who knows, maybe we will have to fulfill Little Man's multiple requests since then to have FHE on the 4-wheeler :)

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go.....

Or more accurately, Over the river and into the woods to the middle of no-where we go....

This past weekend was the annual Hathaway family Joe's Valley Camp Out. This event is much anticipated by Jake, and semi-dreaded by me. You see, the Hathaway's grew up camping in a much different fashion than I did.

As a little girl, I camped in a trailer house where we could avoid rain, always had warm beds, often cooked in the trailer, and frequently Mom would bring a portable toilet...(Thanks Mom since I have now realized how disgusting cleaning that thing out actually is!)

When I was a little older, my grandpa built a boughrey (pavilion) at "The Pond" and for the past 10 or so years, the majority of my camping trips have been to "The Pond" where we have a boughrey to protect us from sun and rain, a kitchen (which consists of several camp chef stoves, counter tops, microwaves, and even an oven), running water, and flushing toilets. All of this gets surrounded by camp trailers, some of which could be considered portable houses, with nearly all of those same conveniences--In fact, one of my aunts did live in her trailer for several WINTER months when her husband took a new job in a different state.

Some people, including Jake, do not consider this "camping".

Jake grew up camping in tents--risking rain,freezing temperatures, and creepy crawlies to sleep under the stars. Much of their cooking was done over the fire. They would drive hundreds (okay dozens) of miles to escape any semblance of civilization and get back to nature. Hiking is one of their favorite pass times....regardless of the terrain. In fact, they have renamed one of the mountains near their campsite "7 year mountain" because it took them 7 years of hiking it to find a route to the top.

Needless to say, their favorite campsite doesn't have any of the "modern" camping conveniences like easy-to-cook-over fire pits, running water, or civilized bathrooms. You have only what you bring and what you find in nature.

That kind of camping is all well and good--if you like that kind of thing. But in my mind that is definitely"roughing it" even in a good year. But this year I have a still-in-diapers toddler who loves to play in the water and their favorite campsite is right next to a river. And to top it all off, I happen to be 6 months pregnant, and the thought of frequent (especially middle of the night) nature walks to take care of business just did not sound like fun.

But Jake loves it, and I love Jake....so I went.

And like most things I don't want to do, the anxiety about it was much worse than the actual event.

One reason for this is that Joe's Valley really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Even though we went in August, everything looked so green. The campsite is surrounded by mountains, the river provides a soothing background noise, and the view of the near by canyon is incredible.

Additionally, Jake does everything he can to make my stay there comfortable. We took an inflatable mattress and plenty of blankets to make the night cozy. Though we did have to cook over the fire because we haven't acquired camping stoves yet, Jake did pretty much all of the cooking---and dish washing!! We brought a canopy to protect the "kitchen" and provide shade or protection from rain if need be. And we brought lots of treats to snack on.

But perhaps the best part of being up there is the escape from everyday life and its distractions/responsibilities. At home, there are always a hundred things that "need" to be done (dishes, laundry, cleaning, working, checking Facebook, shopping, calling so-and-so, etc.) But up there, many of those things simply can not be done, so there is no need to think about them. It was also a good opportunity to watch my Little Man enjoying some of life's simple pleasures....and be reminded to enjoy some of them myself. His favorite activity of the trip was to throw rocks into the river. It seemed no matter how long he had done it, it was still fun to him. He and his cousins turned a rocky shore into a sandy beach in the 2 days we were there. Little Man also enjoyed climbing a few small hills and a giant rock, sliding down a dirt formation, playing in a semi-natural tree hut, and going with Daddy "'Cross the river" to explore the woods on the other side.

So though I may not fully enjoy "roughing it," I am grateful for the opportunity to escape. Even though I woke up to spiders in my bed both mornings.