Making Memories is easy...it just takes time. 6th Annual Campout

For the past five years we have been having all our nieces and nephews over for our annual camp out. It started the summer we got married, and we just had our 5th Anniversary a few weeks ago. Needless to say, it's a blast!! We are so into this camp out thing, that even when we were looking for homes, Jake would say, "I don't think this yard would work for the camp out." I was like, "honey, the camp out is ONCE a year, we can MAKE it work!" He tends to be a bit more compassionate then I am!


Speaking of compassion, he spent many late nights working to finish the fence before the camp out. It runs along our property line separating us from the busy road! It was paramount that we got this finished before all these children came over.

Some of the fun included a GIANT movie screen, this year it was bigger and better then ever, it was literally the size of our house! Jake rigged a screen and hung it from our bedroom window on the second floor...our very own drive-in! We watched "Cars", "Thomas the Tank Engine" and of course, our yearly tradition, "The Parent Trap~~the OLD version, (and the best version I might add).
We ate so much candy, it hurt! And then to top it off, we made smores by the campfire!Jake set up the hot tub in time for the kids to take a dip, (we're still in the midst of getting everything up and running at our new home). We had five air mattresses on a tarp and we all slept out under the moon and stars, falling asleep to the sound of crickets and Mr. Owl. It was the cutest thing, when they all woke up at the crack of dawn, (not the cute part), they were talking about how it must have rained while they were sleeping. I explained to them that it was dew. So, maybe they even learned a thing or two!

"Time is the most valuable gift we can give our kids~~~or anyone. Money and things are soon gone. But memories and feelings of love can last a lifetime. Care about kids enough to spend time with them." Glen C. Griffin