Making Memories: Colson's First Camping Trip

So some people may say I'm crazy for taking my little 3-week-old baby on a 3 day camping trip but we had so much fun. Every other year my mom's family gets together and does a fishing trip. We have gone places like Flaming Gorge and Strawberry Reservoir but one of our favorite spots to go is Fish Lake and that's where we ended up this year. Before Colson was born, we were debating whether or not we'd be able to go on the trip. At that point we didn't know if Ben could get work off or even when Colson was coming so we weren't sure how old he would even be. When he showed up on July 18, I knew there was a chance we could make the trip work. My aunts have brought little babies Colson's age on the trip before and I knew I would have plenty of family around willing to help out if I needed it. So we made the plans to head down. I really didn't want to miss the trip this year. I love camping, fishing, and spending time with my family so I didn't want to wait another 2 years for this trip. (I know I would see my family before then, but it's still a really fun tradition.) Anyway, we headed down to meet up with my family on Thursday and stayed until Saturday. Colson did awesome! I think a few of my cousins might have made more noise at night than he did. But that's okay. We have learned that Colson travels really well, at least for now. We get him in his car seat and he will basically sleep the entire ride. We stopped at my aunt Jill's in Payson on the way down to say hello and to feed him since it was a long drive. It was fun to visit with her. Then we made it down to the lake. My grandpa and uncle both have boats so we can get a lot of people out on the lake at once. Before Ben and I were married, he had never caught a fish. But on our last fishing trip with my family, we made sure to change that. Now he really enjoys fishing so he went out on the boats a lot to try to get something. I only went out once and didn't get so much as a nibble, but I enjoyed staying around the campground with my family and keeping my eye on Colson. It was cold down there so we made sure to keep him nice and bundled up. We had fun playing games with the kids, going on a scavenger hunt, and hanging out with our family. Ben's parents and younger siblings made the drive up to the campground on Friday to meet Colson. It is a much closer drive than trying to come all the way to Logan so it was really good to see them. They stayed for dinner and hung out with my family for a little while. They also went out on the boats for a drive. Ben even learned how to drive the boat a little bit. At night, Colson and I were lucky enough to sleep in my parents' nice new trailer. We kicked Ben, Josh, and Braden out into a tent. Sorry guys. But it helped keep Colson nice and warm. I think he was probably the warmest of all of us. The last morning, Ben ended up catching 4 fish. He didn't keep any of them thank goodness, but he was happy to have got them to the boat. Allie had been trying all week to get one. She had had 6 fish on her line but they all got away before they reached the boat. She finally ended up catching 9 fish that last morning! She beat us all. This is why we like Fish Lake. You usually end up doing really well catching fish at some point on the trip. I think everyone was satisfied with how they did. Overall we had a great time. We don't even mind the afternoon rainstorms that seem to happen quite frequently down there. (When pretty much everyone has a trailer of some sort to retreat to, it's not bad at all. On Saturday we packed up and headed to my parents house to celebrate my birthday and make it not such a long trip in one day. We spent the night with them and enjoyed cake, ice cream, and more fun with family. I love being around my family. The older I get and more I learn in life, the more important family becomes to me. I'm looking forward to many more great camping trips and fun memories with them.