Flaming Gorge

I can't believe it has taken me so long to add this blog. We went to Flaming Gorge for Labor Day with the Rushforth side of my family. It was our last trip with Eric and our cousin Josh before they leave on their missions this month. Eric to Brazil and Josh to El Salvador. By the way, Eric's visa finally came (better late than never) and he will fly to Brazil on Tuesday.

We had a great time with loads of fun and blessings. Let me start from the beginning. . .

We drove to Green River on Friday afternoon and met up with Travis' dad for lunch. It is always good to see Grandpa Barney, even if he tries to steal his granddaughter and keep her in Wyoming.
By the time we got to Flaming Gorge half of the family was already there. We set up camp. The weather was very nice. Olivia is in love with the outdoors. That night it got dark but not cold, YAY! It always makes me a worried/nervous mother when the weather is super cold. Travis thinks I feel that anything under 70 degrees is super cold (he made me add that). Anyway, we stayed up and visited with everyone. I was talking with Grams when she turned, hit a rock and went down. First off, this is the fire red ant rock so everyone was worried she would get eaten alive. Second, Grams is a great grandma and going down on the hard dirt and rocks isn't the softest of landings. Scared to death with Livy in my arms we gasped. Andrew came running over. With a little prayer in our hearts that nothing was broken he helped her slowly stand up. Definitely shaken and already bruising Grams was moving very gingerly, but NO broken bones. What a BLESSING! The rest of the night was uneventful although the baby woke up several times.
The next morning turned out to be another beautiful day.

Daddy helping baby drink juice, yes that is a sippy cup. She loves adult cups!

We all got into our swimsuits and headed off to go cliff jumping and swimming. Just as we were getting ready to leave Papa had some chest pain. NOT A GOOD THING! What a blessing to have a doctor in the family. Uncle Jeff is always prepared and gave Papa a nitroglycerin pill. Papa sat down and the chest pain eased when he said, "I'm going out." Several of the boys helped him lay down, everyone was anxious and concerned. Much to Papa's chagrin Jeff had put him back on his oxygen by this time. A hard thing to take since he was so excited to be off oxygen for this years camping trip. When you take nitroglycerin it opens your blood vessels and you feel light headed/dizzy. Well, no one wanted to go swimming after that, we all wanted to stay and make sure Papa was okay, but Jeff volunteered to stay with him and the rest of us headed off to enjoy the warm weather and cool water.
The water wasn't just cool it felt COLD, but only for a moment. Olivia loves to take baths and play in the water so we pulled out her "boat" and off she sailed for several minutes.

Aunt Dana and Olivia in the boat.

Livy with Daddy.

Eric, Spencer, Dana, Brian making large mud donut?

Colin, Brian, Papa, Dad, Amy Lou, Emily and Dana

The water was fun. We kayaked and the boys cliff jumped and rock climbed then we headed back to camp. Some of us showered as others went to see fireworks that night over the water. Then we had a glorious night. Mostly because Livy slept all night. I think it helped that we were able to bathe her and keep some of her routine. The next morning we headed off to a great sacrament meeting in Dutch John. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Daddy and baby, check out the shoes!

This is her favorite face, with the tongue.

Last day and it was COLD, all bundled up.

So Monday, Labor Day, we had plans to go swim, kayak, fish and more. Unfortunately, late Sunday night it started to rain. YIKES!! We slept warm, but there was lightning and thunder and lots and lots of rain. I love the rain, but with a baby and camping it isn't my most favorite thing. It also got cold in the morning. Everyone decided to just pack up and head home. Travis and Andrew, who had gotten up to go fishing, started packing up at around 6:AM. Most everyone got off quickly, with not too many problems. The last crews left were the Twitchells and our little Barney family (yeah sometimes having every camping accoutrement known to man is a pain). Jeff and Spencer Twitchell had gone fishing so they were a little late getting packed up. Good thing for us! Travis started our car and we were off. . .or so we thought. The Bive (pronounced beav, our little Pontiac Vibe) wouldn't go into drive. We were stuck in park. We tried several different things, but none of us being mechanically inclined had a clue what to do. After several unsuccessful attempts, my ever so cute cousin Josh, asked if we'd said a prayer. DUH!! He will make a great missionary, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. So, we prayed. Expecting a miracle Travis started the car. With a little faith we figured the car would come out of park and we would be on our way. Unfortunately the car was not cooperating. By this time the Twitchells were ready to leave, but luckily they had two vehicles. Jeff headed for home with their RV while Debbie and Emily took us into the extremely small town of Dutch John so we could try to find a mechanic and gas her car up too. We drive up to the pump and Travis hops out to run inside when the whole town has a power outage. We can't get gas, and the nearest mechanic is in Rock Springs, Wyoming or Vernal, Utah. Not to mention it is a holiday. IS ANYONE EVEN OPEN??

TO BE CONTINUED.........