Peek Into My Life As A Sports Mom

Archive for the ‘Fun stuff’ Category

During our camping trip last weekend we were driving around on the mountain looking at the properties up there and the different camping spots when we discovered something unusual. We stopped on the side of the road to check cell phone messages when we heard our oldest son Chris say, “look over there”. So we looked over at the huge hill of dirt and on the top of that hill was something we wouldn’t have thought we’d ever see.

We saw a deer standing at the top of that dirt hill. He was looking around at what he could see. The next thing we know he starts digging in the dirt and then lays down. Once he laid down you could hardly see him because he blended in so well. The way the hole was you could only the horns on his head.

Later in the day we drove by again and he was still there. He stood up again, dug a little in the hole and laid down again. What a way of life. LOL

We had a number of visitors to our camp site over the weekend. Some were people and some were friendly animals. We had quite a few birds, squirrels, and deer that stopped by at one time or another. It was nice to see them stop by to see what we were doing.

The sounds mother nature gave to each of her animals is beyond me, but they are so peaceful and beautiful at the same time. I truly enjoyed listening to them and trying to figure out what animal was making that sound. The one that amazed me the most was the sound a squirrel would make. I would never have thought it would have made the sound it made. LOL

One of the most beautiful animals that stopped by would have to be the deer in this picture. He stopped to pose for Chris just so he could take the picture. It turned out perfectly and Chris did an outstanding job with it. Thanks for taking it Chris.

Today is a special day in our household. 18 years ago today I married my best friend and a wonderful man. It was the most beautiful day and a funny one too boot. LOL

We planned our wedding for 12 1/2 months and for the majority of that time we talked about an outdoor wedding. You see, my mom kept harping on us about an outdoor wedding. She kept saying it’s Wyoming and the weather is very unpredictible. One minute it can be gorgeous and the next minute the wind will come up and it’s raining. For seven or eight months she did this and finally we gave up and reserved a church.

Now the funny part of that story is what happened with the weather that day. Our wedding was to start at 2 pm, but I wasn’t ready yet so is didn’t start until around 2:15 pm. We weren’t even 10 minutes into it and we hear this loud boom and the lights flickered. So of course you know what that meant. LOL It poured outside. So needless to say, we were thankful we listened go my mom and reserved the church.

I have many other memories of our wedding even though I don’t remember the ceremony itself, which I’m sure is pretty typical. At the time, my dad was the fire dept mechanic and so he asked the fireman to come in their truck and take us from the church to the Eagles Lodge where we had the reception. They went through the city with their lights on while Kevin and I were in the passenger seat.

I also remember my little ring bearer. He was around six at the time. He did good walking up the isle, but once he got there it wasn’t so good. He wanted to lay on the floor and at one point he even took his shoes off and kicked them up in the air. He did all of this while the ceremony was going on. All I can say is I’m glad I didn’t see it going on. LOL

Even though we had a few minor problems, our wedding was beautiful and it was the perfect start to our wonderful life together. 18 years later we have two wonderful boys, a beautiful home, a camp trailer, an awesome truck, and a bunch of other stuff as well. I couldn’t have asked for a better life and it’s all because of the wonderful man I married 18 years ago today. Happy Anniversary Kevey! I love you bunches.

A camping trip can be so fun and exciting, but if you forget something it can be a bad thing, especially if you forget something that is vital for the trip such as medicine, a pan to cook in, or food. Depending on what is forgotten you may have to make a trip to the store or worse back home. Being prepared is a better thing as it gives you more time camping and less time worrying about things. Here are some suggestions that might help you to remember everything you need.

1. To-do List

The best thing to do when you decide to go camping is to create a to-do list. You’ll want to create it early so you can add things as you remember them. A to-do list will be your best friend when it comes to the preparation of your camping trip.

When you create your to-do list it will help you to remember everything you need to do and bring for your trip. Included in this list should be the food you’ll want to bring, the sleeping items like blankets, pillows, tent, etc that you’ll need, personal items like medicine, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, and soap, and you’ll need to bring propane or gasoline.

2. Purchase ahead of time

Waiting until the last minute to do your grocery shopping and make your other purchases will only cause problems in the long run. You’ll be pressed for time and you could potentially forget something. This could cause you to have to make a change in your meals or something else or you’ll have to go back and possibly cause you to pay more if you go to a closer store with higher prices. Making your purchases several days ahead of time will prevent this from happening because you’ll have more time to shop and if you do forget something you can go back again.

3. Pack early

When you pack early you have time to think about what you’ll need and to make sure you don’t forget anything. It will also give you time to prepare your camp trailer or the area where you have your camping gear. This will help you to remember the important things you’ll need to bring like batteries, dish soap, toilet paper, and many other things you always need while you’re gone.

Camping is a lot of fun, but it can be frustrating or be cause for a short trip when you forget things you need to make your trip successful. When you use these three tips you’ll have a better chance of forgetting things and that will make for a better trip.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has a teenager and a tween. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you click here to read her mommy blog.

We went camping at the lake this last weekend and I’ll tell you, we had a blast. It was nice weather and we had a great time with the boys and Kevin’s brother’s family.

We went out Friday night and came back on Sunday. The majority of the time was spent talking and fishing. On Sunday we spent most of the day on a boat and needless to say it was a lot of fun. We spent the morning fishing and then the afternoon we went to the canyon and around the water looking around and enjoying the water.

Fishing this time was a lot better then it was when we went over Father’s Day. Chris caught three fish, Josh caught two fish, Kevin caught two fish, and I caught one fish. Here is the information on each of them.

Chris

13 ounces and 1 foot
8 ounces and 11 inches
1 pound and 13 inches

Josh

1 pound 4 ounces and 14 ½ inches
13 ounces and 13 inches

Kevin

1 pound 6 ounces and 16 ½ inches
1 pound 5 ounces and 15 inches

Corrie

1 pound 4 ounces and 14 ½ inches

Needless to say the fish we caught this time were pretty good in size. Several of them put up a huge fight and that was wonderful. We had a great time bringing them in and the smiles were wonderful.

This weekend we’re going to the mountain for some relaxing time. It will be nice to be in the cooler air and not spend the time watching a fishing pole. LOL

After spending a weekend away from home coming back to reality is hard to do. I think the reason reality is so hard to deal with is because you left it behind when you left. You didn’t think about your work or your bills or anything else like that. Probably the hardest thing you had to think about was what you were going to cook for dinner or when you would allow the kids to play in the water.

Reality is what it is and while it’s hard to come back to, it’s a must. We have to do it at some point whether we want to or not so you might as well deal with it and come back with a relaxed frame of mind.

If it was hard for you to come back to, then you need to consider getting out more so you have more of those reality free days off and away. No matter how busy you are, if you plan properly and ahead of time you can make reality free days happen more often then not. Even if you did it two or three times a month it will be worth it in the long run.

As you know we purchased a camp trailer over the 4th of July weekend. We decided to take it out for the first time and as you read this we’ll be lounging around the lake enjoying it and have a relaxing time.

I look forward to returning on Sunday evening refreshed and relaxed. It will be nice and if it works the way we want, we’ll have a lot more of these fun weekends. It doesn’t matter if we fish all day or just sit in the chair and look out into the water, it will be fun.

We all work too hard and spend our days doing things for other people. Spending the weekend doing what you want is what we need to prevent stress and to have that relaxation and that’s what we plan to do this weekend.

Yesterday we bought a camp trailer and we’re so excited about it. We’ve wanted one for a number of years, but our finances were not at a point where we could afford the payments. We’re in a different situation now and things are much better and we can afford the payments.

I’m so excited about it. This trailer is awesome and it’s exactly what we’ve been looking for. It has central air and heat. It has bunk beds in it so the boys can have their own bed to sleep in. Another awesome thing about it is the bunk beds allow us to not use the table or sofa for the beds. This means we can use the table no matter who is sleeping. There is a curtain and a shade that separates the bedrooms so anyone that is sleeping will not be distracted by someone sitting at the table or sofa. It’s just perfect.

Here are some pictures of it so you can see how awesome this trailer is and how much fun we’re going to have going to the lake or mountain.

This is the master bedroom. There are night stands on each side, storage above, and storage under the bed. There is also a sliding door that goes right in front of the bed for added privacy.

This is the sofa. It’s on the slide out so it gives added room between that and the table on the other side.

This is the table opposite of the sofa. There is storage above it along with a radio and area for a TV. The table folds out into a bed but unless we have more people stay with us, we don’t plan to use this as a bed.

This is the kitchen area. We have a stove, oven, microwave, and double sink. The storage is really good in this area. There are cupboards to the left that are not visible but they’re perfect for utensils, seasons, and other items.

This is the refrigerator, freezer, and bunk beds. The refrigerator and freezer run off of both electric and propane so that’s awesome.

This is the bathroom. It’s kind of hard to take pictures of this, but there is a toilet, sink, medicine cabinet, bath, and shower. It’s awesome!

My boys have gone fishing several times since they were little, but never have caught anything, but that all changed over the Father’s Day weekend. You see Kevin took Thursday off and took the boys to the lake really early in the morning. They fished from 5:30 am until about 11 am with no avail. They decided to go out again on Friday morning and started around 5 am with still no fish to be had.

We had decided if they could find a good spot we’d stay the weekend and that’s exactly what we did. They found the perfect spot so we were there for the weekend. They fished on and off on Friday afternoon, then again on Saturday morning and part of the afternoon again. Still there were no fish for them to catch. At this point they were pretty sure there was on three fish in the lake. LOL

Saturday evening rolled around and things were about to change and it was definitely for the better. We were told the best time to fish was in the late night hours, so we decided to give it a try. Shortly before midnight this is what happened.

Shortly after midnight, this is what happened.

So as you can see it all paid off and the boys were able to get their fish. Here are the details.

Chris named his fish Richard. He weighed in at 16 oz and he was 1 foot, 6 inches.

Josh named his fish Billy Bob. He weighed in at 14 ½ oz and he was 1 foot, 2 inches.

The boys were so happy that they were able to catch the fish. They followed the entire process to the end and were happy to do it.

I’ll tell you what, Kevin and I are so proud of our boys. They wanted to catch a fish so bad and it was awesome to watch it happen.

Here are some more pictures of our Father’s Day weekend camping adventure.

This is a picture of Kevin and the boys fishing on Friday evening.

This is Chris fishing on Friday morning.

This is Josh fishing on Friday morning.

This is a view from our tent on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday was the first full day in Vegas and it was full of wonderful things to see and do. We didn’t get up too early but early enough. LOL

The first thing we did was get on the bus and we took it down towards the end of the strip where we got off and walked approximately six blocks to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, otherwise known as Pawn Stars. We went there hoping to see the stars of the show; Old Man, Rick, Big Haws, and Chumlee. Unfortunately they only work during the week so we were not able to see and meet them.

It was an awesome feeling being in a store that is famous and on TV. We each purchased a shirt from the show and we took pictures of some things we saw in the shop that have been on the show. Those pictures are at the bottom of this post.

After our visit to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop we took the bus back down the strip and started walking again. We saw Treasure Island, the Blue Man Group statues, and we went into the Venetian. In the Venetian we saw a live statue and we had Italian icecream (Gelato). We made several stops in shops along the way.

To end our afternoon we did a CSI experience. Needless to say that was awesome. We chose crime scene number one which took place in a living room. We saw a sofa, an entertainment stand, a coffee table, and a car that had driven through the house. We went through different stations trying to decide who killed the man in the car. It was a fun and educational experience and it’s one I’m VERY glad we did.

Our evening ended at the Rain Forest Café’ and it was the best food. The boys have never been there so the entire experience was wonderful and one we thoroughly enjoyed. We walked around a little more and then went back to the hotel. The boys road the roller coaster in Circus Circus and we walked around the AdventureDome a little more.

Saturday was a very good day and one we really enjoyed. It was nice to see all the things Vegas has to offer and see the looks the boys had with the different things we saw. Here are more pictures for you to enjoy.