Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!

This past weekend was rather exciting! We went camping up Santaquin Canyon with my family, which is always fun. Well, as fun as camping can be. I will be posting lots of pictures later, but I thought I would at least give an overview of our weekend and post about our fun experience with a bear.

We arrived Friday night, and had just enough time to make up our beds (Thank you to Dad and Lacey and everyone else for putting up the tent for us before we got there!) and have some dinner before putting the baby to sleep. She did seem very, very confused about why we were in the wilderness and not home in our comfy beds, and since I wasn’t really sure either, I couldn’t blame her for having a hard time going to sleep. Saturday was full of lots of matches of bocce ball. It’s always interesting to play bocce on rough terrain; it adds some unpredictability and excitement to the game. I believe that my grandma is the reigning champion, with my mom a close second place. We also played lots of Shadows Over Camelot. During the hottest part of the day, the kids went down to play in the creek to cool down. And wow that water was cold! The water was so cold that CG and Uncle Ryan decided to have a contest to see who could sit in the water up to their chest the longest. Ryan has an extra 100 pounds to keep him warm, but CG still kicked his butt through pure stubbornness! They spent about 30 minutes sitting in the water, and CG did not even complain once. The same can not be said of Ryan. That evening was very nice because after I put Sweetheart to sleep, Marquis and I were able to go on our first motorcycle ride together in over a year. We weren’t able to when I was pregnant, and then we didn’t have anyone to watch the baby while we went. There is nothing better than the cold wind in my face while on a sunset drive down a winding canyon road with my arms around my sweetheart. It was a wonderful ride!

Not long after dinner Saturday night, the campground manager came to tell us that a bear had just wandered through the campground about ½ mile down the road. We have always camped in bear country, and know to put all our food in our cars overnight with no food or drinks in our tents, but we made sure to be extra careful that it was all picked up anyway. I went to bed not long after that, I was nervous about leaving Sweetheart in the tent alone with a bear wandering around. After Marquis and CG finished their game, they came to bed and before long we were asleep. We were woken up by Greg, my sister’s husband, around 12:30-1 am, when he came to tell us that there had been a bear sniffing and growling around their tent!!!! AAAaaaahhhh!!! How scary! They had been sleeping peacefully when they heard it. They lay there as quietly as they could until they were sure it was gone, and then ran for the cars so fast that they left Kat’s shoes behind. After getting to the car they decided to wake the rest of us up so that we knew what was going on. My poor, sweet sis was so freaked out that she stayed in the car, but her hubby was brave and woke the rest of us up. All the men went to check stuff out, and I’m sure all the flashlights and talking scared the bear away if it was still anywhere around. I, meanwhile, stayed in my bed listening to the girls breathe, and jumping at every sound outside. I was so scared! I just knew that a bear was going to come ripping through the tent at any second. I was going through scenarios in my head of how I would get the girls away if it did get in somehow. The camp manager came to check stuff out and said that the bear was probably just passing through and was long gone, and that we should be safe to spend the night. I still can’t believe that we stayed, but we did. Greg and Kathy left and slept at my parent’s house that night. The really bad part was that as soon as everyone went back to their tents and got settled down, that’s when I suddenly had to use the bathroom! I figured I would just ignore it until morning, there was no way I was leaving the tent, but before long it became impossible to ignore. I couldn’t go out there and walk to the bathroom alone, but I also didn’t want to take Marquis with me because then the girls would be all alone. So instead I snuck quietly through the night to our car, and drove to the bathroom! I was so scared the whole time, but it had to be done. I at least felt safe in the car. Thankfully morning came soon and we could pack up and go home without anyone being eaten by a bear. Greg and Kathy were even brave enough to come back that morning for breakfast and some more bocce before we packed up camp. I don’t know if we’ll be camping again next summer, at least not in bear country!