Maple Canyon

I love Maple Canyon. It's one of my favorite places in the world, and probably my very favorite place to camp. (Don't come at me, Summer Range.) David and I have decided to try to go camping here every other year. You have to book camp sites pretty far in advance, so we booked a week, and then when we realized that might conflict with David's schedule we booked a different week. As both weeks approached, it was looking like we weren't going to be able to make either of them work. I was very disappointed, but was managing it decently well. The first reservation passed (we canceled it beforehand) and it was just looking like the second reservation wouldn't work either. The first day was the last opportunity we had to volunteer at the Saratoga Springs Open House, then David was leaving for a work trip, then I had volunteered to help a friend with her daughter (months in advance) and it happened to be on the last day. I had considered trying to get Jenna to come camp with me while David was out of town, but it was just too tight. 

We had let go of the option to go camping, but apparently, I had been holding a tiny 1% hope that somehow I could make it work. I volunteered at the temple open house for the morning shift. David was scheduled for the afternoon & evening shift and I had volunteered to babysit for someone during that time so that they could volunteer, too. When I got home and he was leaving, I said something like "if they cancel on me - I might just go camping anyway, FYI" and he said "Okay". So when they called and canceled 5 minutes later, I shot him a text that said I was taking the kids by myself and we would miss him. 

We threw the camping basics into the car, and stopped at a walmart on the way down to pick up the easiest camping food that there ever was (cup of noodles, marshmallows, oatmeal packets). 

We didn't build a fire and didn't bring our tent. We just folded down all the seats and set up our sleeping bags in the back of the van. It left us with more time to explore our campsite and hang out that evening. 

Bedtime was the most stressful part of the whole thing because Austin got a bloody nose that wouldn't stop, and after about an hour of trying to read aloud and snuggle the kids, I was seriously considering taking him to the emergency room. Thankfully, it finally stopped and we all fell asleep quickly after that. It's the only time that I really really wished that there was another adult with me, because it's hard to know what to do in tricky situations when you're the only one making the decisions. I'm so glad that it wasn't a worse situation. 

The kids slept great and in the morning we went on my favorite Box Canyon hike. We went over and under boulders, played by the waterfall, and enjoyed the morning very much. 

After our hike, we ate lunch then drove in to Ephraim. I had REALLY been wanting to take the kids to the AC pool (The Snow College Activity Center) to go swimming. It's not a particularly special pool, other than it's the one I grew up swimming at each summer and the deep end goes down to 12 feet. The kids loved it as much as I hoped that they would. We stopped to get our traditional sodas at the Malt Shop and headed home. It was super short, but I am SO glad that we went ahead and did it. I hope my kids grow up loving Maple Canyon as much as I do.