The Young and the Restless

When two worlds collide

Not too long ago our family went through an identity crisis.  As some of you may recall, we retired as a camping family after our one night stint and welcomed our rebirth as a lake family.  It has served us well, but a part of me has longed to come out of retirement and dabble in camping again.  This is where camping meets the lake and it was a beautiful thing. Ryder's first birthday was the perfect excuse to go on this long awaited family camping trip at the lake and it can be described in one word. Perfect.

I can't think of a better way for a one year old to celebrate his first birthday.  Roaming as free as a wild stallion is a much better alternative to the insanity we subjected Kylie to on her first birthday (a family reunion and ward potluck all rolled into our 1700 sq ft house).

There was a campfire ban which was such a downer, but we made the most of it.  Pretty sure they meant no fires in the grills either, but a camping trip of this magnitude deserved nothing less than hot dogs and smores.

Pinworm wouldn't make for a very good birthday present so baby boy got quarantined after eating way too much dirt.

Heaven would be a warm summer evening at the lake with my family.  Maybe with a hand-spun milk shake from Chic-fil-a too, if possible.

Another pinterest fail.  Glowsticks in bubble solution was a good idea in theory, but when the bubbles didn't glow they ended up just splattering the broken glowsticks on everything around them until it looked like the whole campsite was covered with stars.  I guess it wasn't a complete failure afterall, it looked pretty cool.  That night as I lay in the tent looking at the stars and listening to the crickets chirp and the steady breathing of my babies, I thought to myself...this is perfect.  Then hours later as I lay there still wide awake listening to the skunks, the alleged javalina and George Straight echoing off the canyon walls from the midnight fishers, I thought to myself....this is crap.  I love camping, just not the sleeping outside in a tent part.

Donuts and a lake all to ourselves was definately worth waking up at 5 AM for, as if the sun and the baby left me any choice.  Or Jason for that matter.

A family who wakeboards together, stays together. I got up for the first time in like 10 years, pregnancy and babies will do that to ya. Jayden got up for the first time, Kylie crossed over the wake for the first time and Maddox even got up too.  I'm also starting to get a better hang of this whole boat driving thing. It was an epic day in the Young family history.

I love this.  The nervous look before attempting the wake for the first time...

and the sheer joy of conquering her fear...

Ryder nominated himself to be the flag man and took his job very seriously.  Even after he fell asleep he would wake up screaming if anyone tried to release his grip from the pole.  Funny boy.  This weekend definately goes down as one of THOSE weekends that I'll never forget.  Happy birthday Ryder, thanks for giving us a reason to celebrate and a reason to smile each and every day.