The Country

We got out of the city this weekend for one last camping trip before summer officially ends. I have come to crave camping. It's the country in me. You can take the Martha out of the country but you can't take the country out of the Martha. I haven't stopped pining for Idaho since I left a few weeks ago. I had visions of moving there. I realized this summer that I need a bit more quiet and solitude in order to feel balanced. Camping so much has made me just want to go more! Crazy how that works.

Here we go....potty break before the ferry comes. This picture was taken approximately 10 minutes after Noah had thrown up in the car. Adam had just parked in the waiting zone and up came Noah's entire Luncheable with absolutely no warning. Turns out he hadn't chewed through the meat slices at all. Adam, on carseat clean up duty, noted whole discs of meat still intact. Nothing a whole ton of wet wipes can't handle. Onto the next outfit! After the potty trip, Noah took to the pretzels and strawberries without missing a beat. Note to mom: No more Luncheables.

 View of Seattle from the ferry, heading over to Bainbridge Island.

 Ahhhhh, harses. This trip was the ward camp out and we all had the great privilege of camping on the family farm of our ward's previous bishop. What a farm it was! And we enjoyed so much getting to know our ward better (it's a fairly new one, boundaries changed last November).

 Quiet, serene, idyllic. So perfect in every way.

 GASP. The barn of my dreams.

 I didn't take enough pictures, but the farm had sheep, llamas, cows, horses, chickens and peacocks. Neighbors were allowed to come pick up fresh eggs from the chickens and leave whatever money they wanted in the hen house. Isn't that an adorable arrangement?

 I need to find some antlers like this for my living room wall.

 There were fun little buildings all over the land, this one was the "cousins' clubhouse" and here are the kids pictured with one of their favorite babysitters. This was such a restful trip for the parents (at least us parents) because there were plenty of playmates for all the kids. They would disappear for hours at a time and we got to chat with other adults! Imagine that. The part that wasn't restful was that both of our air mattresses finally and totally and completely gave out that night. The kids were too passed out to notice, but my hip noticed about half the night through. We've had a good run with those air mattresses, but they couldn't handle just one more trip. It was too much to ask, they were all camped out.

 Rides behind the mower, always a hit.

 Waiting to ride the horses.

 My barn crush again.

 Nobers cheesing it up on the horse named Star.

 Sienna was a pro on the horse named Durango. Durago? Hmmm. Not pictured: Me riding the feisty horse aptly named Stormy. Took me back to my days on my grandpa's farm in Morgan, Utah.

 On the way out of town, we stopped our stinky selves into the uber popular Mora Iced Creamery. It was a perfect day for enjoying ice cream, and also a not perfect day for enjoying ice cream. I feel like I spent half of that occasion managing the melting of my kids' cones. So much melting. But with Swiss chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks and a dulche de leche caramel vein fueling me, I was able to face a bit of madness.

 Oh, hi, Barn Lover. I'm painting the master bedroom this color. It is decided. And those antlers are going in there, too.

I love you, country living!