"Oh say can you seeeeeeee"

Gotta love 4th of July weekend. Im just glad that Aaron had a day off work!! Seems like even if there is a public holiday here - only certain people get it off work, like bankers etc. So lame!! So I was excited that Aaron finally got a public holiday. Australia has so many more days off haha so think yourselves lucky!! Anyways - Aaron ended up taking an extra day off work so we could add an extra night to our camping trip. Every year, Aarons extended family all go up to some land they all own up in the Greenhorn Mountain (the mountains right there in Rye). Its so pretty and we're really lucky that they all own some land there. Aaron and I drove up Wednesday after Aaron finished work. Lucky it doesnt get dark until about 9pm...gave us plenty of daylight to drive up the top of the mountain and set up our little camp. The rest of Aarons family werent getting up there until Thursday night or Friday afternoon, but we figured if we were going to the hassel of setting up tents/blow-up beds and campfires and taking all the food, we might as well go for 3 nights. So we made it up the mountain and set up our tent RIGHT before it started to rain. The wood was all wet and Aaron spent A LONG time to start a fire....he actually got one started - which was amazing....though...I just made turkey, lettuce and cheese sandwiches for dinner because we figured it would be near impossible to actually cook something on the fire. We went to bed pretty early...because it was dark and raining a tonn and no one else was at camp yet. Aaron and I were more prepared this year then last.....we had a blow-up bed, a sheet on it, with a warm blanket on that...then we had 2 blankets and a really awesome sleeping bag that Aaron bought last year...so we kept warm!!

Our breakfast mmmmmmm

The next morning was nice - the sun was out and it was perfect. For breakfast, Aaron and I had yoghurt and dipped cinnamon graham crackers in milk..mmmmm. We then left to go fishing in Blue Lakes up in the mountain. The Department of Wildlife I guess "stock" it every year with fish. In the winter, the fish all die, so in the summer - alot of people fish for them and I've always heard it was good fishing. It was AWESOME - there was not a soul there...(because it was the day before the public holiday) and we were seriously pulling in rainbow trout every other cast. I caught 7 and Aaron caught 5...the limit was 4 each, so we just kept 8. Aaron gutted the fish at the lake ready for us to cook them for lunch when we got back to camp! Back at camp...we met up with Jeri who just came up for a couple of hours because she had to work ALL of 4th of July weeknd. Aaron got another fire started and it started to rain again - lucky we had a tarp and some rope - and we were able to tie up a tarp in the trees about the fire so we could cook some lunch. Haha - always wanted to be on survivor...well this was close enough for now. I cut up some lemon and crushed some garlic and put it in the fish along with onion salt, salt, pepper and butter. Then wrapped the fish up in aluminium foil and put them in the coals of the fire. Then I cut up potatoe and onion and added some pepper and salt and onion salt and herbs and put them in the fire in aluminium foil too. When it was cooked we all had some - it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!! I was relieved that the rainbow trout was good (because pike..the last fish we cooked that Aaron caught was the nastiest tasting fish I had ever had). The seasonings helped Im sure. After lunch it was still raining and hailing...and it looked pretty set-in....so Jeri went home and Aaron had a nap and I layed and read a book that I bought in Fiji on my way over here. Later in the afternoon, nobody had showed up yet...and it was still raining...so we decided to drive down the mountain and go and get some more ice for the esky and take a quick shower at Jeris house (cheaters haha). On the way down...we passed Aarons cousin and her husband and children and then Aarons Uncle...so we were glad some others were going to be up there. That night, we drove back up the mountain to camp.

"Blue Lakes" (although Aaron and I think its more "Green Pond")

Camp Fire with our genius tarp idea

Aaron gutting/cleaning the fish

all clean :)

perfectly cooked!!

the fish fell right off the bones

Friday morning rained a tiny bit, but pretty soon cleared up. Aaron and I shot some clay pidgeons....it was the first time I actually shot a moving target. There is a machine that when you pull the rope, it shoots the clay pidgeons (just like clay disks) into the air - well I actually ended up shooting 2...so I was happy - its not that easy!! It was also just good to hang out and get to know Aarons cousins more. The rest of Aarons family started showing up and there ended up being a tonn of us. We stayed up talking around the fire and making "smores"....though I just roasted marshmellows because...you know how much I love HERSHEYS ... blahahhhh!!!

So there is a huge barn in the background and outhouse, and there were alot more tents to the right of the photo, and then to the left

Saturday morning Aarons home ward in Rye has a "Pancake Breakfast" every 4th of July...so he wanted me to "experience" that. So we drove down the mountain and went to that and then we went and had another shower...then went back up the mountain and tried fishing again. This time we didnt get a single bite..and there were alot of people camping around the lake, and some stupid kids throwing huge rocks in the water .... so there is no way the fish are going to be there biting. We went back to camp and decided to start packing up because it looked like rain agian. Billy and Nicole and their family were having Deer Stew for lunch, and invited us to eat with them...so we did since all our stuff was packed up. It tasted SO GOOD...just tasted like beef, so that was a relief to me haha. We hung out for a little longer...and then said goodbye to everyone and went back down the hill. Aarons really good friends (practically family) were having a huge 4th July party, so we went to their house, and then after, we went to Sarah and T.J.'s house and they all let off a tonn of fireworks.

Sarah and T.J have a 4 Wheeler...so Aaron got a bit of a drive

(Sarah and one of her twins on the back)

Then we went back to Jeris and stayed the night there. Sunday was church.....and late Sunday, Steff and Cody and the kids came and stayed at Jeris house the night too. They are in the middle of moving - so stay at Jeris house or a friends house in Pueblo while they look for a house in Denver. Steff is going to pharmacy school up in Denver...its so expensive up there...and she doesnt start school until August I think...so they are living in between places for now. So they came over and Jeri had to work, but we all watched Bugs Life with the kids. Monday morning Aaron and I left early so Aaron could get back to work. So that was our long long weekend camping and stuff. It really was alot of fun - I love camping!!!!