Sometimes a trip hits way more obstacles than you had planned for, and just doesn’t turn out how you thought it would. Our Memorial Day camping trip was one of those trips. Nic’s family had planned this big camping trip together up in Northern Utah at Bear Lake, and Nic and I couldn’t have been more excited. We were stoked to go somewhere new and get the chance to take our 4-wheeler out, since we haven’t gotten the chance since we bought it.
So I took the weekend off work and Thursday morning we loaded Libby, the dogs, and our bags into the truck and headed up to Nic’s parents house. We stayed Thursday night at their house and planned on leaving early Friday for Bear Lake so we had plenty of time to set up camp and relax.
On Friday morning I had Libby in my arms walking down the stairs for breakfast, when my sock slipped on the stair and I slid backward down the stairs, Libby still in my arms. Fortunately Libby was completely fine, didn’t even start crying until daddy came rushing up to us to make sure she was okay, but I was pretty dazed from the fall. I started to feel super nauseous and dizzy so while Nic was tending to Libby, I decided to lie down on the landing and catch my breathe. Next thing I knew I was waking up to Nic yelling at me to open my eyes and asking me if I was okay. He said I passed out and that we needed to go to the emergency room. The whole getting to the hospital is a bit of a blur to me because I was so disoriented, but I do remember looking down at my hands and saying how pale and yellow they looked. They checked me in and the doctors took a look at me? My head didn’t hurt anywhere so they didn’t think I had any head trauma (thankfully) but they did do a CAT scan, blood work, and an EKG just to be safe. All came back perfectly fine and doctor diagnosed my loss of consciousness as a vagal reaction to the fall.
We got back to the house, got ready, and loaded into the cars for Bear Lake (significantly later than planned, thank you stairs!) About halfway to Bear Lake Nic’s dad calls saying his trucks engine is rattling and that he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to make it to Bear Lake. So we meet up, and hook up their camp trailer to our truck and follow them the rest of the way, praying the truck will hold out til we get to camp. We finally caught a break and the truck did make it. It was so windy and cold that evening, and everyone was on edge from the stressful day that we didn’t do much but set up camp, eat, and head to bed.
We spend Saturday relaxing at camp and enjoying each other’s company. We got a warning from the rangers about 4-wheelers not being allowed around camp, so that killed our plans of riding a ton on the trip. 😔
Instead we took Libby down to the beach and let her play in the sand for the first time. She loved letting it run through her fingers. I was sad it was too cold to dip her toes in the water. (Next time!) We decided to drive into town (Garden City) for lunch. We ate at this cute wood fire pizza restaurant. The pizza was delicious and Libby successfully nursed under a cover in public for the first time ever! Usually she screams or rips the cover off..lol. When we got back to camp we relaxed and took a nice calm walk with the dogs at sunset. It was so quiet and beautiful. We finished out the night with a campfire and s’mores. Libby fell asleep in my arms and kept me warmer than the fire could have.
The trip may not have been as beautiful and perfect as we had envisioned it. There were probably more things that went wrong than things that went correctly. But I can’t help but be thankful for the absolutely beautiful, happy moments we experienced.. Libby’s ear to ear grin sitting in front of the campfire with Nana and Papa, Nic teaching his nephews how to start a fire with only a knife and a striker, squishing our toes in the warm sand, and having all 5 of us (Nic, Libby, myself, and our 2 pups) squish onto 1 queen air mattress to snuggle all night long. It’s these things that I will think of when I picture our trip, not all the bad things. Just a reminder to choose to remember your happiness, and not to dwell on the negatives.
Photo bomb of our trip:
Mothers Day. Every year before this one, this holiday has always been the one that made me feel the most empty. My mother passed away when I was nine years old, so really I have spend more of my life without her than I did with her. And honestly, I have gotten used to having that empty spot in my life, because it has been that way for so long. It is usually something I don’t notice because it’s normal for me. But mother’s day was the only day every year that the hole was huge and gaping. It’s hard to hide from the fact that you can’t celebrate mother’s day with your mom when everyone around you is celebrating and cards and gifts are everywhere you look.
thepinders 