Horseback Riding, Fishing and Campfires

A fun activity that the family got to do this year was horseback riding near Herriman State Park. Jake and I went together my first year at the cabin when we were dating (and he was wooing me), and I remember it was such a pretty, relaxing trail through the woods and past a lake. I was nervous on my horse...for some reason my confidence has wained over the years, and I always feel unsure of myself on a horse now. In spite of that, my dream is still to have a chocolate brown horse and name her Kamiya. :)

Anyways, I knew I'd be sitting this activity out, and my mom stayed behind and helped watch the 4 kids that didn't ride. We went to watch them and wait out the hour ride. I'm glad we were there to see everyone on their horses...Jake enjoyed it and looked like a pro!

The girls entertained themselves by socializing with these little baby goats that were just chillin in the woods.

Cam was wary of getting too close at first, but she got courage and pet them after awhile.

When the gang came back from their ride, one of the guides asked if Cami wanted to sit on a horse and take a stroll around the pen. Yes please! She was excited, and was all smiles up on that horse!

Another new activity this year was fishing. All the guys went and bought a day license and headed to the Coffeepots Campground along the river. Jake loves fishing, but I think this is the first time he's done it since I've known him. He grew up going fishing with his dad, and was taught well. He knew what he was doing out there in his waders, and caught 2 fish in the beginning.

It was such a beautiful area, and perfect weather...if only they'd caught more fish! Those 2 were the only catches of the day, and he threw one back. But it seems that everyone enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

We went for a little while just to take lunch to the fishermen and to take some pictures of the action. Dad was a great help with showing Bryan and Matt how to use their fishing poles and keeping them out of the deep water. Cami loved watching Grandpa.

And she was fascinated with the worms dangling on the hooks. The boys sure loved that part!

Mmmm a nice Oreo snack.

There he is, my little fisherman, bringing me his fish to take home and keep fresh. I'll be honest, I'm a wuss and would have rather just thrown it back then lug it home in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge. But I'm glad he was the one to gut it and clean it and whatever else he had to do to cook it for dinner.

And one of my favorite parts of the cabin is always the campfires! There's a nice big firepit with comfy benches that my Dad created, and we cooked 2 dinners over the fire this time. Here we are gettin ready to roast hot dogs on Saturday night after horseback riding.

Nathan was the fire pro- he's a true eagle scout. Those are good lookin flames!

Cute Grandpa picture with his 3 granddaughters! And Jake. :)

And on our last night, on Wednesday after fishing, we cooked tin foil dinners over the fire. Nate developed a good system for cooking them over the hot coals, and they turned out yummy.

Ready with the fire tools...

Here's the fish! Jake wrapped it and cooked it over the fire, and it turned out super yummy and flaky. I don't even know what kind of fish it was...trout? But I was pretty proud of his fish cooking skills!

The fam enjoying their tin foil dinners

And who doesn't love smore's over the fire after dinner?? Mmmm.

We fed the kids theirs and got them to bed, and then we enjoyed our smores and sat around the fire till after dark. Bree played her guitar and we sang, of course! That's what Toones do. :) I loved sitting at dusk and watching the bats come out...they'd whip through the trees way above our heads and made Cassity very nervous. As long as they stay out of close proximity, I think they're pretty cool. We sat until the embers were burning red and made us wonder how people could actually walk across a bed of coals barefoot. Crazy. Then we went inside and played games, like we did pretty much every night around the kitchen table. Fun times!