mountain woman

We went to Joes Valley this weekend. For those who don’t know, Joes Valley is our annual 24^th of July camping family reunion, with my extended “extended” Dale Jewkes (my grandpa) family. Last year We took our boys and even though I was % ½ months pregnant we had a fantastic time. So I decided to go ahead and try again this year with a baby. I have never camped with a little baby, so I wasn’t sure what I was in for. We roughed it this year and did not take a motor home and just did tents. Well….. It was actually a good trip, but I will not call it the BEST trip.

First of all the kids and I got a really bad head cold the day we went up, so none of us felt very well. We set up camp the first day and despite stuffy noses and pressure in our heads we had a nice time. Then night came….and everyone awoke to Audreys hysterical crys. She had awoken and did not know where she was or who she was with. Anyone who heard her could tell you that they had no idea a 7 month old baby could scream with such volume and hysteria. (think 1970s teenage horror flick) She was sooo scared. After about 15 minutes she calmed down and went back to sleep. Brandon and I however, did not. We were kept awake by a combination of things. Dads snoring, lightning, not daring to budge for fear of waking Audrey again, the boys waking every hour crying because they couldn’t breathe through their stuffy noses, oh yah and my own raging sore throat and inability to breathe. Needless to say, I prayed for the night to end as quickly as possible.

The next morning I woke to the most swollen eyes I have ever had but some of the best blueberry pancakes I’ve ever had. We began another day in the woods, and the kids were having a great time riding 4 wheelers and playing with their cousins. The whole trip got turned upside down with the annual 4 wheeler ride up to skyline drive. Uncle John, his kids, K.C. and dad drove up and when they were at the top, Uncle John had an accident with his 4 wheeler. No one saw for sure what happened, but somehow the 4 wheeler rolled. There were some tense moments and my dad raced down the mountain to call for a helicopter to come rescue John. He ended up breaking his collarbone, 5 ribs, and puncturing a lung. He is resting at the hospital, but I’m sure there is gonna be a painful road to recovery, and we are all praying for it to be speedy and without complication. Our prayers are with John and his family.

As all the 4 wheelers returned to camp, they were greeted with a hailstorm. We quickly moved as much as we could into the covered 4 wheeler trailer, and proceeded to make lunch in there. The sun soon returned, and the days events continued. There were races, balloon tosses and the night ended with a slideshow of all the years of joes valley attendance. We saw some great pics of all the families. That night turned out to be a great night as the kids were much better sleepers, and we all got a pretty good nights sleep. Audrey went right to sleep in her own little sleeping bag and they boys zonked out too. Morning came and it was time to pack up and head home. My ears almost exploded as we headed down the mountain, but we made it back and MAYBE I’ll go for it again next year.






Audrey in her sleeping bag. Soooo Cute!The boys rolling up their tent. What good helpers!