Samani Family Camp

My in-laws decided to have family camp this year on Labor Day Weekend in memory of Eti and Trichelle.  They passed away 5 years ago in a car accident on Labor Day.  I will never forget that day or them and I'm so glad we did something fun in memory of them this year.

We camped nearby at Nunn's Park just up Provo Canyon which was a little too convenient.  I love camping but when you camp so close to home it's just not the same.  Lol.  I grew up in California where camping means you're hours away from home and the nearest grocery store is like a half hour away from the campsite.  You really have to plan because you can't go back home to grab something you forgot.  Now, that's real camping!  Hahahaha!  Next year I'm forcing everyone to camp as far away from Provo as we can get.  Wish me luck!  Lol.

Let me introduce to you our new "baby" aka our tent!  Not the greatest picture because it was at the end of camp but I had to get a picture because I feel so cool.  I'm an owner of a tent.  Lol!  So we borrowed two small tents from my Mom to go camping with and when we started setting them up we realized they weren't in the best shape meaning they were missing pieces.  Lol.  Vili started complaining about us being safe and blah, blah, blah (I knew he was going to find any excuse to buy something manly) so that's how we ended up buying it but we are both happy and in the end that's all that matters.  

On the hike to Bridal Veil with the fam.

 I was at work during the hike so when I came back and was looking at pictures I was thinking.....where is Talanoa in some of these?  And here was my answer!  Lol

 What's camping without a campfire and s'mores?  I don't even like s'mores but luckily Dom was there to replace me and she did greeeeeat!  Lol.

The Mounga's were our camping neighbors :)

Swimming at Deer Creek before heading home.

Some tips for our next camping trip:
-Don't take a newly potty trained toddler to camp!  Lol.
-Don't camp in bad weather.  Our first night was miserable to say the least.  There was a huge storm with the works (rain, lightening, thunder) and we slept in a tent so the kids were terrified and we got no shut eye.  Well, Baby Talanoa slept like a bear but the rest of us didn't.  Lol.  Elina hates loud noises so to keep her distracted I let her use apps on my phone as we hid under the blankets.  She loved that.
-Bring toys and books from home for the kids to play with during the down times.  Luckily this campsite had a playground.  Only downside was there was no grass so there was nowhere for the kids to run around.