Let the Chillaxin' Begin

My New Year's weekend was spent in the wonderful outdoors. Chris drove us up to the cabin where we met up with my mom and dad. Later Friday night, McKay and 2 cousins arrived. We played card games much of the night. Saturday morning was dedicated to "playing in the snow". There wasn't a lot of snow but we defintely made use of what was there. There were only a couple of trips to the store or restaurant this time. We always have so much fun on our Chillaxin' weekends. I am almost positive that there will be many more this year.

Just Chillax

We're all loaded and ready for our chillaxin' weekend. Hope we didn't forget anything because here we go-- I forgot the juice, candy bars, and wait for it-the sleeping bags. Not cool!!(Thank goodness dad has extra bed rolls). Well, lets keep going. About 2 1/2 hours later we find...this beautiful camping spot. It is great because ther isn't a lot of mud...Sure hope it doesn't rain. After we set up camp for the night, the camp cooks decide to cook hamburgers for dinner. Boy were they tasty.

It would be really cool to have spotlighting pictures, but the camera(and its night vision) was forgotten. There is however some redemption in the following nature walk pictures....

Our state is just beautiful if you take the time to enjoy it. I think that we should take the golf cart out and take some more pictures..

Should we sit here and wait for thirsty animals?? Maybe some great shots can be taken--

OK no big animals,but there are some camera shy squirrels. This tree is cool because only the inside is burned. I wonder why its twisted? Hmm.....

Why do only those trees grow in clumps like that??

McKay taught Chris to shoot a bow this trip. It was Chris' first time and he enjoyed it tremendously. We now owe McKay some new arrows because Chris definitely aimed at the ground and the trees........By golly-I think he's got the hang of it

This picture is the "we're-having-to-much-fun" shot. What is your chillax time without some tear staining laughs??

The moon looks so cool after the rains. We couldn't stop playing with the camera setting and were able too capture some very nice shots...

Which one do you like best??(#1 above, or #2 below)

Fried potatoes is always a good meal(but I always think of the part in Lord of the Rings where Smeagol asks "what's taters?" I don't know why I think of this, but I do. And I always chuckle.)

You know you've acheivedthe right chillax stage, when you put your heart and soul into your music....

What is any chillaxin' trip without the group photo??

CAMPING FOOD!!!!!!!!!!

My mom and dad have the cooking-while-camping thing down pretty good. While mom is getting the food ready dad is preparing the dutch oven. They make an amazing Diablo Stew, but I like to call it “The- Taco-Soup-With-Cornbread” stuff. I can never remember the actual name, so I improvised. For those of you that haven’t enjoyed this terrific meal-its taco soup with pineapple added in and cornbread on top. Its one hearty camping meal that has that made at-home taste.

Camping=chillax time

Chillax is a combination of the words "relax" and "chill". What better way is there than camping? It is the best way to get away from all your troubles. Doesn't the campsite my dad chose look so serene? This was the relaxing view that we got to take in for the weekend. Arizona can be absolutely beautiful.

The Chillaxing experience was shared with my dad and mom; my grandpa and his wife, Barbara; and Chris and I. My mom happened to be busy with dinner when this photo was taken and Chris was taking the photo for us.

Doesn't the moon look cool? Just looking at this picture gives me the chillax feeling at home!

Story time- Chris and I were approached by my mom requesting that we take a short jaunt to Flagstaff. This supposed trip would be 40 miles round-trip from camp. To our surprise, at 22 miles from camp, we see a sign that reads 32 miles to Flagstaff. Yes, just 108 miles round-trip for our scrumptious caramel apples and the heavy laughter workout was well worth our time(even though we had to stop multiple times to try for cell phone signal because my mom multitasks even from the mountainside). Flagstaff= nowhere in sight.

This is a great picture taken while on our brief exploration of the area.

I was amazed that I was able to capture a picture of the sun setting behind a cloud as it was in the center of two trees .




This coyote only wanted a drink, but was scared off due to our sudden appearance.