June 4th 2012 Camping near Clints Well (outside of Payson).
Within ten minutes of getting there Eli looked like this. he found the fire pit ashes and had rubbed them all over his face. Typical boy huh??? I just had to laugh. As you can see the girls joined in quickly too. Just watch the next few photo's their jackets tend to get dirtier and dirtier than I ever thought possible, oh and they were the only jackets I brought! oh well, what's a little dirt!
All the way up from the Valley we had this awful smell coming into our Van, it was like something was burning. Chemical smell. So when we got everything set up and realized we'd forgotten our lid to our toilet (bucket toilet...yay! True camping in the woods style). We had to make a trip back to Paysons' Walmart. I insisted that Stephen get the van looked at to make sure that the smell wasn't anything serious. So while he did we went to this really cool park. Oh yeah, and while I was putting sunscreen on all the kids Lydia decides to run out into the street (while my back was turned) I saw her and screamed, running like the wind. Luckily there was no one coming and it was a small street, not the main one! I tell you, heart attack!!!! Anyway, Stephen was back in like twenty minutes with good news. Just steering fluid or something that was flicking onto the engine, we would be fine driving back after our trip.
I am so lucky that my kids just love to eat good stuff. We ate oatmeal in the morning and I had to laugh as Stephen of course wanted to "feed" Lydia because she started to get it all over her. We're camping right? Messy is the name of the game. I just laughed and took pics. Check out Stephens' face! He does the mimic thing while you feed them. Every pic! HA!
Eli's favorite place to play. A funky tree that provided plenty of climbing and hiding.
We were right next to a nice pathway that we hiked into and found a stream. So we decided to stay for the afternoon. Stephen hiked back to the camp to get bottles, lunch and a change of clothes for the kids. Knowing they would get drenched...they had fun throwing rocks, finding bugs (crawdads, worms, fishes, and butterflies). They even went down further to a little water hole. Lydia fell face drenching herself from head to toe but never complained. Truly the water baby she is! It was a great afternoon. The baby even fell asleep in the hammock. We got back and Lydia fell asleep in the hammock at camp. I was with the baby on an air mattress outside trying to get some sleep myself. Stephen wanted to watched a video in the car with the older ones. When he realized he didn't have his keys and the van was locked. He looked everywhere and thought he might have left them back at the little water hole. It's only like a twenty minute hike for an adult (an hour hike with kids) but he had already hiked it three times already. I think he was tired. So I told him to say a prayer and he gathered the kids together and did. He went back to his backpack and tada! There they were! I just love little miracles! I know prayer works. It may not seem like a big deal but it is...this is getting long but it gets even BETTER...back to Stephen watching a video with the kids....
He didn't turn the car on, just had the video running off the battery (granted we bought it two months ago). Within thirty minutes everything went dead. Yep! It wouldn't even turn over. We were out in the middle of nowhere. We were four miles away from the major road and NO cars had come along the dirt road all day. Stephen started to hike out so we could get a jump. It was around three in the afternoon. After a while I went over to the van to get something out and when I opened the door it started to ding. Power! I tried to start it and got some rruh ruhh....so I called the kids over again and we said another prayer. Nothing. Then the baby started to screech, Lydia had dumped a shovel full of dirt right on her face! What a mess. I cleaned her up and then went back to the van. It started up!!!! PRAYER WORKS! We all jumped in and went to find Stephen. He was like a mile from the main road. He was suprised to see us he said and looked very relieved. He told me he had started jogging. He was really worried no one would stop for him. And that it would be dark soon...We got back and watched the end of the movie (to let the battery charge a while as we let it run). Then I turned off the van and turned it back on just to make sure...NOTHING! AHHH! I couldn't believe it. Then I heard this awful sound...a high pitched whirling sound. Stephen said it sounded like the alternator. He tried to do a few things to get it to stop. Nothing. We had to disconnect the battery just to make the thing stop going. It was getting late. The sun was going down and this time we decided it was time to call my Dad to see if he could come and get us. We would have to tow the van. I was worried. With it getting dark I didn't think anyone would stop for Stephen. Even on the main road, the nearest shop was an additional 5-10 miles down the main road. Again we gathered as family and said a prayer. I gave Stephen a big hug and told him to be careful and I tried not to worry about being left alone with the four kids. I started dinner and hoped for the best. It was around six by then and as I cooked, I kid you not, TEN minutes after Stephen left a car pulled into where we were and parked next to us. I ran up (kids in tow) and explained that my husband needed to get to a phone or get a signal for his cell he'd left ten minutes ago in the opposite direction could you help? The guy was really nice. Left right away...
So now the LONGEST story short....the guy was from the valley out to run the trail that was next to us (that lead to the stream) because he was a track coach bringing up his team next week. He Stephen to a shop that turned out to have towing (an LDS guy by the way) who came out the next morning. Dad was our rescuer! He came and got me and the kids. It WAS the alternator. Stephen was able to get home later that night and the next day we took it in for the "weird smelling thing" turned out to be CV boots that needed replacing. All in all, the trip was definitely adventurous! It only cost us $800.00 in repairs and towing!
I know a lot of you would wonder if we'd ever go camping again....YES! If anything I really was impressed with how much Heavenly Father watches over us. It could have been a very scarey and dangerous situation...but he was ever mindful of us. Even though it wasn't anything like I expected I knew he was watching over not only Stephen but me and my children. I also know that Prayer really works. It was always within a short amount of time that little miracles took place! If anything it was a wonderful teaching tool for the kids....and me.
