Camping @ AF Canyon - 4th of JULY

Our family had a blast camping at Granite Flats campground in American Fork Canyon!  The weather was great, the food was delicous, our family is the best, and the memories are priceless.  Thank you to everyone for making this week so much fun!

Murdoch Family

Our campsite

Grandma Kathy prepared lots of fun crafts/activities for the kids.  Grandma and the grandkids made water bottle holders & bug jars.  Grandma also got them bug nets and magnify glasses, glow sticks, and fun 4th of July lights.  Thank You Grandma Kathy for all of your hard work!

Horseshoe tournaments are always a big part of camping with the Murdoch Family.  In the above picture the kids are watching the adults play horseshoes.  I think Justin and I need to practice our horseshoe throwing skills a little in the camping off season.

Cool Jack and Macy

Macy enjoying some dirt!

Grandpa Murray spent the day giving all the kids time with him on the horses.  The kids always love going with Grandpa on the horses.  Brayden really enjoyed going this year and was able to go on a longer ride with Grandpa.

Macy celebrated her 3rd Birthday while we were camping, she is so cute!  She always has a smile on her face and she is our bi-langual cousin.  When Brayden was pushing her and Jack in the stroller she shouts out "Ayudame" which means Help Me! in Spanish.  All of us got a big kick out of that.  Happy Birthday Macy!

One morning we all decided to hike to Upper Silver Lake approximately 5 miles round trip.  This is a beautiful hike, it is a steep hike, but worth it at the top.  All of the hikers did a wonderful job, we were thankful we left early in the morning to beat most of the heat of the day.  It is so high up that at the top we were walking across snow (which is hard to do) and in places the water was running underneath the snow.  Upper Silver Lake was covered with ice and snow.  The kids did wonderful and we all had a great hike!

Max & Hunter flexing after the big hike.

Bug Nets & Jars



Max was so dirty one evening we decided to try our outdoor shower on him, Justin was able to remove at least one layer of dirt off Max.  Grandpa let him wear his hunting hat and he enjoyed wearing it around even pre-showering.

One evening we pulled out the little movie screens and had a movie night, fun to do while camping, this is also a great way to get all of the kids asleep.

Our three girls are quite the preformers.  They danced/sang and put on a show for the family.  We were even required to present tickets and they had a tip jar (smart kids).  Dave and Sharon drove up to say Hi! and they were lucky enough to watch their performance.  These three girls are always putting on shows for us-I don't know were they got this-I think from the genes from all of our spouses.

Wildlife is always so much fun to see.  This deer was something the kids always saw when they went to their "Terabithia".  One day they even saw a moose.  Every time we go camping the kids find a "Terabithia" where they explore and have fun.  Kate started this years ago with all the kids in Island Park -  it is from the show "Bridge to Terabithia".  They all have so much fun.  We now have a Girls Terabithia, Boys Terabithia, and Group Terabithia.  Now that the kids are older they go off for hours exploring and having fun.

Love Timp!

Cascade Springs is a refreshing oasis of lush vegetation, inviting pools, and cascading waterfalls located within the Uinta National Forest in the Wasatch Range, east of American Fork Canyon and west of Wasatch Mountain State Park.

Water from the springs flows over a series of travertine terraces and pools and eventually continues on its way to nearby Provo Deer Creek.   I've always enjoyed exploring these springs-we all had a good time.

The kids found a salamander in the pond by their Terabithia.  They ended up finding a few salamanders, they had them in a bucket of water and the next morning when we got up some animal had eaten them.  It was probably the raccoon that we saw wondering around camp, this raccoon was also able to open our cooler and completely clean out our watermelon.



What a wonderful camping trip-thank you everyone for making it so much fun!