Fabric, Camping, and 4th of July

I have had an overdose of fabric lately. My MIL and I went to 3 quilt shops on Wednesday - Pine Needles, Elaine's, and Quilt Etc. I went a little crazy and have a new stack of fat quarters to try and fit in my suitcases to take home. I'm sorry I don't have a completed project to show you, but fabric viewing has always been a pleasure of mine, and perhaps yours too?! To my hubby all the way back in New Hampshire - this is where you turn the computer off and look no more :) There is an abundance of gorgeous fabric in the shops right now. We are just so spoiled with our available choices.

I thought you'd like to see the book room inside of one of the stores we went to, Quilt Etc. This is half the room. No shortage of quilt books in there!Now onto the camping part of the title of this post - (darling you can start reading again now!) - it was so much fun. I have never been camping in the US before. Growing up in NZ, camping was the only kind of vacation we ever had. And my Dad was a school teacher, so every school vacation we were off with his boat and the camping gear. I am pleased to report that camping appears to be the same even on the other side of the world! Tents are put up, fires are lit, food is cooked, fishing is a must, and getting dirty is mandatory. Of course in NZ you don't have the looming threat of bears, buffalo and mountain lions, but that just adds to the fun, right?!

The kids and I were in a little dome tent which my hubby and his sister camped in when they were children. Somehow, don't ask because I don't know, we managed to fit 2 twin size air mattresses in it. That equals a king size bed. In a tiny tent. It was cozy but fun!

We fished - the kids each caught a rainbow trout which we DID eat!We went gold panning... and went to Bear Country USA, went on a wilderness drive and saw buffalo, antelope, burro (which were extremely friendly), praire dogs, and many deer. Thankfully the mountain lions and rattlesnakes stayed away:) The children also earned badges from the State Park for completing various activities. This was a highlight for them.

Oh and how could I forget - yes we did go and see "the place with the Presidents in the rock" better known as Mount Rushmore. It was completely amazing, and almost made me feel patriotic, and I'm not even a citizen!But the best part of all was spending time with family and friends. Some friends of my SIL went with us and they were the perfect people to camp with - they did all the cooking and I was able to feel wonderfully useless! I can't remember the last time somebody else cooked for me for a whole week! Mike, the father, tried his hand at making Jiffy Pop. Here is a photo of his efforts. His is the mostly unpopped one. The correctly popped one was done by his young son! You will notice that Mike was trying NOT to be in the photo. Oops, sorry Mike!

So we left the camp and headed home. We stopped at the historic site, Martin's Cove. This is where pioneers crossing the plains stayed after many of them died during a freak storm. It was amazing to see handcarts all lined up and to look around and see the terrain they had to push and pull those handcarts over. It took us around 8 hours to get from that point to Salt Lake City, in a car. I can't even imagine doing it on foot, plus the many hundreds of miles they had already gone before getting to Wyoming. It is just amazing to think about!

On our way home we stopped overnight in Rock Springs, WY. We were too pooped to put up two tents, so we just did the dome tent and my SIL and Chris and one of my kids just slept outside shanty-style. Hey it worked!So that was my first American camping experience. It was a big success! And since the drive there was over 12 hours each way and my SIL, Rachel, was driving and hence in control of the music, the kids got to learn all sorts of sing-along songs which are new to them. They now could recite to you the words of Cheeseburger in Paradise, Volcano (both Jimmy Buffet), If I Had A Million Dollars, and American Pie...all 8 1/2 minutes of it.

And I really should mention 4th of July, just so I can really be caught up. We bought fireworks from my friend Nanette - her family has a stand every year - and she gave us an awesome deal which is good when you're really just burning money ;) We spent the day at my MIL's house and had good food, good fun and family time. This was a pretty funny photo of us motley crew. You can see my FIL with his hand by his mouth - he was yelling out, "Freedom" Braveheart style. Yes it's a priceless photo!If you are still reading and have left me a comment lately, I am so sorry that I haven't written back - like I said yesterday, my MIL has dial up - it takes me 8 minutes just to get into my email (yes we timed it) and my post last night took me over 4 hours instead of the usual 20 minutes! So when I get back to my SIL's place I will write and say hi to you all :)