Our (way-overdue) camping trip

Growing up, a large percentage of my journal entries start out with, "So... I'm sorry I haven't written in a long time..." and then I'll write a bit about my day, stop mid-sentence because I got distracted, and then about a month or two later start another journal entry off with "I realize it's been awhile since I've written in here..." etc.  It gets pretty redundant, so I'm going to try and not start every blog post like that.  Sometimes (though hopefully not too often) it'll be a month or two before I post something new.  It's not ideally how I'd like to run this blog, but that's life and I'm not going to get hung up about it.

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I am ashamed to say that during the course of our dating and married life, we've never gone camping together.  Pretty ridiculous, right?  Well this month we finally righted that wrong.

We didn't plan ahead very well and it rained the evening we planned on heading out.  It was around 8pm, lightly raining, and we hadn't really packed yet.  A sane couple probably would've just stayed home.  But like the crazy fools we are we just went for it.

We didn't make it to our campground until about 10pm.  After we had unloaded the car, set up the tent, and started a fire on the wet ground we finally ate around 11pm.  We were both STARVING and so ready to eat those bratwursts (which were delicious by the way, thank you Jacob!).  Because I was afraid of it raining, I didn't take any pictures that night.  But I did the next morning!

Thank you Josh & Katie for letting us borrow your tent!

Because of the rain the evening before, most of the other campgrounds on the site were empty- which was a nice perk.

There's something so relaxing about the sight, sound, and smell of campfire.  Because of the 3 house fires Jacob's family had during the course of his childhood I would've assumed that he'd have a negative association with it.  But somehow, Westovers still love campfires!

No that's not rancid syrup, it's pre-mixed pancake batter in an old syrup bottle.  Jacob's genius idea.  

I was thinking we'd just eat granola bars, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast, but Jacob had other plans... for which I was grateful!  I'll take pancakes and bacon over a granola bar any day.

Jacob likes to poke a bunch of holes in his pancakes so that when you put the syrup on it has time to really seep through before you eat it.  Maybe this is a common practice, but I had never heard of it until I met Jacob.  That's probably because it's the exact opposite of the way my Mom likes to eat pancakes.  Or at least it would be, if she even liked pancakes.  Anyway, I find this practice funny, so I took a picture.

He always says that one day he's going to build a little device that will allow him to just poke the pancake once with it, and that it'll perfectly poke a bunch of little holes all over the pancake.  Not something I would ever think of, but that sounds like Jacob to me!

I think my favorite part of this camping trip was the early afternoon where we just laid on a blanket outside the tent underneath the shade of the trees.  I love seeing all the different colors of green as the sunlight shines through the leaves.  

One of the only things I didn't like about this trip- the bugs.  Yes I know we're out in nature, but seriously can't they just give us some privacy?  The flies had absolutely no respect for our personal space (I know, know- surprise, surprise).  If anyone has non-toxic tips for how to keep the bugs away while camping, I'd love to hear them!

I think Jacob's favorite part (or one of them) was just getting to drink a bunch of soda because "we're on vacation!"

  

This quick camping trip was SO relaxing and SO fun!  It's hard to set apart the time for camping, but it's so worth it.  I love living in a time where technology is such a large part of our lives, but it was good to get away from it for awhile.

Goodbye cute campground, until we meet again!

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The beginning (sort of)

So.  I’ve had this goal.  The goal to start a blog.  I’ve had this goal for awhile now (quite awhile… since before the day we got married).  And we're coming up on the 1,000th day since we got married... So I think it’s high time we documented some of it!

“Sincerely Rebekah” is the space where I want to document my life.  Some of it will be about my photography.  Some of it will be about recipes and projects that I attempt.  Some of it will be about nothing in particular at all.  But most of it will be about my family.  Because even though right now it is small, my family is my life.  And I’m excited to share some of our goings-on with you!

So about today.

Today we are 15 weeks pregnant, and our baby is approximately the size of an apple.  We couldn't be happier and are feeling incredibly blessed.  We can't wait to meet our little baby boy or girl!

This morning we went to church in our new Married Student LDS ward.  Even though we can’t remember anyone’s names yet, we already know we are going to love it.

After church we dropped off a binder and keys that we hadn’t yet given back to the members of the LDS Singles Ward we were serving in.  Seeing familiar faces and being back in the BYU UPC made us really, really miss the members and familiarity of our old ward.  As we left, I think Jacob was feeling pretty carefree without the weight of his old calling because he slid down the stair railing on our way out.

When we got home, Jacob had the idea to have a picnic lunch up the Alpine Loop.  So we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grabbed some nectarines and Cheetos and headed out!  The weather was awesome and it was super relaxing to just be up in the mountains and to eat by a little stream.  We talked about plans for the future, baby names, and the types of parents we want to be (which will probably be laughable when we look back on this day in the future).

Not all of our days are spent having picnics by streams.  Most days we wake up at the last minute, rush to school and work, get home, have dinner, work or study some more, and then go to sleep way too late.  But even within these typical days things happen that I want to remember, photograph, and write about.

Along with writing about our todays, I’m also going to throw in some blog posts about our yesterdays.  Our childhood, dating life, wedding day, past anniversaries, stuff like that.  Because I’m already forgetting the details and these are things I don’t want to forget. 

I’ve got some catching up to do, but at least now we’ve got the ball rolling!  It’s far from perfect, but it feels good.

Sincerely,
 

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