Father and Sons Campout

This was Taj's second father/son campout.  This one was way funner cause Taj could keep up with the rest of the kids a lot better than last year when he was only 2.  

We camped at Buffington Pockets (near Valley of Fire).  Taj and I climbed to the tippy top of this rock formation.

The whole time up and down Taj kept saying "Don't hold my hand Dad!  I can do it by myself!"

These sandstone rocks always have the coolest little shapes and holes.

This is Taj and some of his buddies.  They wanted to show me all the cool indian drawings they found.

Since the majority of the sons on this campout seemed to be 8 yrs old and younger, they set up a little rappel for the boys.

Taj (3 yrs old) got to do his first rappel.  He did awesome and wasn't really scared at all.  

Muscles!

 Taj even got to challenge Joseph Smith to a stick pull contest.  There was a short program recreating the experience Joseph Smith had with the Angel Moroni and finding the Gold Plates.  He decided to let Joseph win so the other kids wouldn't lose faith in him.

Joseph even showed them the stone box containing the records Moroni had told him about.

Instead of Gold Plates the boys found a golden three ring binder with testimonies in it.  We all got to write our testimonies and add them to the binder.

Joseph then sealed the box with caulking to make it safe from water.

The boys helped Joseph replace the stone cover.  This was an awesome little experience for them (and me).  This box of testimonies has been buried for 7 years.

This was the set up for the Flaming Ball of Deathplosion.  This metal wire stretches a couple hundred feet up the mountain.  See youtube video.