Last Thursday my family and I packed up the camper and loaded the van with bikes and all that other stuff to camp with some of the families from our church. It was loads of fun, with bike rides, food, friends, volleyball, beaches, and lots more. We almost didn't get the cameras out. Almost.

The direction these three came from was a rather steep hill, and kids

would come flying down it very fast, sometimes causing falls.

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What better way to show our favorite restaurant?

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The campsite where most everyone gathered.

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Devotions in the evening with music

by a few guys from our youth group.

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The above picture requires some explaining. A few teens were going to spray shaving cream over two boys who were asleep, one of the group turned on another and sprayed her, which caused them to turn back. Then a few minutes later the rest return, and they talk for a moment, and the can gets sprayed. Ella, being a innocent by-stander, gets part of the spray.

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This eventually leads to an all out war. Another spray-type thing was added, but I think the shaving cream was used more. Above, Abby somehow got involved and in turn received the cream to her face, and so countered.

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So all in all, I think this camping trip went quite well.

They've Been Together Fifty Years Now.

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Fifty years is a long time. Half a century. Halfway to the triple digits. There are the more common 50-events: Fiftieth birthdays, fifty years of some kind of historical happening, and the list could go on.

But then there's the rarer 50-event. And, in my opinion, it's the best one ever. 50 years of marriage is for sure a golden time. It's 50 years of total and faithful devotion to each other, no matter what happens: sickness, snowstorm (and following blackout), floods, and a whole mess o' other things. A golden anniversary isn't often hit. It's targeted, but not always hit.

I know of two people who have hit the golden award. And they've hit it dead-on. My grandparents are among the best people in my life. And they'll stay there for my whole life. I'm so happy to have grandparents like them. I have loads of memories: Grandma's brownies (boy those were good!). And the art classes, during which Grandpa brings up a Flame Thrower and we all ask him what it is. And so what better way to tell us than turn it on? It made us all jump, but it gave us a good laugh.

There are so many other memories, I don't know if I could share them all. My grandparents are two very special people, and two people I'll never forget. They raised my dad, and if they hadn't, I wouldn't have been born. Thank you very, very much, Grandpa and Grandma, for being my grandparents! I love you both!