Brady's Last Summer Hoorah!

The week before Brady left for Salt Lake City he went on a camping trip at City of Rocks with his high school friends. (Photos are courtesy of Danielle, she usually takes all the photos of when they get together - Thanks Danielle!!!)

They left for "The City of Rocks" on Monday August 5th and returned Wednesday afternoon. It's farther then I thought it would be, it's down by Declo/Burley Idaho.

All of Brady's friends shared the cost for the camp out including: gas, campsite fees, vehicle costs. Each person was also in charge of one meal or group snack to share. 

Brady and Danielle

Brady and Erika

Monday night their dinner was provided by Danielle. She chose to bring spaghetti. Her mother told her to mix the sauce with the noodles and then freeze it and it would thaw by the time they arrived. The problem is noodles never freeze well and turn to mush. So they had a mush noodle dinner. Oh well - they learned something new. (As soon as Brady was explaining to me what happened - I said the noodles turned to mush and he shook his head - too bad).

Back: Danielle and Amber

Front: Erica and Sarah

The gang of friends Brady had through out high school.

Amber, Brady, Erika and Sarah

Sarah, Danielle, Brady and Amber.

Amber had the breakfast meal for Tuesday morning. She was going to make pancakes. She had everything set out to take, but when they arrived she had left behind the pancake batter. There was a store a little ways from them. The drove there hoping to find pancake batter but the store was out, they had everything else - but no pancake batter. I can't remember what they ended up eating, but Amber's fabulous breakfast plan didn't work out.

Amber, Sarah, Erika and Brady.

The complete gang that ended up going. The 2 additional men were boyfriends to the girls. I don't know who they are (Rhees and Brandon). Brady just met them while camping. They all got along really well.

They did a lot of climbing on the rocks.

Group shot on timer? They are all there.

Rhees was in charge of lunch and had sandwiches and chips for them.

Love the pictures! Great poses.

Awe!

More climbing. I think that Sarah isn't liking the rocks too well with shorts.

I asked Brady what he was looking at and he doesn't remember.

This was a fun shot, because they could see their shadows on the rock wall in front of them with the sun setting low behind them. Below is their shadows.

Lots of fun!

Here they are playing scribbler. It's a game that they start a story. Each one writes the next line then rolls it up so only their line shows. Then the next person writes the next line. I've never heard of this game before, but he said he played it last year at BYU.

Tuesday night Brady was in charge of dinner. He wanted something fancy like tinfoil dinners. Here is what he ended up cooking everyone. It turned out to be a yummy meal. I precooked the rice, shredded the cheese. We sent a bag of frozen chicken tenderloins and a mallet to pound them down. Brady assembled them at camp. I also sent him charcoal to cook them on - instead of the fire. It took a little longer then he planned for it to heat up, but it all worked out.

Chicken Casserole

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 cup of broccoli
• 1/2 cup of prepared rice
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• ranch dressing
• cheddar cheese
• spices

Pound the chicken thinly as chicken can take awhile to cook.

Mix together the broccoli, soup, and cheese. Add spices and condiments. Place the chicken breast on the center of the foil. Top with the soup mix and then rice. Seal in a tent pack.

Cook on hot coals for about 25 minutes (The thicker your chicken breast, the longer it will take)

For Brady's dessert he brought the stuff to make Banana Boats. Brady didn't particularly care for them, but the others liked them.

 

• Cut banana peel lengthwise about 1/2 in. deep, leaving 1/2 in. at both ends. Open peel wider to form a pocket. Fill each with 1 teaspoon chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon marshmallows. Crimp and shape four pieces of heavy-duty foil (about 12 in. square) around bananas, forming boats.
• Grill, covered, over medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until marshmallows melt and are golden brown. Yield: 4 servings.

 Brady had a great time hanging out with his friends for a few days before he moved to Salt Lake City for good. 

I hope they will continue to get together in the future. They really have a great friendship. 

I always tell Brady how lucky he was to have these friends through high school. It was a great blessing to be surrounded by good, smart, nice kids through out his high school years.  Most people never experience this type of "true friendship" and have great self building / self esteem / teenage years. It has always been a positive uplifting light in his life. What a blessing!