Next to Christmas, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because it allows for my wilder/darker side to show it's colors without shame. Or maybe it's because dressing up in costumes is so much fun and allows our inner child to go wild. Either way, I try and take full advantage of the holiday each year, and one of my favorite family traditions we have is our annual "Pumpkin Carving Ebola Party." We started the tradition a few years back when Ebola outbreaks were scaring the nation, so we jokingly decided to throw "Ebola" into the party name, and it stuck - we aren't too politically correct at my house, and I love that about my family.

We love the great outdoors. It is one of the reasons we love living in Arizona so much. Great weather 9 months out of the year, and the other 3 you're just an hour or two drive away from some gorgeous pines and 20-degree cooler weather. We practically have everything in this great state but the ocean. Fun Fact: Did you know that, pertaining to plants and wildlife, Arizona is the 3rd most diverse state in the country?

When our baby boy was born last summer, I was anxious to get back up in the mountains but equally terrified about how to go about doing it. I would lose sleep at night with questions haunting me like: "Where will he sleep?", "How do I ensure he's warm enough at night?", "What do I need to bring?"

When the weather warmed up enough, we finally bit the bullet, (over)packed as many things as our little SUV would hold, and headed up north. We have since gone camping several times with our baby through practically all the developmental stages of his first year: Sitting, crawling, scaling furniture, and early walking.

Like most things, real-life experience will bring you way more knowledge than just reading articles online or talking about it with friends. But it definitely doesn't hurt to utilize a good resource guide that will help you get started and set you up for success on your first trip. That's why below you will find some of my biggest tips from our experience camping with our baby over the past year...