A Quick Trip To Orem

My sister's kids were in town, so we went to my mom's house to play.  We took the kids on a hike to see Bridal Veil Falls.  

We encountered laser beams along the way...

...got to go under the road...

...and collected many stick guns.

The kids had fun playing on the rocks at the base of the falls.

Nate didn't listen to the warnings about not getting wet.

They got really good at skipping rocks.

It was such great cousin time.

I took Jason and Nate up the rocks to get as close to the falls as we dared.

Then, we walked back to the car.

At Grandma's, we got out the hose and had a fun water fight.

Jason was off filling water balloons when I got this picture.

The boys were above and the girls were below.  They each had a hose and they had fun squirting each other and tossing water balloons.  It was a great battle.
We had dinner together and then we had to head home.  It's always fun to get kids together with cousins.

Super Activity

As of the beginning of June, Jake was the only Deacon in our ward.  There would be another kid added in the middle of June, but it was pretty lonesome in the 12 and 13 year old boy department.  So, they all combined and let Jake join the group of older boys on their super activity.  I was really glad he was able to go.  We got a new YM President and he and all the other leaders made it awesome.

They went to a cabin near Heber and brought bikes, boats, and so much food that it required a food trailer...

Mike pulled it to the camp...

Jake has been saving his money and since they were riding mountain bikes on this trip, he decided to spend some cash on a good bike.  He broke it in on the trails at a bike park.  He had so much fun.

Mike only took three pictures.  I don't know if there's ever been an event where I only take three pictures, but I guess I should be glad to have them.  This one cracked me up because it was on the day that they did the bike park.  They were all so exhausted and beat up that they fell asleep waiting for their food.

They had a great time and they came home sunburned and happy.  They had fun stories of awesome boat rides, crazy tube rides, bike crashes, late night parties, and moose scaring them out of their hammocks.
The next day was fast and testimony meeting and I loved the whole meeting as boys got up and shared their testimonies of the power of prayer and the Priesthood.  Jake bore his testimony too and it was fun to hear what he had to say.  We have such a great group of young men and amazing leaders.  Jake is so lucky to have the program to help him learn what it is to be a young man of God.  I am so grateful for leaders who give of themselves to help our youth.  Mike is included in those leaders.  I know he is so busy this time of year and I am grateful he was able to go up and spend that time with Jake and with the young men of our ward.  It was one for the books.

The Dam

Jake came home with blisters all over again from the poison oak at the fort.  I went over there with him because I wanted to see what was so cool about the fort and the dam that it was worth getting blisters and rashes all over.

I took the littles with me and they didn't waste any time in getting in the water.  Jason didn't want to strip down to his skivvies, so I told him it was okay to get his jammies wet...the ones he insisted on wearing on a hot summer day.

The boys have built a dam and it's gotten pretty deep.

So deep that Jake had to help Nate around in case he slipped in over his head.

It's cold water, and Nate didn't stay in long, but he thought it was great.

The boys have identified the plants that are giving them all the blisters.  It's poison oak and it's everywhere down there.  They sprayed it and have plans to come back and destroy it with fire.  It's really quite gross to see all their legs, feet, and faces.  I wish I had a picture of Carson's leg.  It's crazy.  Jake's got the big spot on his face and then little spots all over his legs and feet.  We've learned all about it though and now we know all the things we did wrong in treating it.  I hope we don't have to deal with it again next year, but if we do, we know that you shouldn't use soap until after you've rinsed it and using rubbing alcohol.  Soap just lifts the oil and spreads it to other parts of your body.  A sweet neighbor lady made a mix of oils and stuff to make a salve for the boys and it seemed to help Jake too.  So, like I said, now we're more prepared, but I sure hope we don't have to deal with it again.

Floating the River

Nate has been begging to float the river for a really long time.  I finally talked Allie into taking Jason and Nate down there and they had such a great time.

She's a lovely sister.  She even carried it down to the river for Jason because he wanted to ride his bike.

Boating

We got the boat out and it ran perfectly!  We went to Newton and had a really nice night on the water.

Nate discovered that he's a really good rope boy.

Jake tried to get up on one ski, but ended up getting up easily on two.

Nate knee boarded for the first time without someone in the water to send him off.
I was so proud of him!  His little body was shaking so hard from cold and nerves that he could barely hold onto the rope.

Jake knee boarded...his specialty.

And Allie got up on one ski.  I thought since she did it last year that she'd be able to hop right up, but after several failed attempts, I remembered that last year, she had a fat ski and a rope that helps keep the ski straight.  So, when she did get up, it was a huge accomplishment.

Jason was hilarious to watch on the tube.  That kid has such wild facial expressions.  He had a great time and loved going fast.

 We tried to give Jake and Jason a ride, but the bottom of the tube has a hole in it and it just wouldn't
work to have bigger bodies in there.  I guess it's time for a new tube. 

I took a turn too and we went home after several fun hours on the lake.
We love our little boat and the fun times we have in it.

Derby

 Mike took the littles to the derby in Preston.  It's always an interesting experience to go to a derby.  Half the time, watching the people in the crowd is a better show than the crashing cars.  I got funny texts from him about the shallow gene pool all evening...

The boys each picked a car that was their favorite and then they cheered them on.  Jason got really upset when his car lost a wheel and didn't win.  He is all in when it comes to emotion.  He also throws signs in his pictures lately.  It's funny that his sign is an actual sign language sign for "I love you".

Sad, Sad Kiddos

I took the kids to the pool and on our way home, we saw a sad, sad sight.  We had to pull over and take some pictures.  7-11 has closed its doors.  My kids are pretty bummed.  In fact, when we got home, we all got in the house and Jason wasn't there.  I went back to the car, assuming that he had fallen asleep or something and he was on the floor of the car sobbing about 7-11 closing.  

It's not like we went there every day, but we did go there often for a Slurpee.  It was our treat for kids who scored goals in soccer games.  It was the thing to do on a date with mom or dad.  It was a rite of passage to go on a bike ride there with friends.  It's just a bummer.

Nate has been really sad about it because he thought this was finally the year that he'd be old enough to ride his bike there.  Now we'll just have to ride a little further to another place for a treat.

Sous Chef

Nate likes to cut things.  He really doesn't care for cooking at all, but he loves to help chop.  So if he sees that I'm chopping something like celery, or potatoes, then he asks if he can help.  In this case, it was rhubarb.

He is getting faster every time he does it!  Thanks for the help buddy!

Car Show

The day before Father's Day, Mike loaded us up in the old car to go for a ride.  We had heard that there was a car show at Lee's, but couldn't imagine it being any good.  We thought we'd check it out and then go for a ride up the canyon.  When we got there, we found huge crowds and lots of cars.  The olders went walking around with Mike looking at cars, and the littles played in the bounce house and had odd bike races.  I must have only been with the littles when I was taking pictures, because I don't have any of the olders...

They found cars that they liked and wanted pictures by them.  The littles are still just attracted to color.

We still love Mike's car and it's fun to just hop in and roar around wherever we want to go.  It doesn't overheat, or break down.  It's just a whole lot of fun.