The first week of August we spent several days at Bear Lake with my family. We mapquested the drive and saw that it would take roughly 3 hours to get there (including the 1 planned stop). We got about an hour outside of Sandy and blew a tire on the trailer. No worries though, Jeremy brought 2 spares. The highway patrolman stopped and watched us work and then saw to it that we got to the gas station safely (to top off the air). 12 miles later the other trailer tire blew. Huh. No worries again since we have one more spare. Wait a sec, the first tire (from 12 miles ago) was speeshing air. As it turns out, any store in which to buy trailer tires closes at 6:00 (and it was 5:45). We left the trailer on the side of the road with concerned children, "what if somebody takes our trailer?" We assured them that if someone had two spare trailer tires and was willing to stop and replace the tires that surely they needed the trailer worse than we did.
Jeremy's brother (and our current hero), Brad, went to our house, pulled the tires off of our little utility trailer and met us at the mouth of Parleys Canyon with those and one more that he grabbed from his mom, along with his mom's jack. With the two new tires we drove smoothly to the campground and arrived 7 hours after we left our house.
It was a crazy start, but we truly had the most fabulous welcome from all of my siblings! And, they helped us get things ready for the night so we were set up in a snap.
The next day was windy, but we enjoyed riding on the tubes and playing in the lake. My bros and the kids built some pretty neat sand castles and we enjoyed chatting and playing.
It is no small feat to get a group this size together for a picture. Of course everyone their own camera so we have probably 100 or so pictures from this morning event. Surely there'll be one where everyone looks good.
One of the highlights of the summer is that our kids got to play with all of their cousins on both sides. The kids rode scooters, collected shells, colored pictures, roasted smores, and played in the dirt.
The 40 degree weather didn't deter us terribly. My sister has a big enclosed trailer so on the coldest day much of the group played games there while the kids did crafts in our trailer, and others of the group sat around the fire drinking hot chocolate. I think it would've been nice to play in the water a bit more, but I can pretty much visit no matter where my camp chair is placed.
It was a fun trip. All of my siblings were there, something we haven't enjoyed for 3 years since we live in different areas of the country, and it was very enjoyable. I felt like we could've spent several more days together. I'm grateful for good times.
Step 1: plant a garden
The first week of school was a good one; three days for Zachary and Anna and two for Griffin. Griffin said of his new teacher, "I think she's going to be great, but I don't know if she'll be super great."
We're back into a routine! We started school, soccer, and dance this week. Jane is playing her first season of soccer and had a ball the first game! Go Watermelons!
The week before school started we went to Lagoon. We played at Lagoon-a-beach for a while and Jeremy played sand volleyball with Sam and Rachelle.
The first week of August we spent several days at Bear Lake with my family. We mapquested the drive and saw that it would take roughly 3 hours to get there (including the 1 planned stop). We got about an hour outside of Sandy and blew a tire on the trailer. No worries though, Jeremy brought 2 spares. The highway patrolman stopped and watched us work and then saw to it that we got to the gas station safely (to top off the air). 12 miles later the other trailer tire blew. Huh. No worries again since we have one more spare. Wait a sec, the first tire (from 12 miles ago) was speeshing air. As it turns out, any store in which to buy trailer tires closes at 6:00 (and it was 5:45). We left the trailer on the side of the road with concerned children, "what if somebody takes our trailer?" We assured them that if someone had two spare trailer tires and was willing to stop and replace the tires that surely they needed the trailer worse than we did.
It was a crazy start, but we truly had the most fabulous welcome from all of my siblings! And, they helped us get things ready for the night so we were set up in a snap.
It is no small feat to get a group this size together for a picture. Of course everyone their own camera so we have probably 100 or so pictures from this morning event. Surely there'll be one where everyone looks good.
One of the highlights of the summer is that our kids got to play with all of their cousins on both sides. The kids rode scooters, collected shells, colored pictures, roasted smores, and played in the dirt.
It was a fun trip. All of my siblings were there, something we haven't enjoyed for 3 years since we live in different areas of the country, and it was very enjoyable. I felt like we could've spent several more days together. I'm grateful for good times.
All of my siblings are in town this week! Four of us are local, one sister lives in Oklahoma, one in Maryland, and a brother in California. It's been 3 years since we've all been together so this feels extra neat. The kids and I spent the night last night at my mom's house and I stayed up WAY too late talking with my sibs. It was completely enjoyable to chat and chat. This morning all the gals went to breakfast together--what's better than good food and good company? :)
I spent all week at Heber Valley Camp with my young women. Wow. It was an amazing week. My girls have a lot of spunk and personality so for blue day we were the blue gal group. We canoed on the lake, went on a nature hike, learned and sang crazy songs, laughed, had spiritual experiences, ate junk (amidst the semi-healthy), stayed up late, got up early, tested our limits, moved outside our comfort zones, and made strong friendships.
Wednesday night was "visitor night" and ALL of us were there. It was a real treat. Jeremy came up with the bishopric, we had a nice dinner, and then performed our skits for the stake. My role in the skit was the one I wanted, the narrarator. I got to read my part and didn't have to wiggle my hips once on stage.
We were the Queendom of the Butterflies of Individual Worth (note my antennae, unfortunately you can't see my wings, both of which we wore to stake role call every day). We had some amazing spiritual discussions with the girls and some experiences that I think will shape their lives.
To celebrate our Pioneer heritage (July 24), last weekend we went with cousins to a drive-in. The cement was hot, the popcorn a-plenty, and the movies good. We didn't even mind the rain at midnight-ish since we all piled inside the van to finish the movie.
Here are the kids sacked out in the van at 1:15 a.m.
The night before we left for the family reunion the kids had a late movie on the tramp. There's just something fun about watching a movie outside with your cousins late at night.
We enjoyed a few days in Jackson Hole for the Duane & Effie Wright family reunion. We rafted the Snake River (a scenic float and whitewater) and everyone had a great time. Because Griffin wanted to go down the whitewater I went along; I fell out of the boat at Big Kahuna (a first for me), and we all had a grand time. It was fun to spend time as a family and with cousins who we don't usually vacation with.
We played at Kelly Warm Springs, Slide Lake, String Lake, went to the Jackson Hole Arts Festival, ate smores, saw Old Faithful and many bubbling, fabulous, smelly pots and geysers. We enjoyed our new (to us) tent trailer, seeing wildlife (what's Yellowstone without buffalo walking down the road?), and seeing family. It was a great week!
