July

My kids are so creative!  Weston held a soccer camp for neighborhood kids to earn money for his soccer team.  He had several kids sign up.  For three days they met for two hours doing drills, practicing, and playing fun games.  He had gatorade and popsicles for them.  The kids all loved it, and I loved that it got them out there playing and having fun.

But that wasn't the end of soccer camps.  Both Aidan and Weston attended the RSL soccer camp in Herriman.  It was every day for a week from 9-12 and then they had a lunch break.  Then from 1-3 they had a tournament playing games against each other earning points.  They both did great, Aidan ended up with 64 points and Weston with 130, which won him the tournament and he was crowned the King of the Jungle.  Supposedly they will announce his name in an RSL Monarchs soccer match some time (though they haven't told us when...).  They both learned a lot and had a lot of fun.  Weston also had to have his normal team practices, so on average he played about six hours a day.

The Fourth of July was a busy one this year, we crammed a lot into a short amount of time.  The night before we attended the annual Cul-de-sac of Fire fireworks show.  It was a show stopper this year, probably lasting about 45 minutes.  It is a great way to watch the fireworks--front row seats, no need to both with parking, and doesn't cost much (the cost of donating a firework, about 25$).  Plus, surrounded by fun people and treats!  The next morning Scott woke up nice and early and went on a 30 mile bike ride up and back down Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The kids and I met him and the rest of the Daw family at the top of the canyon to go hiking.  The big kids went up to Lake Mary, and the little kids/girls walked around Silver Lake.  It was beautiful and nice to get out and move.  Plus, I walked past a guy that had a Pillsbury Dough Boy on his shirt and it said, "Poke Me." So I reached out and poked his tummy.  He was surprised... but thought it was funny.  Everyone else laughed and laughed, and I just thought that I should do what his shirt said...

Then we went back down the canyon and stopped at Rita's Ice (YUMMMMMMMY, just ask Ali!) and then onto the Daw's house.  Their neighbor has a pool and they were out of town so they allowed us to use it.  The kids had a blast and the adults, too.  We got to know Uncle Cam's new girlfriend, Abby (hoping she is a keeper...), and had a delicious barbeque. We ended the evening with another fireworks show (not as big, but still nice).

During all this time having fun, we were still diligently working on the basement (getting closer!).  One of the biggest chores was tiling the big room floor.  We recruited some of the neighbor kids and got everyone handing us tiles, cleaning up mess, ringing out sponges and running them up and down the stairs to us to clean up the grout mess.  We just finished the tile in the bathroom as well, so now we are just finishing baseboards and touch up paint.  I am so ready to be done!

We took a break from the basement to be "goodly parents" for Stake Youth Conference--Book of Mormon Journey.  It started off with us dressed up in BOM gear, living in Jerusalem and then leaving with Lehi and his family to the promised land.  Ending up at Hinckley Scout Ranch (which is quite a story--the night before the stake property we were supposed to go to got flooded and was inaccessible, so the Stake was scrambling to find a different place!).  We split into families, we had eight kids (different kids from different wards, so mostly people didn't know each other), and got some time to set up camp and get to know one another.  Each day they had several different activities that talked about different times in the BOM.  Such as "building a boat", we had to cross an area as a team on boards.   A lot of the activities were "team building", but they did have a really neat one where we went to the iron rod.  We were blind folded and had to hold onto a rope that was tied from tree to tree leading to the "end".  We weren't given much instruction except that if we ever needed help, all we needed to do was kneel down and raise our hand.  During the "journey" we stumbled over logs, got whacked in the face with tree branches, and some got lost.  There were people pulling on us, "tempting" us to go another way.  And it was confusing.  I would be at a place that I wouldn't know where to go, and they told me they were helping me.  It sounded to so nice to go with them and get me out of my mess.  But, then I realized what was going on, I knelt down and raised my hand and someone came to help me get on the right track.  It was such a GREAT experience for all the kids (and us!).  Definitely something that they will remember for a long time.  It was fun to be a part of that experience and I love my new "children".

Ali came for a short visit, but productive!  We cleaned my pantry (she is an amazing organizer).  We also went to lunch at Pizzeria Limone and Rita's Ice (again, yum) for treats.  We took some of that to Hil and hung out with her for awhile before taking Ali to the airport.  Short, but sweet.

The weekend before pioneer day, our stake was invited to be part of the Youth Parade in downtown SLC, but we were so busy with basement stuff, that we decided to skip it.  But, in place of that, we and our neighbors, the Ferguson's, decided to have our own party and parade. The kids dressed up as pioneers and made a parade float--a covered wagon.  They took a walk around the neighborhood and then ate a little breakfast of muffins and juice.  Then we had "pioneer games" (drop the napkin, tag, etc) and Weston made up a fun little scavenger hunt.  Each clue was a fact about the pioneers and told them where to find the next clue.  To end, the last clue was "This is the Right Place" and they received a special prize of popsicles.  Lindsay (the other mom) had made up cute little booklets of a story of a pioneer and some coloring pages.  They read the story and then colored.  They had a blast!  I love things like that!

We haven't been camping to our "normal" spot for awhile, so we went up to Wasatch Mountain State Park for the 24th weekend.  We got there around 5 and set up camp--the kids are finally at a stage where they are really (kind of) helpful.  Scott's parents joined us for dinner that night, which was our favorite, tin foil dinners.  We had smores (best kind I have found are coconut marshmallows, rolos, and graham crackers) and then watched a movie and went to bed.  Friday morning we had a fun breakfast.  I cut oranges in half, then scooped out the inside.  Then I put cinnamon rolls in some and muffin mix in some, and then put the top on, wrapped them in tin foil and cooked them in the fire.  So fun!   Definitely a keeper.  Our friends have a cabin up there and they let us borrow their ATV to ride around in.  Scott took the three boys and Elise and I met them at Cascade Springs, which is a beautiful spring with a little boardwalk hike around it.  Then Aidan came back with me, Bren and Elise fell asleep in the back of the ATV (how???) and Weston and dad drove back to camp (yes, Weston took a turn driving!).  We had lunch, hamburgers, and then went to get ice cream at Dairy Keen (that is the name of it, no typo).  We found a nice park and played bocce and just hung out.  Then for dinner we had hot dogs.  The boys did quite a bit of wood carving (Weston bought a new knife and has become quite good, and Brennan got to try his first time at it) and rock collecting. That night wasn't the most pleasant.  At about 4 in the morning, Bren woke up sick.  He threw up a few times, and then spent the next hour and a half in the bathroom (fortunately there is a bathroom!!!).  I didn't want him back in the bed with the kids, so he slept in the back of the car, and I "slept" in the front. He felt better in the morning, but didn't go fishing with the other boys. Who didn't catch anything, but still had a good time.  We tried to go on a little hike (Bren didn't make it...), and then packed everything up and headed to Provo Canyon.  We ended our fun trip with a raft ride down the Provo River.  That was quite an experience.  I guess I didn't know what to expect, but hundreds and hundreds of 18-50 year old naked people wasn't it.  Well, not completely naked, but they couldn't lose much more...  And most of them were drinking, etc.  At one point a big group of them grabbed onto our raft and floated with us.  They were so friendly and fun...  Then, later when we were separated from them and we were going through a bit of a rougher patch of the river, they called out, "Save us Mormon family!"  So many lessons, parables, etc you can make from that!  We all had a great time and were sad to have the trip end.

And just when we thought we were done playing in the mountains for the month (I had been somewhere in the mountains four times this month already), we went back up for Scott's high school reunion, held at a restaurant up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It was fun for him (though he'll never admit it) to catch up with people he hasn't seen for 20 years.  I have made friends with several of them, and wives of his friends, so I had a great time, too.

The next day was the day before our anniversary and we decided to keep up with the tradition of having the kids make us dinner.  They did great and had a fun time.  I especially loved it because they cleaned up after as well!  For our anniversary, we didn't do anything since we have been so busy with the basement (and we have been helping move Scott's parents from their old house), but we will plan something later.  I hope.  I am so ready to have the basement done so we can have our lives back!!

Aidan got to go to Webelos camp and Weston went on his first ever real scout camp. They went to Camp Steiner from Monday until Saturday.  We sure missed him, but he had a great time (he will tell about it in Cuz Chron).  While he was at that camp, Bren and Aidan did a half day robotics camp.  They got to figure out how to make robots and even make battle bots.  Aidan's won!

Now the busy part of summer is over and we can... not relax.  Because we have to finish this dang basement.  And get ready for school to start again!  I am not sure if I am ready for Elise to go to Kindergarten, but I am ready for school to begin.  I need a routine again!