This Is the Place?

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Saturday was Pioneer Day. Every year there is a tri-stake parade, followed by a breakfast and games. Being in the Primary Presidency this year meant helping to get a float together for it. We got there early to decorate the trailer then waited in the heat. We brought Otter Pops to try to keep the kids cool as we waited for the parade to begin.

When it was about time to start we filled up all the kids' water guns with the water Holly had brought in giant coolers, then loaded the kids up in the back of the truck and in the trailer.

I had made the banners to put on the side of the trailer. We thought it was pretty funny, because the point of our float was to soak bystanders with our water guns, which the kids loved doing.

After the parade, we got a snow cone, stole chocolate milk off a wagon, and got a free Great Harvest Bread sample, then headed home to swim in the neighbors pool. We were soooo hot!

Too Much Drama

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The teenagers at Hollywood Kids were putting on a production of :

This is a favorite of mine, so I thought I would take Camryn and brought Alexis and Shae along too. First of all we got there way too early. The traffic was just not as bad as I was expecting. Then we found out the girl who was playing the main character, Millie, had food poisoning. The play started late, and some of the transitions between scenes were pretty slow, while they were trying to keep her hydrated. The girl did an amazing job. I usually think of athletes being hardcore, but I guess it is just being totally devoted to whatever you are into. The play was pretty funny, especially the scene where Millie takes the boys clothes and they have to eat breakfast wrapped up in blankets - that drew a lot of giggles from Alexis and Shae.

The play ending with EMT's rushing in as soon as the kids took their final bow. It was a very dramatic evening!

It's a good idea to begin at the bottom in everything except in learning to swim. ~Author Unknown

This summer I have been making Seth swim to the edge of the pool a few times before he can use his life jacket when we go swimming. This has involved him clutching me in a death grip and some crying and pleading. About a week and a half ago he followed his torturous "swim lesson" with showing me how he can swim all around the hot tub. So-basically he could swim this whole time and was just afraid of water he can't stand up in.

This week we have been house-sitting for a neighbor who has a pool with a very shallow shallow end. Seth has been swimming all round and has even ventured into the deep end a few times. He is now a swimmer!

Thems the Breaks

Camryn was on track break at the end of June/beginning of July. I tried my best to keep everyone busy. We went to the cabin, had friends over to play, ate at CiCi's, went to Chuck E. Cheese to play the games, had some Golden Swirl, swam at the Whitney Ranch Pool, and went to the splash pad at Pebble Park a few times. We had a good time, but I am happy to be back on a schedule.

Seth and Mason

Camryn and Avery

A Totally Awesome Party

Anna Visits

Last week my sister, Jacquelynn, visited with her two girls, Anna and Juliet. We went to the free movies, had dinner at Grandma Jenkins' house to celebrate the July birthdays, and hung out at the Pirate Park Splash Pad. Camryn and Seth loved having their cousin here to play with.

Let Freedom Ring

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Our next door neighbors, the Gingrichs, go all out for the 4th of July. Usually we are out of town, but this year we were here for their big bash. They started with a BBQ and pool party. We went over later and ate the last of their hot dogs. The kids weren't allowed to swim, but they were pretty good about just hanging out. A little before sunset, Ryan and his family came over. We set up lawn chairs for the big fireworks display.

While we were waiting the kids started with some sparklers.

The Gingrichs' friend Larry was in charge of the fireworks. He spent about $1200, and rivaled what we have seen in small towns. It was amazing. I was hacking up smoke the rest of the night.

The kids had such a good time.

Maybe we will have to stay home for the 4th more often.

Midnight Madness

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - 12:01 a.m.

My nieces and Alexis talked me into taking them to the midnight showing of Eclipse. We went to the Rave Theater at Town Square. We got there about 10:15 and there was a huge line around the whole theater, wrapping around the building.

While we were standing in line, Alexis leaned up against the building and got a gross wad of gum on her shirt. We wiped it off the best we could with a piece of paper, but it was still pretty nasty. Alexis ended up tying one of the twin's jackets around her waist to cover it up. She got kinda mad when I tried to take a picture, but eventually let me. The whole thing was pretty gross.

We finally got into the theater about a quarter to midnight. All the girls in the theater totally screamed when the show started and made comments through out the movie. It was pretty funny. When the show was over Madison and I had a pretty good chat about the books and the movie, the younger girls kept talking about the scary preview for Paranormal Activity 2. It totally freaked them out. It was a fun night but I am way to old to be out until 3:30 in the morning,

Cedar Breaks

Friday, June 25, 2010

We spent time recuperating from our trip to Manti on Friday. We did go down to the store and got ice cream while I helped Grandma Hein do her laundry. Later that afternoon we went hiking at Cedar Breaks.

There were still big patched of snow near the trail. The kids slid around on the ice and threw snow balls at each other.

The hike was about a mile. At the end there were big trees for us to sit and rest under. Seth thought this tree looked like there would be a rabbit hole under it that would go straight to Wonderland.

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

On Saturday, we took Grandma to Panguitch so she could get some groceries. They were having a Balloon Festival, so the kids saw a parade while I was in the store, but they said it was pretty lame - just a bunch of motorcycle dudes. In the afternoon the girls went hiking, so Dave and I took the littler kids to hike down to a creek on the way to the lake. That night we cleaned a bit, so we would be ready to go home in the morning and then we watched the Narnia movie projected on the wall.

It was a nice week, once we actually got out of town. It is good to get away once in a while.

We Love to See the Temple

Thursday, June 24, 2010

We drove to Manti from the cabin Thursday afternoon to see the pageant. We got there around 5. After taking a few pictures of the temple, we walked down the main street to the church for dinner.

Camryn was pretty mad. Our original plan was to meet up with Jacquelynn's family and Camryn took a while to get over not seeing her cousin, Anna. The dinner was actually pretty good - turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, and carrot cake. We walked back to the temple to save our seats.

We got a pretty good spot, then went to play at a park we had passed on the way to the church. After playing a while, we found a little trailer selling snow cones.

Eventually, we headed back to our seats. We had a long wait. The pageant started a little later than we expected.

The pageant was a little longer than we remembered also. Camryn started crying about her leg hurting in the middle and I had to take her over to the side of the field for a timeout. I was SO mad at her. She eventually got over it and knew to go sit on her dad's lap - far away from me. When the pageant was finally over, we drove all the way back to the cabin. We got back around 3 a.m., so we all slept in really late the next day. I was glad we went. It is a good memory I have from my childhood and I hope the kids do too.

High on a Mountain Top

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wednesday night we decided to make S'mores. The kids always have a hard time waiting for the coals to be ready. We hung out around the fire and the kids just acted silly.

We finally got the S'mores going and the kids mostly just caught their marshmallows on fire, rather than using the coal to make them a toasty golden brown.

When we were down to the last marshmallow, Chase and Cam both wanted it. I told them whoever finished the S'more they were eating first could have it. The race was on. Chase won!

Thurday, June, 24, 2010

Thursday morning we walked down to the "park", which is the Marshall's cabin. The Marshalls have a cool fort, swing set, and horseshoe pit. We took horseshoes and had a little tournament. Dave killed everyone, then we got a chance to play against each other. It was pretty fun. Camryn had some of the wildest throws, but no one got hurt.

Going Batty

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

We decided to spend a week of Track Break up at the cabin. To make sure the van was up for the trip we had the brakes worked on the week before, but that resulted in the van shaking every time we went over 60 miles/hour. We got new tires and tried to head off on Monday - more shaking! We took it back to the brake shop and to the tire shop with no luck. Finally we took it to our regular mechanic. He took until the next day to figure out what was wrong, but finally figured out the brake shop had put on the wrong size drums. we are now engaged in a war with Just Brakes, trying to get our money back! We got our car back Tuesday around 5:00 p.m. We picked up the twins and headed out of town a little after 6:00.

The van was pretty crowded. Mini-vans just don't have enough storage space!


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

On Wednesday morning, we took the kids to Mammoth Caves. Some of the caves were blocked off, so people won't disturb bat procreation. We stuck to the open caves.

I went with the kids through the biggest cave. We didn't have the best flashlights, so it got rather dark. I bumped my head pretty hard. The cave had a nice, soft dirt floor and you could walk through it with just stooping over - until about half way through!

All of a sudden, the ceiling got so low you had to crawl on your hands and knees and the floor got really rocky (my poor shins and knees!). I think I am getting too old for things like that. When we got out, the bigger girls went through again while Dave, the littler kids, and I hiked around a bit.