The kiddos have spent a lot of time at my parents' house this week. They have been helping shell peas from the garden. They usually ride their bikes over there and then I go by and get them when they need to come home. Sometimes they find fun stuff to try on, like a too-small lion costume.
Sarah spent last week at FSY. She went to Snow College with her friend Nora. Nora used to live in the townhomes by us in Spanish Fork. Then she moved to Salem and then a year later we moved to Mapleton. So they're 20 minutes apart but still good of friends as ever. Fun crazy fact: they didn't stay in the dorms like I thought. The FSY kids were housed in Snow Garden apartments which is where I lived. I lived in B4 and they were a floor above in apartment B5. I knew it as soon as Nora's mom sent this picture. I recognized the beds right away.
She had a fantastic time and loved every second of every day. She wants to go back and thinks 2 years is too long to wait. She wants to be a counselor when she gets home from her mission so that means FSY at 15, FSY at 17, mission at 19, FSY counselor at 21.
While Sarah was gone we had swimming lessons every day. James is so funny to watch. He doesn't pay the greatest attention but he has fun and tries hard sometimes.
He has no qualms about jumping off the diving board. He's working on what to do when he pops back up. "Lean your head back and do your peanut butter jelly arms and wiggle wiggle to the side." He's also working on the breathing under water. "Blow bubbles, roll your head and take a breath and blow bubbles again."
Erica is working on the elementary backstroke. She should be able to do that stroke the entire length of the pool next year.
It feels like summer has finally arrived once we are in Miss Debbie's backyard.
Strawberries have continued to defy inflation and priced at $4 a case. That's fifty cents per pound. We eat them at every meal. Sometimes we find some weird ones.
Sarah came home from FSY! She was tired and cranky so we made her take a nap and then she made us dessert when she woke up.
James had his last t-ball game of the season. He loved it and was such a good sport and tired hard and compared to the other kids totally dominated the rules. At the 8th and final game the coach was still telling some kids to run after they hit the ball.
We've been lucky with not so hot weather until this last game. It was over 90 degrees and James was feeling it.
Go Angels!
His face is all dirty but not from sliding or running, just playing in the dirt with his glove. He loves his medal so much. He hung it in his room right when we got home.
Summer thunderstorms? Yes please.
Today we met the Sheen's at the Bean Museum. The last time we were there I'm pretty sure James was in a stroller. *Sidenote: how or why does BYU have an exhibit on human evolution? How does that work?
Henry loves elephants, even stuffed dead ones. He also loves standing weird.
James loves tigers.
Erica loves sloths but we couldn't find one. We did find a very rare Gummy Bear.
From there we went to a park nearby for lunch and fun. But then we had to go because the kids were getting too hot and little Lucy needed a nap.
We close out the month with Family Store. The kids have been earning dollar bucks to buy candy and drinks and coupons for fun outings like to the doughnut shop and ice cream.
Other summer thoughts:
I've been spending a good couple of hours each morning in the yard. There is always weeding to be done in the garden and some cleaning up around the edges of the lawn. So much of the grass has overgrown the mow strip so I've been tidying that up. And there are always weeds to spray and concrete to sweep. I have gone to war with morning glory and dry grass. I spray the lawn weeds and Justin adjusts the sprinklers for me. You'd think with 70+ heads we would have plenty of coverage but you'd be wrong though.
This is past week is the first week that has finally felt like real summer. With Sarah gone to girls camp, our trip to Idaho and then Sarah gone to FSY, things have felt a little weird. But now we're all together every day all day and doing the typical summer stuff. You know, watching TV until 10, making pancakes every other day, asking a thousand times for a turn on the computer, whining about getting dressed before lunch.
Henry and Erica tried sleeping on the trampoline Tuesday night. They lasted an hour before they came in. Erica got spooked by some weird noises. I knew they weren't going to make it because it was pretty windy that night and I told them so. I was relieved that they finally came in because the sprinklers were set to run that night and I didn't want to reschedule that.
For the first time ever Justin didn't choose biscuits and gravy for his father's day breakfast. Since we had a delightfully overabundance of strawberries, he chose French toast, bacon, and eggs to go with it. He spent most of the morning preparing the talk he had to give in another ward.
We went to church together and the kids sang in sacrament meeting. Henry sang for the last time.
As soon as he walked in the door after his meetings after church the kids surprised him with a treasure hunt. Well actually they weren't quite ready so he and I chatted on the front porch until they were. Each of the kids wrote a clue that led him to a different part of the house. They were clever and he got tricked by a couple of them.
Here he's joking that the prize is his hat that he left on the couch.
The last clue led him to the double shot (he went outside to the basketball stand first).
All his giftbags were there. He got chocolate covered almonds from me, BYU ice cream from Sarah, Dr Pepper from Henry, Drumsticks from Erica and trailmix from James because we couldn't find the candybars we bought a few weeks ago. He also got some shirts and swim shorts he picked out the day before.
We sure love this guy!
This may be the first time James looked at the camera in 2 years.
My parents came over for dinner. Justin grilled steak and shrimp and asparagus, I made green beans and we had potato salad too. Then we went to Justin's parents house for dessert and card games.
The Dyes descended (or is ascended since it's north?) Ahem. The Dyes ascended upon Idaho this past week to McCall Idaho to enjoy the mountain lakes and quality family time. We left the house at 5am and arrived in McCall around 2pm. The kids handled the ride like champs and were well occupied by the DVD player. Well, except for the 30 minute zoom meeting I had with the ward missionary council. During that they were all chats and whines.
James liked the cozy bed in a room shared with all his siblings.
Erica loved entertaining cousin Madison with her fantastic collection of doll clothes.
All my kids slept in this upstairs room with slanty ceilings. They did pretty good about going to sleep at night considering they could hear us playing games long after we sent them to bed.
And play games we did. The weather was cold and rainy the whole time we were there. We brought a lot of games and snacks so they were pretty happy.
But whenever there was a break in the weather, you better believe we were outside. This is the view from the top of the state park.
Erica and I went searching for frogs in this lily covered pond. We did not find any.
Sure is pretty though.
Justin got a new bike just in time to take on our trip. He and his brothers took a muddy trail down the hill and they got pretty muddy.
But they had fun.
A group of them continued on their bikes on the paved path while some of us drove down. Sometimes the trail and road got close together and that was fun.
Monday June 13
Today we went to another area on the other side of the lake where there were more biking and hiking paths. I love trees like this. We just don't have roads like this in Utah. I'll never get used to flat forests.
This, as I learned, is a pump track: a short course with lots of hills just for fun.
Erica even tried it out on a bike way too big for her but she had so much fun and could do it all on her own after a couple of tries.
She and I walked together ahead of the bicyclists on the trail. She found this piece of wood that reminded her of a deer head or something. Walking through a green flat forest has got to be one of my favorite things. The bikers eventually passed us but waited for us where the trail came to a fork with 2 other trails. We walked back to the parking lot while everyone else took a mystery trail and later called for a ride from the highway.
While we waited in the parking lot we were entertained by parachuters. We saw maybe a dozen or more being dropped above us in what we figured was some sort of training exercise.
Later we went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I totally snagged the seat with the best view.
Cousins! You'd think it would be total chaos to have all the kids sit together. You'd be right.
We stopped at a few stores in town and then made our way down to the beach before heading back to the car. It was way too cold to swim but that didn't stop my girls from getting their feet wet and cold.
Uh, that's pretty. The whole place reminded me of Alaska and that's a compliment.
Wait, since we're pretty far north, does the sun set later here? Why yes it does and it sets spectacularly.
This was across the street from our cabin and only Sarah was wise enough to join us.
June 14
After a delicious fancy breakfast at a local breakfast place (the kids stayed at the cabin with Sarah in charge), we took a drive around the lake.
We brought Madison along since her baby brother and sister were taking a nap and cousin time is the best time.
Hey there, I'll go with you to a mountain lake anytime.
That evening was the much anticipated and hyped polar bear plunge.
James chose this black bear lego set at the local gift shop. Erica chose stuffed hedgehog, Henry a hat and Sarah a shirt.
This wood fence is the boundary line between the cabin property and the state park. There were deer out here all the time. Literally all the time.
This is the end of the driveway out to the road and the sign to the state park. We were that close.
That little shack is the entrance. We could bike or walk into the park anytime without having to pay.
June 15
That morning Braden and Molly and Nate and his family headed home. We and Dallin and Justin's parents had a second leg of the trip. Of course the nice sunny day was also the day we left McCall. We had to stop at this chair we drove past several times.
I love quirky travel stuff like this. My kids will always talk about the big green chair in McCall.
We stopped at another beach in town. This one had a playground. It was still like 50 degrees but it felt great and I even got sunburned (which isn't hard to do).
How long before James falls in? It was like 4 minutes.
5 minutes before Henry fell in.
From there we went to the ice rink to play the ice equivalent of bumper cars and then left McCall behind and drove farther north to get closer to our Snake River adventure near Whitebird.
Whitebird Idaho. Population 91. 1/3 were in the bar.
The most legit antique store I'd ever been to.
My Bang! loving kid loved this holster. There was a basket with like 12 belts and holsters in there.
I was in mason jar heaven.
As was my lover of knickknacks.
Sarah chose this dress. The lady told us it was from the 1940s.
Erica chose fancy white gloves. Henry and James chose cookie cutters that I think they already lost. I picked an old crock I'm using as a vase.
This is where we stayed that night.
We drove to a slightly larger town of Grangeville for dinner. We had some delicious bbq and macaroni and cheese and french fries.
Sarah ordered the baked potato covered in pork.
Justin brought his bike because he wanted to ride it down this super windy road back to Whitebird. We followed close behind in the car in case he crashed or went over a cliff.
Erica cried the entire time. "Dad's last words were I want some gummy worms."
See him? So. Many. Switchbacks. He didn't have to pedal at all.
June 16
This was our sleeping arrangements that night. Sleeping in the same room with my entire family is not restful. James got kicked out onto the floor because he wouldn't stop body slamming Henry. He instantly went to sleep. Henry snores.
Bright and early we went up a mountain range and then saw this view from the top. That's the Snake River valley and our next destination.
Ah yeah! Jet boat on the Snake!
Corey and Nadine did this last year and wanted to do it again. Yes, please.
I'm a dork for large rivers. My desert upbringing is to blame.
The little kids had to wear a lifejacket the whole time. Henry hated it and wouldn't let us forget how uncomfortable he was.
So nice and calm until it wasn't.
The trip took several hours and we stopped a couple of times at these old farms turned tourist attractions.
Oh and we saw a bear. A mama bear with her cubs.
We also stopped at the Hell's Canyon dam on the Oregon side of the shore so we can all say we've been to Oregon. Oregon is alright.
Back at our starting point the kids got out and waded a little. It made me nervous since the current was pretty strong several feet beyond where they were.
We stopped for ice cream before heading back south. We drove through McCall again and ate dinner at Frenchies. It was so good. Probably my favorite meal of the trip.
June 17
It was late and we were tired when we arrived at our motel for the final night. We had noisy neighbors so it was awhile before we all got to sleep. Corey and Nadine left super early but we took our time and ate cereal for breakfast in the room.
And then we began the 8 hour drive home. We stopped in Twin Falls for pizza (since we hadn't had pizza yet this trip) and to see the falls. The water level was pretty low so they weren't as spectacular as they could be. Oh and it was super windy. But still worth the $5.
Sweet hair, Henry.
And then we drove the rest of the way home arriving around 7. The kids were exhausted and our lawn was mostly dead because we had a couple of renegade and broken sprinkler heads. Sigh. But it was worth it. I like going north in the summertime.
He has no qualms about jumping off the diving board. He's working on what to do when he pops back up. "Lean your head back and do your peanut butter jelly arms and wiggle wiggle to the side." He's also working on the breathing under water. "Blow bubbles, roll your head and take a breath and blow bubbles again."
Erica is working on the elementary backstroke. She should be able to do that stroke the entire length of the pool next year.
It feels like summer has finally arrived once we are in Miss Debbie's backyard.
Sarah came home from FSY! She was tired and cranky so we made her take a nap and then she made us dessert when she woke up.
James had his last t-ball game of the season. He loved it and was such a good sport and tired hard and compared to the other kids totally dominated the rules. At the 8th and final game the coach was still telling some kids to run after they hit the ball.
We've been lucky with not so hot weather until this last game. It was over 90 degrees and James was feeling it.
Go Angels!
His face is all dirty but not from sliding or running, just playing in the dirt with his glove. He loves his medal so much. He hung it in his room right when we got home.
Summer thunderstorms? Yes please.
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