July 2016

July was packed to the gills with lots of fun stuff. We LOVE summertime!

Arts in the Park

The Lehi Arts Council presents musical acts every Sunday at Wines Park.  One Sunday in July the cast of Beauty and Beast performed a few songs from their upcoming show.  Hannah was asked to participate so we got to enjoy a warm evening in the park enjoying great music presented by talented people.  

Jax likes to give you emoji faces. Here is his winky tongue face.

Pack Meeting

In July Asher was received his Bear badge and was welcomed into the Webelos den.  He was very excited to join his friend Taylor in Webelos.  

Asher Swim Lessons

Asher is probably my child who is the least comfortable in water.  I had heard about Jan Lamb's swim school for years but never was able to get my kids signed up before she filled up.  This year I was able to get Asher in.  It was very different from his previous classes at the Legacy Center and I think he learned a lot more in a shorter amount of time.  I would highly recommend it. My only dislike was the parking situation because it is at a private home situated on a very steep hill with very little parking.  

He was supposed to dive through the hoop but chickened out at the last minute.

Backyard Fun

We love our backyard so much.  We spend lots of time outside in the summer enjoying our trampoline and above ground pool.  It seems like the kids live in swim suits in the summertime.

Grandma and Grandpa's house

Photo shoot with Charlie and Mary Ellen's Grand kids

Charlie asked Missy and I to come and take some photos of his and Mary Ellen's grand kids.  It was more of a challenge than Missy or I anticipated but we did our best and learned lots about corralling that many little kids. I hope we can do it again down the road to see how much the kids have grown and to try and get a photo where all the kids are happy and looking at the camera. Below are some of my favorite photos from the session. 

Flaming Gorge River Run

Summertime means Scout Camp. This year, JJ got to go on the high adventure camp (since he has most of his badges towards his Eagle). Lance got to go too (they needed another leader). We drove to Wyoming, and rented two rafts and equipment for the river. Self-guided (pretty easy river), so we dropped off a set of the boys at the camp, and JJ and Lance joined the first group of rafters.

Top standing, (left to right): JJ Madigan, Jayden Greenwood, Race Shepherd.

Squatting: Dakota Hard, Bryce Jolley, Josh Price, Spencer Warnick, Josh Warnick.

Sitting: Nate Smith, Lance Madigan, Nate Price, Martin Mathews, Isaac Hard, Brandon Schaub.

We put in just below the dam, and set out on the adventure.

JJ and Nate Smith.

One the of fun activities (besides some pretty easy rapids) was "boat diving" -- the rubber, inflatable rafts made for nice spring boards, to do flips and other dives from the boat.

Besides those mentioned before, we had a couple of others join us in Wyoming (drove up separate later on Thursday). In the middle boat (rotating clockwise) was Bryson Hawkins, Bro. Sanchez, Yacot Sanchez (and then the Warnick boys and Jayden Greenwood).

Evenings was spent just relaxing. The boys had a card game they played a lot (not sure what it was), and they were always "bottle flipping" (tossing a water bottle end over end, trying to land it upright).

There was a little wildlife ... not much. The rabbits in camp were very tame (I was less than 8 feet from this guy when I took the picture)

Yes, and JJ is an "expert" packer. Fortunately, he had to get only from the tent to the truck (all of about 15 feet).

  

Family Fun

One of the things that the kids love to do is build forts in the house.  I know that nowadays you can buy pre-made fort stuff but I like to see the kids use their imagination to come up with a fort out of stuff we have just lying around.  The kids have always loved imaginative play and even though JJ and Hannah are in the teen realm they still all three like to create story lines and act out different scenarios.

One day we had the Smith boys over to play for an evening.  Asher had a great time hanging out watching movies and playing games.

Star Trek nerds that we all are, of course, we had to go see the newest movie Star Trek Beyond.  We all enjoyed it so much!

Funtopia

In an effort to try something new and active I took Hannah and Asher to a local climbing wall place.  Hannah is our daredevil and went to the top of several of the walls.  Asher was a bit more nervous but still tried and had fun.

The picture below is what they spent the most time doing.  They had a blast using the harnesses to be able to climb the soft bricks and jump down. Over and over and over again.

The spiderweb and rope ladder were probably the most difficult course for both the kids.

Garden

Asher seriously loves plants.  He was so excited when his 3rd grade class got some cabbage starts to take home and plant.  He had 3 plants and all produced huge cabbages.  

Girls Camp

This was Hannah's first year to attend Girls Camp.  She was very nervous and I'll admit so was I.  It was held at a church owned camp up near Scofield reservoir.  I helped drive up but then came back home after seeing that she was all settled.  The girls slept in tents and the highlight was the zip line in their campground.  Hannah, daredevil that she is, absolutely loved the zip line!  There were some things that didn't go very well and stuff that she didn't like (vault toilets) but all in all she had a great experience.  She loved paddle boarding on the reservoir second only to the zip line.  

Fourth of July

My fourth of July photos are all kind of out of order.  We first went to Charlie's house to send some fun time with the cousins and then went Thanksgiving point to watch the fireworks with Jake and Carolyn.  It was a great day full of tradition, family and fun.

Brinlee and Hannah

Park

One of the things I have always loved about our neighborhood is the close proximity to parks.  We love our Bandwagon park especially after some much needed updates happened earlier in the year.

Jax didn't like this bumpy ride.  He is a scaredy dog. He'd much rather just sleep.

Pets

We still have chickens and some are still laying pretty well.  They love to be let out of the run and take dust baths in the sun.  

Trelawny

Bluebell (aka the chicken from hell who likes to roost in the trees)

Miss Jane Austen (my oldest and favorite chicken)

Elsa (our easter egger who is the lowest on the pecking order and gets bullied by all the other chickens)

Dust bathing chickens are pretty funny to watch.

Spirit the Puppy!

After Abby died Lance and I decided that we would get a puppy for Asher for his birthday.  We searched and searched and finally found this little white ball of fur.  We drove to Roy to get him.  The people we got him from said that he was born on June 1st and that he was a Lucas Terrier.  They didn't have either of the parent dogs on site and there were several other things that they said that didn't really add up so we really aren't sure what breed he is. Although he is definitely some type of terrier.  Despite how the following photo looks Asher was thrilled.  I think that the stress of whether or not it would work out and the very long drive through rush hour traffic had him carsick and worried.  The puppy was SUPER good on the long drive home and just slept the whole way.  I'll admit I was a little worried because he was so sleepy for the first 24 hours or so.  After that he perked up and after his first check up at the vet we knew he was healthy.  The weight of all the responsibility of owning a puppy was heavy for Asher. He takes it all so seriously.  This puppy has been a dream so far.  He is still working on potty training but for the most part is so sweet and eager to please.  We all love him so much. After much thought Asher named him Spirit, mainly because he reminded him of the spirit bears in Alaska. Spirit wears the purple collar that was Abby's to help us remember her.

Jax is super easy going which made introducing the puppy to him pretty worry free.  They got a long great after Jax figured out what that little ball of fur was.  They love to play and sleep together now.

Mouse the cat even likes the puppy and will let him chew on him and wrestle with him.

We took the puppy over for to the Zeller's house so that Libby could see him.  It was fun to watch the puppy chase after Libby in the grass.

Asher came with me when we took the puppy to his first vet visit.  Asher had a really hard time when they had to give the puppy his shots. Asher hates shots himself so he was so worried that the puppy would be in pain.  He toughed it out though and was very loving to the puppy.

Jax took a while to figure out what the puppy was all about.  

We love his tummy freckles! They are so cute!

Hannah was at girls camp while all this happened so we had a BIG surprise for her when we picked her up!

Seriously he is the cutest puppy ever!  

We took the dogs for a walk to the park and the puppy ran the whole way. He wanted to be first the entire time.  Jax just about collapsed on the way home.  He is such a homebody and sounds like a freight train if he gets any exercise.

Pioneer Day

It has been our tradition to invite neighbors and friends over for the Sidewalk of Fire. Fireworks and treats, socializing and fun.  We had a large group this year and we really loved seeing everyone!  We had s'more fixings and other treats this year.

Carter Zeller

Josh Smith

Abbie Price

RegAnn Zeller

Erica Mathews and Ben Smith

Ben Smith, Josh Price, Trevor Smith, Taylor Price

Danielle Smith

Taylor Price

Taylor Price and Asher

RegAnn, Libby and Hannah

Hannah and Ben Price

Carter

 Mt. Timp Cave

Asher is our serious outdoors man. He wants to hike, camp, and live in the outdoors. He was actually quite mad that Lance was going with JJ to Flaming Gorge, and that Hannah got to go to Girls Camp -- and he felt left out. So Lance took him and Hannah to Mt. Timpanogas Cave up American Fork Canyon. You park at the Ranger Station (small Visitor Center, the original was destroyed by fire in 1991), and begin a one and a half mile hike, gaining almost 1,100 feet (it is really steep).

There are lots of little markers, trail signs, and things to see on the way up. The Forest Service suggests taking 90 minutes to make the climb. We did it just a little faster (Asher is a slave driver!)

The trail goes right up the side of the mountain ... and occasionally through it!

Timpanogos is technically a series of three caves (connected now by man-made tunnels). It is quite cool inside ... both formations, and temperature (average year round temp is 46 degrees).

A view of northern Utah County from the cave trail.

You can see the red and yellow lines ... these indicate "high risk of rock fall areas" (we were just supposed to keep walking through these, but of course Hannah stopped to take a picture).

Cave Trail Selfie.

Didn't see too much wildlife. We left the Ranger Station about 10:30, so it was a little late in the day for much to be out (much later in the day, and the trail gets HOT).

Pokemon Going

The Zeller's introduced us to the fun game of Pokemon GO.  Our first time doing it was on a double date with Scott and Missy at Sushi House in AF.  It was fun and we quickly joined the madness!