It's not every day....

We've had a few unusual things happen this last week.

Noah called me from soccer practice to find out if we had insurance on Matt because he was about to roll down a hill in a giant ball. I wanted to capture the moment on film, but was too late. Instead I took a turn (that's me). If you ever happen on an opportunity like this, don't pass it up. It's a good time or as Matt put it: "the most awesome thing ever." I don't think I'd go that far....

This not so little guy was coiled in front of our next door neighbor's garbage can. He was found alive but I am not mourning his death.
Last weekend there was an attempt to break the world record for number of people in a water gun fight. Matt & Noah participated and got soaked. I don't know if they broke the record but it was a lot of fun. They were on the Marine's side and had the help of Cosmo. The Navy side had the Flash Fox. I don't know who won but everyone (even those of us who were on the sidelines trying not to) got wet courtesy of the fire hoses.

Scout Camp

For the past two years Matt has had the fun of taking the cub scouts up Hobble Creek Canyon to day camp. This year I got to go. We had 9 of the boys from the Bear den which turned out to be a perfect number. The kids were excellent. We made boats and swords, shot BB-guns and slingshots and learned about the stars, archery, and knot tying,. Well, the kids did anyway. Noah figures that the reason I didn't do any shooting was because I would be "bad at it." Thanks for the vote of confidence. He's probably right, but still, he didn't need to say it out loud.

Venturing Outside

At the risk of jinxing the weather I am going to say it: it finally feels like summer. Ben was amazed yesterday that we've had so many nice days (4) in a row. Sorry if it snows tomorrow. I will take the blame. Here's what we've been up to the last week or so.

Ben's New Ride:

Ben got a new bike so that we could put the training wheels on his old bike for Zack. As excited as he was about getting a new one, he was also really bummed to give up the beloved old one. So much so that he came in crying because he was going to miss his old bike.

Picnics
Zack loves to plan a picnic. He's seen plenty on Max & Ruby and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he knows just what to do. He follows me all around the house rambling about what color blanket we need, how many cups and plates, who we will invite, how we will be seated, what we will have on the menu. He is very thorough. He always wants carrots. He won't eat the carrots, but they need to be represented. You should have seen his excitement when we had cupcakes. It was the perfect picnic. But he didn't eat the cupcakes either. Some things are just for show.
Matt taught Zack how to do the rock and roll sign with his fingers. It's his new favorite pose, but it takes a lot of concentration for him to get his fingers in the right positions.
Water
The boys love to have water parties. We break out the slip and slide, swimming pool and squirt guns and wait. They always want to go door to door to invite friends but there is no need--they find us. It is always so much fun.
This is how I avoid wet towels everywhere.

Work:
Noah had the opportunity to earn some money by pulling weeds. He was excited about all the potential purchases he could make. The excitement wore out pretty quickly though when he learned what hard labor really is. I will have to toughen him up if he thinks he'll ever go move pipe for Grandpa.
Family:
Angie is the reason I was able to go to girl's camp last week. She was brave enough to take on my three boys and then invited us to a bbq on Saturday. I knew I should be calling her more often. We don't see Chad & Angie nearly enough and we got to see Clint & his kids, Randy & Barbara, and Amy & Justin's family. We had a really nice afternoon. The kids play together really well and all Ben and Noah could talk about on the ride home was Josh this & Michael that. It's too bad we don't get a chance to see each other more often. I missed seeing Melanie because she was running the Dam Race in Rexburg.
(My pictures from this day are lame. I didn't get one in focus pictures of the kids with the cousins.)

I love, love, love summer nights. Check out this sunset from a few days ago:
The last two nights there has been a full moon over the lake. It is like a spotlight shining on the lake. It is really pretty. If I could get a decent picture I would post it. It's amazing. There is nothing better than sitting outside on a warm summer night.

Girl's Camp

I was doing some math and I have made a startling discovery: I am getting old. I've had my driver's license for 20 years. It's been 16 years since I was in Young Women's and 17 years since I went to girls camp (as a camper, not a leader). It doesn't seem possible but it's true. The numbers don't lie.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening with our young women at the church's Heber Valley Girls Camp. It was so much fun and it brought back all kinds of memories. We have the most amazing girls in our ward. They are kind, loving, enthusiastic, helpful, beautiful, creative, I could go on and on. It was a privilege to be with them.
I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures of the camp. It is a really neat place. The camping is relatively luxurious as the girls have cabins and showers. But there isn't a pool like we had a Rock Creek. We were early in the year so it was cold. They actually had snow on one day, the same day as the 4th year overnight when the girls did have to sleep in tents. When I went to camp we had to prepare our food over a fire or some other outdoor method. This camp has a nice industrial kitchen with a walk in fridge, big ovens, warming drawers, etc. All the wards eat dinner together & luckily it was our ward's night to help with the dinner. The girls were hard workers and it was fun to prepare a meal using all the fancy equipment.

I didn't have time to arrange to go stay the whole week. But I am planning on going up next year. I can't wait.

Presentable

Ok, you can stop staring. We cut the mohawks off. If you want to draw attention to yourself a mohawk is definitely the way to go.

Prior to church I decided to take a picture of the kid's summer hair cuts. Because they all aspire to become JC Penny catalog models, the boys struck these poses:
Then Noah realized that Ben had picked the best spot in which to pose so he tried to kick him off which sent Ben into a screaming fit. Someone hit someone and they all ended up in their rooms. That pretty much sums up the summer so far.

Up Next: tattoos & body piercings

Matt agreed to let the kids keep a mohawk until Saturday if they would let him shave their heads. Noah's awesomeness convinced the other two. They think they are the coolest. The hair styles shocked our neighbor Max because, I just found out, we are the strictest parents on the street. Who knew?

Tarzan Ben

Ben has some major issues with hanging on things. He is making me crazy. Today he accidentally pulled down the towel rack hanging on the bathroom door. A few months ago he accidentally pulled the curtains down in my bedroom--for the third time. Luckily he doesn't weigh much so sometimes the curtains don't fall down, they just hang crooked. Dianne smartly loops her curtains over the rod when we come to visit because, yes, she has been a victim too. But the worst was when he decided to swing across the couch using the blinds cord. He didn't pull the them down, but he somehow got tangled in the cord and gave himself a nasty rope burn across his neck. Thankfully he hasn't tried that again (that I know of).

Curtain swinging aside, Ben is a good kid. I worry about him because he is my middle child and tends to blend so much with the other boys that I have to work hard not to overlook him. His kindergarten class had a program on the last day of school. Mrs. Willson brought each student up and told something special about them. I have loved her as Ben's teacher this year. She has been just what he needed because she is such a loving person and took the time to get to know each student as an individual. Ben even mentioned that night how Mrs. Willson told everyone that he was her little helper and worked hard. She didn't say that about anyone else.