Summer Update Because I'm Slacking!

I've been slacking big time the last few weeks. This summer is flying by at light speed so I better blog about what I've been up to before my blog posts include stuff like "back to school" pictures. Seriously, my kids go back to school in 14 days! Yikes!!!

4th of July:
We had a pretty relaxing 4th of July weekend. Sam had hernia repair surgery on the 2nd so we did a lot of chillin'. We did manage to do some fireworks, which is a must! Parker fell asleep during the fireworks, which is what happens every year. That child is just NOT a night owl!! Come to think of it, he's not a very chipper morning person either. Hmmmmm, teenage years are going to be painful for him. Poor buddy!




The new family member:
Several months ago I bought a piano from my friend. I knew when I bought the piano that I wouldn't be able to have it in my home right away because we were just starting our remodel project. My friend was gracious enough to keep the piano at her house until we were ready for it. We finally moved it here last week. I'm in heaven! I've wanted a piano since I got married. It's so fun to sit down and play Primary Songs with my kids. All three of them LOVE it! I keep finding Cameron sitting on the piano bench, "playing" the piano, and singing at the top of his lungs. Hysterical! A huge thanks to Amy for letting me give your piano a good home! I will forever be grateful to you!


Sweet Family Campout:
This year the annual Sweet campout was at a campground by Fish Lake. The name of the campground was Frying Pan. It was awesome! A huge group site with a capacity of 100 people. It was gorgeous, lots of room to spread out, and the temperature never got above 70 I bet. For anyone who knows anything about me, I dread the heat. Last year the campout was at Zions in southern Utah. Now that was hot. So hot I think I freaked out a few times. :) No freaking out this year.

It was a trade off though....cool days turned into FREEZING nights!! After the first night of no sleep due to the cold temperatures (the van said 33 degrees when Sam took a ride at 5:30am to warm his feet), we got smart. Sam turned into a boy scout and threw a few big rocks into the fire. Just before bed we wrapped the rocks in foil and a towel, and put them in the bottom of our sleeping bags. Oh, that was heaven! I slept like somebody who just ate too much for Thanksgiving dinner that night!

As always, I get a little grumpy preparing for a big campout, but the work is totally worth it. We made lots of memories (nobody let Sam lift anything heavier than 15 pounds; lots of mosquitoes; habanero cheetos; water fights; soaking my feet in a Peppermint Spa treatment with Fern, Cindy, Shauna, and Fontella; playing "I'm going across the plains...."; Canoe rides, Liz and Dallin totaling their van; Minute to Win It, Carson slept in his own tent; EXCELLENT late night by the fire with Sam, James, Dallin, Scot, Audrey, and Jeremy; Scot and Melissa announced their engagement; Cooking meals with Jeff/Cindy, Fern, and James; all the grandkids made breakfast for the adults on Saturday morning; the cows...oh my gosh, the cows!; taking down camp in the pouring rain) which is exactly what it's all about!

Just before we left to go camping, Carson started getting all these crazy cold sores in his mouth. By the time the first day was over, Carson was hurting so bad he seriously never talked the rest of the time! It was so weird. I'm usually telling Carson to be quiet because my ears are tired! I'll admit, I hated the fact that he wouldn't talk. It was almost like getting a glimpse into the teenage years with him. Shudder!

I have to explain the cow situation. There were hundreds and hundreds of cows all around the area of our campground. It was an open grazing land for them. Every morning around 5am all the cows would head down the road to another field and they were LOUD!!! It was so bizarre. Nobody was leading them down the road, that's just what they do. I've never heard so much chaos before in my life. Then every afternoon around 4pm they would all come back the other direction, making just as much noise. We had to watch our step because there were lots of cow pies everywhere. Sam told the boys that the cows were good for "moo'in and poo'in"!

Fun pictures:





The wind kicked up at one point and started blowing our table cloths away. We hollered for everybody to hold them in place while we taped them down. Cameron was helping as well. Once everything was secured and everybody went back to their activities, we noticed Cameron was still frozen in place. Ha Ha, he is so bizarre!













My nephew Cory was making a hot dog for lunch... instead of a bun, he used whipped cream. Whatever floats your boat when camping!







I'm in charge of the Sweet family campout for next year. If anybody has any favorite Group Sites let me know!!!