I survived Camp Jeremiah Johnson

Since I'm Primary President, therefore a member of the Cub Commitee, and I'm also the parent of a brand new Cub Scout, I got to help chaperone eight 8-9 year old boys at Camp Jeremiah Johnson. The camp is up Hobble Creek Canyon near Springville and it has been around for years. It's extremely well organized and they know how to make a great adventure for the boys.

Luckily, this was the last rotation of our day: rafting. How did I possibly think that I could go out on the raft with the boys, and enjoy a nice ride up the pond and back without getting wet? Just because every other rotation of the day did this? Not our pack of boys! There were two rafts on the pond, and instead of just racing the rafts to the end of the pond, they had to start a water fight - I ended up SOAKING wet. I could wring water out of my hair! Everyone had a great time though, so I guess it was worth it. Here the boys are - Panning for Gold. I don't know what kind of "gold" it is, but each boy took home 4 or 5 little pebbles of something shiny.

Another rotation was the BB Gun range. Kyle has shot guns with his Dad a lot, but he still had fun shooting the bb guns.

In another rotation they taught the boys archery:

At one point in the day, the leaders showed the boys how the indians and pioneers made rope. They made a 25 foot rope, then had a tug-o-war with another pack from Eagle Mountain (Cedar Pass 16th Ward -do you know them?)

It was a fun, exhausting day. I have been before, but it is much more fun to go with my own son and watch him learn new things and get along with the other boys. Let the Scouting begin, right?

Kyle's 8th Birthday

Kyle turned eight years old on Monday! He is so excited to be able to be baptized, and to be a Cub Scout! He got a mountain bike for Joe and I - it's pretty big, but he seems to handle it just fine and it should last him for several years. On Tuesday, he had a party with his friends. Most of them know that he loves Pokemon, so he got a shirt and lots of Pokemon cards. He was in heaven!

We took him and his friends to Chuck E Cheese for his party. All of the kids had a great time - and the pizza wasn't even as bad as I remembered it being.

Camping

Some pictures from our camping trip last weekend:

Our land sits on the North side (right in this picture) of the Strawberry River Valley.
This is a picture of the Strawberry Pinnacles, taken from the Camelot Resort at the bottom of the canyon. The lighting isn't really great, but these cliffs are really gorgeous when the sun hits them.

Joe brought the wheelbarrow and some cement to our land and he built up our firepit so it's a little bit taller and safer. We have these amazing flat shale rocks all over our property, we just had to go collect some the size we wanted.

Kyle and McKayla played on this tire swing while we filled up our water barrels at the Camelot Resort. The owners of the resort are so nice to let us come fill up whenever we need to. Great people.

This picture reminds me of the tire swing at the park in Tooele that we used to play at when we were little - maybe the one on Vine Street? Does anyone else remember that tire swing? Does anyone else remember getting REALLY sick after playing on that tire swing?

Some feet (because you know I love them!)

Pedicures with the girls in North Carolina:

Laura, McKayla, Jill, Betty, Sarah, Jacque, and Deanna (and thanks to Shelley for taking the picture!)

Fourth of July

The kids and I drove out to Roosevelt on Saturday to spend the day with Grandpa Bell. We watched a little Tour de France and Nascar, tried to shop for home decor (impossible in Roosevelt!), and lit off some fireworks. Josh is terrified of fireworks, especially the noise, so Grandpa found him these - I don't know the right word - soundproof earmuffs? - for him to wear. Do you think they are helping on his cheeks?
Thanks Dad for letting us come crash for the day. We had a lot of fun!

Some More Odds and Ends

Really, not much going on, but I know that you are all tired of the bedroom upgrade! Here are some odds and ends of our week:

Last week was Lehi Round-Up Week - we didn't participate in most of the activites - we were all kind of feeling lousy and lazy - but we did go to the parade on Saturday morning on Lehi's Main Street. We sat in the shade, and it was COLD! I had to go home a put on a jacket to warm up - at noon - at the end of June - in Utah. Weird! On Saturday I dropped Joe off at the airport - again. We are going to get really good at this throughout the summer. He will be gone much more than he will be home. He is in Missouri for some training this time. Maybe he will take some pictures and put them on the blog for us.

Yesterday evening we had a major thunder and lightning shower at our house for about 20 minutes. It was a great electrical storm and that really hard, sheeting rain that only happens in Utah every once in a blue moon. The boys pulled chairs up to the screen door to watch the "show" and it reminded me of the Cat in the Hat:
The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house

All that cold, cold, wet day.

Kyle had football camp this week. I can't believe it's going to be football season soon!

That's about it for now - hopefully we will do something a little more exciting this weekend!