What would summer be without a few scout camps, right? Brevin and Jason showed what it took to "be prepared" for Brevin's first overnight scout camp as an eleven year-old scout. Jason went along to help fill a third adult leader position, and the two had a really great time. Upon their arrival home, Brevin was just a few requirements shy from his rank of First Class. That's not too shabby for barely getting started in his boy scout career.
Several weeks later, Spencer had his turn to attend day camp at Jeremiah Johnson with all of the Wolfs and Bears. He got to shoot bb guns and arrows and pull handcarts around camp with his buddies. Yeah, I think he enjoyed himself thoroughly.
It had been quite some time since we had made the hike to Timpanogos Cave, and so it seemed like a good opportunity give the children a real chance to stretch their legs and put their mad climbing skills to the test. The Timpanogos Cave hike is beautiful, and the reward of exploring a cave at the end makes it all the more worth it. Even the drive up the canyon to the trail head is lovely, so an activity like this is really a great way to spend your vacation days. Isn't that right, Jason?
No foolin' around. This is some serious hiking.
Brevin and Spencer like to lead the way.
The boys have recently taken a liking to the game Minecraft. If you are familiar
with the game, you may understand why this trail sign caught their attention.
Garrett spotted the entrance to the cave.
Here we are at the top. Brevin is sporting a smile even though he
was not feeling well and had to vomit at the "last chance" bathrooms.
I'm not sure why Ella is doubled over as if exhausted. She was carried
up the mountain. Maybe she just needed to stretch her legs.
After a quick check from the ranger to make sure the camelback
was not protruding too much, we got the go ahead to enter the cave.
The Great Heart of Timpanogos
After exploring the inside of the cave for nearly
thirty minutes, we came out into the open air.
By this point in our trip, Garrett had had enough of having his picture taken.
Our family had talked about doing a weeklong camping trip to the Uintas for our summer vacation, but then Jason and I began discussing the idea of doing something different each day and including an overnighter at a campsite we'd never been to. As we explored options of activities we could do, I really took to the idea of "shaking things up" and adding a little variety to our vacation plans. I'm not going to lie. I was also sold on the idea of only packing and planning meals for a one-nighter as opposed to four. Even still, our plans incorporated a day trip to fish in the Uintas. We didn't wan't to give that up completely, so we packed up our gear, loaded up our van, and headed north for the cool, crisp mountain air.
We arrived early and set up on the banks of Washington Lake for our first round of fishing. As always, we were not disappointed. There was plenty of fishing action and opportunities for Ella to touch the fish just before they were to be released. Aside from the bald eagle that kept swooping in for a dive, we were the only ones out on the lake, it seemed. It was refreshingly peaceful.
Ella loves to cheer when anyone reels in a fish. She loves to pet them, too.
Brevin and Spencer are becoming quite skilled with a fly and bubble.
When Spencer becomes restless while fishing, he tends to
put down his pole for rock climbing and exploring.
Brevin poses with a nice little rainbow trout that he caught.
While waiting on the shore, Ella keeps herself occupied by throwing
rocks and banging branches against logs and boulders.
This trip was Garrett's first opportunity to try out the new
Cars fishing pole he got for his birthday. To say the least, it works.
I think he brought in the most fish for the day with a final count of eight.
I just love the look on Ella's face in this picture.
After a fair amount of time at Washington Lake, we decided to eat some lunch before heading up to Butterfly Lake. It started to drizzle a little but, but that didn't keep the fish from biting.
For a moment, Garrett thought he caught a fish, but he started to have a really
difficult time reeling it in. Jason went to free his line from what he thought was
a snag. Turns out, they were both right. They eventually brought in this tangled
mess of moss and a fish! I love the look of surprise on Garrett's face.
Well look there! I finally put down the camera to pick up a pole.
When the children felt they'd had a sufficient amount of time fishing, we headed back to the van and started our drive home. We did stop off at Lost Lake for a brief time so Jason could get a few casts in. The children and I stayed inside the van and watched a movie. I may have nodded off a little, too. It had been a full and satisfying day. The best way to wrap it up was a stop in Heber City for a burger at the Train Station, followed by a nice, comfortable evening in my own bed.
Wildfires had displaced our extended family gathering last summer, but this year we returned to Red Cedar Lodge as planned. During our stay, we thoroughly enjoyed water activities at the lake, outdoor games and sport competitions, good food, and great company.
Our family had to make an early departure, however, at the discovery of some questionable spots and infections that cropped up all over Spencer's skin. When those symptoms were coupled with a spiked fever, there seemed to be adequate cause for alarm. We rushed home so we could manage getting an appointment with the doctor before the clinic closed for the weekend. We learned that Spencer had hand, foot, and mouth disease and a case of impetigo--all of this on his very birthday, too.
Well, our stay had been cut short, but our memories had not. We had already managed to pack in quite a few activities during the time that we were there. Here are a few photos of some of those activities:
Spencer and Makayla were paired up in a badminton
match. They lost against Grandma and Lanay.
Everyone gave the football toss competition a go, but in
the end it came down to a shoot-out between Jason and
Lance. Lance ended up with the winning throw.
Brevin and Loni defeated Cheryl and Ralph in their first badminton game.
We all had a great time playing a candy ball game that Sharley had prepared.
Knowing that it was Spencer's birthday, Lance made a special
Mickey Mouse shaped pancake just for him. Wasn't that awesome!
Truth be told, it really doesn't seem to matter where we get together with my family. What's certain is we always have a really exciting time, despite being plagued with hand, foot, and mouth disease.
This good-looking fellow just turned nine years-old. If you think he looks charming in his pictures, you should see him in action. Spencer is outgoing, cheerful, and highly charismatic. These qualities naturally draw others to him, and he is happy to assume a role of leadership among his peers. He has demonstrated an increased measure of maturity at home as well. Now, don't get me wrong. He can still be quite spastic and silly at times. I do not think he will ever outgrow his tendency to be an attention commanding personality, but he has developed an increased responsible and thoughtful nature, too. He's bright and talented, with a wide range of interests in academics, sports, and the arts. While he has gotten much better about finishing books that he has started reading, creative writing still remains to be one of his greatest strengths. He is quite the storyteller and writes with fantastic expression.
I could go on and on (it's easy to get carried away when you're a mother), and it would be extremely difficult to pinpoint just what I love most about Spencer. I can say I really enjoy that he still consistently requests that I sing him a song every night at bedtime. For all his growing and maturing, that is the thing he does that reminds me that he truly is, and always will be, my little boy. Watching his year-in-review birthday video, however, reminds me how quickly that "little boy" is growing up. See what I mean:
An Indiana Jones Water Party
I decided to allow the boys to do friend birthday parties this year, and Spencer requested an Indiana Jones themed water party. I had found some great ideas via Pinterest and especially loved the invitations described on this post. I ordered the suggested book from Amazon, but while awaiting the delivery, I made some "save the date" movie posters (thanks to the magic of Photoshop) to give to each of the party guests. The posters were really fun, and could have stood alone, but I was absolutely giddy at how cool the lost journal invitations turned out.
Party favors consisted of a hat for each child and a felt satchel. I found the hats at Deseret Book. I admit I felt a little obnoxious wiping out the store's complete inventory of pioneer trek hats, but at $4.95 a piece, I couldn't pass them up. The satchels were made of felt and I sewed them the night before the party using the pattern idea I found on this website. Inside the satchel, there was a prescription bottle filled with M&Ms and labeled as a poison antidote, to be consumed after one of the party games.
Once the guests arrived, Spencer opened his gifts before we played water games. I love how excited he was about receiving this box of Reese's Pieces candies.
We headed outside to play a number of games that included water balloon grenades and water blow darts (wet Q-tips shot through straws). I got the ideas from this other party, including the idea for the poison antidote. The children were then given an "archaeological challenge" to see who could find and collect the most darts and grenade "shrapnel." Once that task was accomplished, they were allowed to slip 'n slide away from the giant boulder.
The water games were so simple, yet they turned out to be so much fun. Even Jason got involved and quickly became the target for all the blow darts and water grenades.
When the lawn was sufficiently saturated and the grass completely matted down, we all came in for cake and ice-cream. Spencer had an Indiana Jones birthday cake some years ago, but this time he really wanted a giant boulder for a cake. A boulder? Really? That's it? I tried to make it a little more interesting by adding a fondant figured Indiana Jones, but I laugh when I see the attempt. It turned out looking a little less like Harrison Ford and a little more like George Lucas, in my opinion. It must be the hair.
Well, as most parties tend to do , this one turned out to be a really great time. It was quite a treat to entertain this cute group of children for an hour and a half.
Spencer's Birthday Breakfast at Home
Spencer's party was nearly a week before his actual birthday, and we were going to be at a family reunion on that day, too, so we let him have his breakfast of choice on the morning before we left for our trip. He wanted french toast on homemade bread. He got it. After he ate, we let him open his gifts from our family.
Spencer's Birthday Breakfast at Red Cedar Lodge
On Spencer's birthday, we were in southern Utah staying in a cabin with extended family. My brother Lance made a Mickey Mouse shaped pancake just for Spencer for his breakfast. Wasn't that so sweet! Unfortunately, Spencer became sick and had some awful-looking sores quickly develop on his legs, accompanied by a spotty rash that had cropped up all over. He was running a fever as well, so Jason and I decided to "medically evacuate" him in attempts to make the three and a half-hour drive back to Springville to catch our pediatrician before the clinic closed for the weekend. It turned out he had impetigo and hand, foot, and mouth disease. What a wonderful birthday surprise (drip sarcasm)!
Spencer's Birthday Dinner
When the illness was finally "at bay" we took Spencer out to his favorite restaurant for his annual birthday dinner. He chose Pizza Pie Cafe. I think that is three years running, now. That Oreo pizza must be something!
