Idaho and the 4th of July

We had an excellent adventure on our family trips. We are grateful for wonderful family, safe travels, and precious memories. We spent a week in Idaho and a week in South Tahoe, so I'll do an Idaho installment and a Tahoe installment. 

Idaho comes first.

Hurricane liked camping. He liked switching canoes. He was going to 'win' the canoe race with aunt Rachel. When he hit a sandbar he said 'we've landed'. Hurricane liked finding golf balls on the canoe trip. He liked fireworks. He liked getting candies at the parade.

Underfoot liked going to the cabin, the parade, sleeping outside, and the fireworks.  Underfoot did not like canoeing when the hail came down.

Mama liked how kind her siblings were to our family. 

Scott, Mama, Aaron

 She liked the cabin. Fourth of July was great even though she lost her flip flop shoe while canoeing. Mama laughed hard on the 4th of July, and she made two apple pies and a delicious lemon supreme pie.

Daddy really liked being at the cabin. He really likes Mama too....

Monday -  Underfoot, Hurricane, and I went to Aunt Rachel's classroom to be. She will be starting as a 2nd grade teacher this fall and wants to have a welcoming, safe place for her students. We moved furniture, cleaned off the projector screen from the drawings Hurricane left on it, and moved her library. We thrift store shopped for some of the white elephant gifts and the candy count jars for the Locey family reunion. We had a fun day!

Tuesday - We had a visit from out of town friends and had lunch.

Seeing their family and catching up was awesome!! Sweetheart flew to Pocatello. My brothers suggested that Sweetheart be picked up in the Meridell Park limo.

 The boys surprised Sweetheart in the airport. We went for ice cream and then home to bed.

Wednesday - We got up and went to the cabin as a family. The cabin is a wonderful place for us to rejuvenate. 

We played pool, games, soaked in the hot tub, 

 roasted marshmallows for s'mores, 

chopped wood, watched a movie, and slept. I finished my Loius L'Amour book.

Thursday - Before we returned home to Pocatello, we took a family picture in the field below the cabin. We had a lot of fun posing. 

We returned back to Pocatello where the boys went with Dad. I went to see Maleficent with my sister-in-laws and nieces.

After the movie, the adult women had pedicures. Sweetheart and the boys laid asphalt, moved heavy machinery, and put up a 50 foot flag for the 4th of July. We all gathered for supper at our favorite restaurant, El Herredero.

The boys slept on the back porch the last few nights we were in Pocatello. Sweetheart and I were glad to have the bed to ourselves. Underfoot and Hurricane don't feel the need to move around at night when they are outside.

Friday - The 4th of July was awesome! Uncle Aaron had use watch The Sandlot as part of his family tradition while he made a pancake breakfast. 

Aaron and Rachel

 After breakfast, I made a few pies - lemon supreme and apple-lemon. They were delicious. We attended the parade where candy, toothpaste, and water were abundant. My brothers and our families had a quick lunch at the car museum before canoeing down the Portneuf River.

 When we started out the sky was blue. The boys and I (minus Sweetheart) landed on a sand bar. Hurricane announced proudly, "We've landed." He said it like we had discovered a new country or something. When we launched, hail was dropping from the sky. I laughed hard because it was so wonderful! The canoeing took us the rest of the afternoon.

Scott and Aaron

We barbequed and watched fireworks at Scott and Jill's house. The day was magical.

Saturday - We woke up early to drive to South Lake Tahoe. The day was long because we had such a full week. When we arrived in Carson City, NV, we shopped for the L family reunion and went to bed as soon as we arrived at the resort in Tahoe.

Tahoe is next..... Be well.

Going North

Mama prepared for our summer trip on Monday and Tuesday. Packing, cleaning, sorting, and preparing are full-time tasks. Tuesday evening was the boys last swim meet. They both have improved over the season and love to swim.

Underfoot won a race. He was so excited. Emma A., the boys' babysitter, came to the swim meet to help time and watch boys. She and her family will move this week to Texas.

On Wednesday Mama took the boys north. They started their trip with their last swim team practice for the summer.

Underfoot lost a tooth that morning.

They made it to Las Vegas in record time and stayed at the R. home. The R. family used to live 3 doors down from us. Now they live in Las Vegas. 

Underfoot and Miss Sweetness

Hurricane was reunited with his best friend and partner in crime, K-man. (Together they are known as the K-Men!) 

The K-Men

I'm not sure what all exciting things they did in the few hours they had together, but some of their past exploits include bombing the chickens with their own eggs, throwing just about every imaginable item over the block wall fence, and causing mischief and mayhem. The next morning they went to Red Rock Canyon and earned their Junior Explorer Badge.

Miss C. bought some fun road games and presents. The ball maze has become the popular toy.

Their next stop was in Salt Lake City, where they visited Mama's Grandpa Hoggan. 

The boys fed the ducks, turtle, and catfish at Grandpa's pond.

After saying their goodbyes, they went to Deseret Industries (like Goodwill) and shopped.

Lunch was at The Pantry at Temple Square, and on to Idaho.

We also went to see the Christus.

Mama commented that her whole body relaxed once she came within 30 miles of Pocatello. For her, there is something magical about returning to the land of her birth. She and the boys went to the Kirkham Cabin for a few days of fun in the woods. 

Underfoot reported that they went hiking, slept on the couch, and had a great time. Mama's brother taught Underfoot and Hurricane how to shoot a .22. They loved it. Perhaps we will take up a new hobby. 

This is the other brother.....

On a side note, I learned today that one of the men in our congregation was a shooting instructor for the military. I am hoping he can teach all of us how to shoot!

I've been holding down the fort here in Tucson. I have been working like crazy to save some of my vacation time. On Friday morning I helped my friend assemble an above ground pool. It was his second attempt. The first attempted ended in dismal failure when a gust of wind blew over the whole thing before he got the water in it. So, this time around he asked me to help him. I stayed for about two hours. He was able to get water in it before the wind started to blow. It was fun to help him. He is not one to ever ask for help!

There was a small 5.2 earthquake on Saturday night in Tucson.
 
At work I am learning about a whole new kind of math called statistics. Mama calls it sadistics. I thought I knew something about the subject, but the more I am exposed to it, the more I realize I don't know much at all. It is fascinating to me.

Saturday night I harvested 27 pounds of grapes from two of our vines. I got them inside and started inspecting them and realized that most of them were still a little tart. (I had harvested them about a week too early!) so I kept the most ripe grapes and fed the rest to the ladies. When I came out to check on them this morning, they didn't come running to me like they normally do. Instead, they just casually looked at me, like someone who had just finished Thanksgiving dinner. I guess when they are well fed they don't seem to be bothered to eat more or sick to their stomachs!

I visited a couple in our congregation on Sunday morning. I learned that the wife makes cakes for weddings, birthdays, and just about any other event. She had made a huge cake earlier and had all the left over cake tops. (The part of the cake that you cut off to make the cake level.) I told her that I would see some teen-aged boys later in the day who would love to eat the leftover cake. It was delicious! There was so much of it that I will take it in to work on Monday.

Lately I have been thinking about gratitude. There are so many reasons to be grateful in my life. I have a healthy family. I have the means to provide for them. I have hands that can work and a mind that can learn. I could not ask for a better life. The best decision I have ever made was the decision to marry Mama. All good things stem from her.

A brief recap of the week before:

- The boys finished soccer camp. Hurricane liked it very much. Underfoot felt more confident and liked it better near the end.

- We went to Mesa Temple to attend the temple with Alex A. Alex was in the priest's quorum (young men's group ages 16-18) that I am an advisor. Alex will be going on an LDS mission to Madagascar starting in July.

- Auntie Y, my sister, and her children came to visit Auntie M, my other sister. We went to Canyon Lake with them Friday evening. I always enjoy being around my siblings. The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins.

- The boys attended one away swim meet and both got to swim in a relay. Hurricane swam the relay with a goggle full of water. He wants to swim relays all the time.

Be well.

Plants and The Circus

In the news...

Hurricane continues to amaze us with his swimming prowess. At his most recent swim meet, he decided to wear a bracelet with plastic charms on his wrist. It came off at some point during the race and he spent the rest of the race clutching it in his fist. He smiled and finished, happy to be able to compete.

Underfoot participated in Junior Ranger Camp for the second time. Last year he really enjoyed it, so we enrolled him in it again this year.

Teaching about Teddy Bear and Chain Cactus

Another boy from his class (both school and church) also participated, so the two moms worked out a carpool arrangement.  Underfoot brought home an owl pellet with bird bones and bird skulls.

Underfoot and Ranger Emily

He was very proud of his discoveries. Mom was not excited to see the owl pellet pinned to his bedroom wall.

Mama has been a good sport about scurrying around, taking care of her boys, (young and old) and keeping our household running. She is preparing for our annual summer trek north, which includes shopping, packing, and cooking.

She has a meal calendar worked out for the next three weeks. She continues with her physical therapy on her ankle and shoulder. We look forward to the day when she can go back to exercising without any restrictions.

I continue to be super busy with work. Busy is good. I am involved in challenging but rewarding work. I love to see the fruits of my efforts.

I recently was able to change the way something was done which reduced a particular set of tasks from 23 seconds down to about 9 seconds. This kind of execution time reduction is huge when multiplied over may thousands (if not millions) of times over.

Mama spent time teaching  Underfoot how to sew. They both made wallets out of canvas.

Mama helped him learn how to do the stitching with her machine. I am glad she was able to teach them. That is one skill that I wish I'd learned.

On Wednesday I attended the Eagle Scout Board of Review for one of the young men in our troop. I was able to observe his final interview. He did great. It was good for me to remember what the boys must go through to qualify for the rank of Eagle Scout.

On Friday we took the boys to the Circus. We enjoyed 12 dollar popcorn and watching lions, tigers, and elephants.

They also had a steel sphere where they put 7 motorcycle riders inside. It was amazing to see them spin around. The high wire trapeze was breathtaking.

The boys both had a great time. After the show, we grabbed some lunch at a local sandwich shop called Eegees. I went back to work, Mama took the boys shopping. Later that night we went to the boys' soccer practice. After soccer practice we attended an open house farewell for a family in our congregation that is moving to Texas. We are sad to see them go. Their 16 year old daughter has been our go-to babysitter for the last couple years.

On Saturday we took six young men from our congregation to a nearby lake for a day of canoeing. We got to the lake at 7:30 in the morning and got home about 3. I was able to take the International Scout and had two 12 foot long canoes on top.

 Everyone had a great time, including  Underfoot and Hurricane, who played in the water and rode in the canoes. They both experienced what happens when the canoe tips over...

Hurricane wanted to jump out and swim to help his brother. Mama and I didn't see the exchange, but we heard about it from the young men.

In other news... Today we harvested our first fruits from the aquaponics system. We ate one small strawberry (which was surprisingly full of flavor) and 6 bell peppers.

The strawberry is a surprise because daytime highs are between 100 and 110, which is typically too hot for strawberries.

 We have about 10 tomatoes on the massive plants and the first one is beginning to turn red. The watermelon plant is growing nicely and the bell peppers have additional peppers in the works. The four tomato plants have grown so much that they are covering nearly the entire two grow beds.

We also harvested grapes from our grape vines this week. Next year I will have to pay more attention to how the grapes grow when they are little. If I take time before the grapes get big, I can route how they will hang and I can cover them in paper sacks.

The paper hides the bunches from the birds, so the grapes don't get devoured by them.  We let our chickens out a couple days this past week and they completely cleaned the one bunch from one of our newer vines. This year I didn't take the time to check where the grapes were growing, and some of the bunches grew in places where the grapes were difficult to harvest. The grapes would get inter-twined with the metal wire which supports the vine, causing some of the grapes to get lost when harvested.

Last week's new.....

The boys picked all the apples, and we juiced them.

The juice is currently sitting in the freezer.

We also had other activities like swimming, soccer, reading, and learning to sew.

First Week of Summer

Summer began with a party! Our neighbors, the Ryan Family, decided to move. (In reality the military decided they should move to a different desert in the United States.) We had a BBQ on Memorial Day and invited the friends that they associated with to come and welcome them to a new adventure. Cyndy, the CEO of the Ryan family, decided she didn't want to say goodbye but have a welcome to a new adventure.

Hurricane celebrated his birthday in a grand way. Since his birthday party last year, he has talked every single day about the birthday party this year. Sweetheart and I determined that birthday parties would be held every 4 years. This did not deter Hurricane in the least. He talked about his cake and the friends that would bring presents. There was no birthday party. Hurricane brought otter pops to swim team and shared with about 60 children as his birthday treat. He came home and did his jobs. As a surprise to Hurricane, Underfoot and I decided to take him bowling with our neighbors.

It was his "party." They all had fun.

We went and bought his birthday present old appliances to take apart and maybe put back together we came home to turn around for soccer camp. We came home to make a birthday cake and FaceTime with Kirky and Jilli.

He had a very full birthday.

Underfoot started summer piano lessons, and Hurricane got a clean bill of health from the doctor. The boys have chosen to participate in summer country learning class and learned this week about Nigeria. They participated in their first swim meet.

When each of them finished their first race they asked if they won first? They didn't but did the race.

They now have a point to move forward. We were surprised by our neighbors when showed up to support Underfoot and Hurricane.

Usually when there is something I can't control, I will cut my hair off. Over the past 6 months, 2 of my support system have moved with their families for new adventures. I decided to pull out the carpet in our bedroom instead of cutting my hair.

We have the goal to replace the carpet. My neighbor and I pulled the carpet out after Sweetheart left for the evening.

When they helped, they sang the song, "Team Work."

Our generous neighbors let me put our carpet and pad remnants in their garbage cans. Sweetheart has really struggled with allergies, and he has slept better since the carpet has come out.

Our friends moved on Friday. We had the great opportunity to have their children here while the truck moved their things. Saturday we went to the temple and saw Uncle Matt and Aunt Merris. The boys also did their soccer camp.

The week was very busy and full.

Be well.