Yard Sale and Snake

Underfoot and Hurricane have talked about doing a yard sale for about one month. They wanted to try their hand at selling goods (items and baked.) We (meaning Wendy) cleaned out our cupboards, shed, attic, closets, and under the beds to have a decent sale. The cleaning out consumed a lot time.

Making Cookies on a Sunday

The boys making their own cookies.

On Thursday night, I walked into our kitchen after cleaning out the book shelves in our library. I looked down to see a snake. I thought it was a plastic one that the boys had and then it moved. The snake moved. It wasn't plastic. I ended up on the counter in a flash. Sweetheart took care of it. Not sure how it got inside. It was a non-venomous one. In the moment, I didn't really want to go to sleep, move any furniture, walk around our house, or sit on the floor. EVER. AGAIN. I know that is over the top dramatic, but I did learn that I can fly with great speed. The only consolation is that Sweetheart got a little freaked out too. I told my Dad and he said, "Don't worry. They only eat bugs." Cyndy told me to burn my house down and move to Las Vegas.

Saturday morning we had the yard sale. The boys sold donuts and lemonade. I think they made more money doing that than anything else. The sale wasn't super successful because many just looked and drove on. We didn't have anything big like furniture or electronics. Anything that was left from the yard sale that's non-perishable was taken to the Deseret Industries donation pod after the sale. Some of it return to our shelves like a book, a little computer table, and some place mats. We fill both our cars with stuff for donation. It's nice to clean out a bit.

The boys had their swim banquet and swam. They had so much fun and are ready for starting again. They were awarded their own swim backpacks which will be helpful for next year.

Hurricane had his first 1/2 day. Kindergartens get to go to the specials - music, P.E., SUMS (students understanding math and science), and art. A parent volunteers and follows the class around while the teacher has a meeting. Hurricane asked if I would come, and I did. We had a great day together.

Underfoot and Hurricane had school pictures.

Friday evening is our Bountiful Baskets distribution. The middle school principal insisted we do it in the lobby of the gymnasium because of lightening in the distance. The lightening and rain came for 15 minutes to soak to the bone. We even got a National Weather Service warning on our phone. The boys took boxes to cover them and played in the rain. They were totally soaked.

Sweetheart is solving problems at work. He has a project deadline in September and is working a lot to make the deadline. He invited the young men to play games on Saturday night. We had a fun time as some parents came too.

A Surprise Package

Sweetheart: He went camping and water-skiing with the Priests in our ward in Phoenix. He had a lot of fun and has been very sore ever since.

Underfoot: He started piano lessons again. He really wants to play baseball this fall. The school hosted a "job fair" which is a club sign up. He signed up for Drama Club and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Club. He would have liked to sign up for more if he could have.

Hurricane: He started piano lessons as well. He would like to play soccer this fall. At the school job fair, he signed up for the Drama Club. He isn't old enough to be in most of the other clubs.

Mama: The Cub Master and I did 3 new cub scout orientations and 2 move in orientations. The Rincon Stake hosted Standards Night for the youth so there was no mutual for Sweetheart. We tossed a coin, and I went to the Roundtable meeting. Sweetheart put children to bed.

Family: We celebrated our family birthday (our anniversary) this week with carne asada from a Mexican butcher.

The meat was really yummy. The boys get excited for the treat that comes.

We ate stuffed strawberries with Nutella and dulce de cachuate estilo mazapan.

Last Week's Highlights:

Sweetheart dropped Hurricane and Underfoot off at school. The bell rang, and Hurricane was trying to go fast. Underfoot stopped, came back for Hurricane, and walked him to class. Sweetheart called to tell me how he was happy to see Underfoot stop and help Hurricane. 

 

My sister sent a box full of a some great treasures. One of the treasures was a necklace she wasn't using.

The necklace made an amazing addition!

 

We attended a wedding on Friday and helped with reception on Saturday.

We spent the night with Sweetheart's sister's family. Hurricane and Underfoot went to their cousin's birthday at a water park. They had a blast!

Be Well.

Quiet Week

Last week was rather quiet. We got into the routine of being in school in the mornings. Homework hasn't really started.

Sweetheart - On Saturday, he helped a man put in a cement footer under his gate.

He thought it was a good idea and put a footer in under our gate.

We marked it with our hand prints.

Mama - As the Cub Chair, I meet with new boys about Cub Scouting with the Cub Master. We have 5 new boys in July. That's a busy month for Cub Scouting. Another silly think I did also came off a ladder too fast and hit the door knob with my backside. After all the physical therapy I thought I had busted my tailbone again. Ice is the greatest friend in the world, and after 2 days, I felt much better. I don't think I broke or moved it.

Underfoot and Hurricane - They enjoyed swimming the hot tub of our adopted grandparents, the Gravely family, for family home evening on Monday. We got some bananas from the ward's Pioneer Day celebration and needed to make something with them.

We 5x the recipe (a lot of bananas) and made a bunch of banana muffins that have been enjoyed as snacks. The boys set up a train track.

They put the farm at one end and the Little People Castle at the other end. They would then ship food to the castle and take visitors to the farm.  They were invited to the baptism of 2 of their friends on Saturday. 

 

Here are pictures of boys just because I can add them.

Hurricane

 Underfoot

Be well.

1st Week of School

We returned super late on Sunday last week and started school the very next morning.

Hurricane started in kindergarten, 

and Underfoot is in 2nd grade.

They were both super excited to go. After school we went to our tradition of ice cream. That evening we bought our school supplies and restocked the frig from our trip.

Underfoot wants to play school and has yet to bring home any serious homework. Hurricane asked all week if he could ride his bike to school and finally got to ride on Friday.

Sweetheart worked on restaking our tree on Monday and took care of a few things around our house before returning to work on Tuesday. Our area had what is called record storm with winds of 45 miles an hour and lots of rain. This all happened while we were gone.

Tuesday evening we hosted a BBQ for the 16-18 year old youth in our congregation. They played the newspaper game. The newspaper game is rolling up newspaper and trying to get to someone before getting tapped with the newspaper by calling out another person's name in the circle. The game got really fun when we used last names only have 4 doubled last names.

I edited and labeled the 1,300+ pictures from our trip and ran a Bountiful Baskets site this weekend.

Sweetheart continues to love his work.

Be well.

Lake Tahoe and Yosemite

Tahoe was a lot of fun! Sweetheart's parents generously provide the housing for the annual Locey reunion. We thank them over and over for providing the opportunity!'

Tahoe was a first for our family of four. The boys loved being with their cousins, aunties, and uncles. Sweetheart was assigned to plan the reunion, and we had some fun activities each day. Sweetheart wanted it kept simple with one daily activity. He let me intersperse some games and family evening gathering events.

Sunday - We went to church. At the reunion, the group usually eats together for breakfast and supper. Dinner (a.k.a. lunch) is one your own as are snacks throughout the day. Dinner is a word my Grandpa Kirkham used for lunch. I like to throw it in every once and a while. Sweetheart and I prepared meals for Sunday. We introduced the candy jar guessing game at supper. All were allowed one guess to win the jar of candy. There was a different candy filled jar each day. Angelina, the youngest, won the first day.

She immediately became everyone's friend. In the evening, we had an adult family meeting - a quick update on each siblings family, future reunion plans, and any other family business items.

Monday - We went to Nevada Beach just down the road from the time share. Children buried each other in the sand,

played in the water, squirted water guns, and built an impressive castle. The adults talked and played with children.

Sunscreen was a must for some of the more fair crew. In the evening, we had a candy jar (winner Auntie Laura Jane) and family home evening. Sweetheart had assigned each sibling an ancestor to learn about and share with the rest of the family. 

The children filled in "My Family" booklet with 4 generational pictures from both sides of their families.

Tuesday - Pictures are very important to me. Ten years ago family pictures were taken at Bear Lake during the reunion. We asked that a white shirt and blue jeans were wore to match the picture from 10 years previous. We had a surprise photographer, BC.

BC is Sweetheart's friend from high school. BC's family was also vacationing at Lake Tahoe. For a family of 32 people, pictures were taken remarkably fast of the whole group in 25 minutes doing various family groups.

After pictures, we went on a hike to Spooner Lake for lunch. The hike was fun and was in contrast to Bunsen Peak from last summer. 

Hurricane slowed down after lunch so I promised him a big bowl of ice cream if he beat his cousins back to the car. He was motivated, and Hurricane and I beat the entire crew back to the cars. He was super proud of himself. We swam in the pool later.

A talent show and white elephant exchange happened in the evening. We laughed at the stolen white elephant items and cheered for the talents each share. Poems were recited. A dance performance, comedy routine, and skit made us laugh.

Hurricane won the candy jar that night. He was a little more stingy about doling out the candy.

Wednesday - Virginia City was the destination. It isn't the same Virginia City as in the Ponderosa. This is the real one built on a hillside.

We rode a train, visited a church, ate BBQ provided by Uncle Aaron at the city park (Cousin Grant won the jar by guessing the exact number), visited a mine, and had ice cream.

We learned that millions of dollars of ore were taken out of Virginia City in its height, and the trains ran day and night. We rode the train in honor of Les and Claire Locey.

Grandfather Locey loved trains and spent part of his and Grandmother's retirement riding them.  We want are children to know the stock that they are built from.

We swam again that night.

Thursday - Emerald Bay proved to be beautiful and a great hike. Since it is popular, we parked along side the road and hike a 1.5 miles to get to the beach.

Our family rented kayaks to go to the island and see the "tea" house that is built at the crest. On the island the boys cliff jumped into the clear water. The water at Tahoe is clear to the bottom. Hurricane again wanted to win and beat the other kayak back to the beach following his Portneuf River run. He didn't win. With the threat of a storm we hiked out and went to Fallen Leaf Lake. The lake is not connected into Lake Tahoe.

We swam again before returning for supper (the last candy jar winner was Uncle Matt) and a flour war.

Thanks to friends' donation of nylons we filled about 80 flour bombs.

(Note: Tights don't work well. They are woven too tightly and hurt when you are hit with one.) Someone said that it was therapy to throw things at each other.

We left with mostly smiles.

Friday - We woke up to a text from Uncle Aaron sharing that their cousin's wife had died the day previous. For Sweetheart and I, we reflected on how precious life is.

Sand Harbor is Aunt Michelle's place. She grew up coming to Tahoe, and Sand Harbor is where they would come. We were in an alcove of rocks where children caught fish and crayfish.

Adults played Hearts, read books, and cliff jumped.

We returned for a left overs BBQ and one last drip in the pool. Our car was pack for an early morning departure.

Saturday - Yosemite National Park was on our way home.

Leaving at 5:30 am we traveled to the East Entrance and saw some of the highlights by starting in Toulumne Meadows to El Capitan to the Yosemite Valley and waterfall and on to Half Dome, Glacier Point ending at the Giant Sequoias.

We have 2 new Junior Rangers from Yosemite as they completed their requirements for another badge and a bonus patch. When we entered we thought we'd leave by 12 noon. We left at 4 pm. The sites were spectacular, and we had a memorable day. On our way to Redlands, CA, we encountered a wreck and took at detour of about 1 hour. We arrived at the hotel at 12;50 am. It was a very long day. They boys were amazing!

We hope this finds you well and happy.

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.