Cousin Fun: At Our House

Our swimming plans got tossed out the window again last week since the weather wasn’t cooperating. Holly brought her kids out in their suits hoping that the overcast skies and chance of lightning would pass over, but they never did. The kids found other ways to keep themselves entertained while Holly and I worked on putting together a slideshow for their ward’s girls’ camp. They played in our little pool, jumped on the trampoline, played Wii, had water fights, watched Chicken Run, ate pizza (and fruit pizza), and shot Ben’s bb gun. It was such a fun day that they weren’t too disappointed about postponing the pool (again).

Tracy Aviary

I was feeling the need to get out of the house on Wednesday, so I took the kids on a little fieldtrip to Tracy Aviary. We had a great time together. Here are the highlights:

• Watching the peacocks while we ate lunch. We were debating if they could fly when one of them hopped/flew off of the roof of a building. The kids thought it was so cool.

• The baby birds in a nest right next to the bathrooms. The momma bird kept flying in and bringing them food.

• The bird show. The lady that told us about the birds had a really cool Australian accent. The kids pressured me into being an adult volunteer. I got to pretend my arms were tree branches for a red-billed toucan to hop along.

• Feeding the pelicans. It was so worth the extra ten bucks to throw fish into the pelicans’ mouths. All of the kids said this was their favorite part of the aviary.

• Finding a turtle swimming in the pond.

• Feeding the rest of the water birds (ducks, swans, ibises, etc.). There were lots of cute ducklings and one baby swan.

We stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home so the kids could get free donuts with their report cards. It was quite possibly the best part of the trip. The kids were completely fascinated by the whole donut-making process. I think they could have stood there and watched for hours if I would have let them.

Activity Days Day Camp

Emily got to spend the day at Camp Kiesel with the Activity Days girls on Tuesday. She was so excited about going that she was even happy and cooperative when I woke her up at 6:15. She had loads of fun. She got to shoot a BB gun and a bow and arrow (which was tricky with her skinny little arms). No bullseyes for her; she was just happy that she got one arrow to hit the hay bales. They had to skip the obstacle course and the nature walk because everything was muddy from the rain, but they went to some nature classes, took the canoes out, and made leather sheriff badges for the craft. I think her favorite part of the day was spending her money at the trading post. She bought a rabbit pelt, a rabbit foot keychain, and a gem bracelet.



I had a surprisingly hard time sending her off for the day. She has great leaders, but it was still weird not to go with her. I’m kind of hoping that they call me to be a Young Women leader before my girls start going to girls’ camp. Sending her away for a whole week might be more than I am up for.

Fourth of July Celebration

We had a pretty low key holiday this year. We took the kids to the parade in the morning. We have a long-standing tradition of hanging out with Heidi and Aaron at the parade, but their boys woke up feeling sick so we were on our own this year. The parade wasn’t quite as much fun as usual for our kids. Our city made a new rule that people couldn’t throw candy or prizes from the floats. Instead, they could walk alongside and hand candy out to the kids. Lots of the parade entries opted for no candy at all and the kids didn’t get nearly the haul that they usually do. They were a little disappointed. Parades are all about the candy when you’re a kid.




Our original plan was to go swimming at Heidi’s parents’ house in the afternoon, but instead we just had a lazy day around the house and got things ready for my family to come for a BBQ. It was a pretty small gathering since several people had to be other places, but we had fun with everyone who came. We had a yummy dinner and ate strawberry shortcake for dessert. Jeremy and Chantelle stopped by for a bit. I was excited to get to meet Olivia. She is a doll! I don’t really want a newborn of my own, but they are sure fun to hold.


The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. They spent most of their time playing in the water and we busted out the candy cannon for a little extra fun. Jody was a cool aunt and did a little target practice with Ben. He loved that.






The fireworks show this year was the shortest I that I can remember. They started at 9:50 (ten minutes early) and were over before 10:00. The good news is that Emily had to get up early the next day, so at least we didn’t have a super late night.

We finished our celebration on Tuesday night with some fireworks at our house. Luckily our kids are still happy with the simple stuff. We bought snaps, flowers, and sparklers and they were completely thrilled. They pretended their sparklers were wands and kept shouting out spells from Harry Potter the whole time we were out there. It was quite entertaining.

Brigham City Pool

We took the kids to the Brigham City pool on Friday. It was hot and sunny and just a perfect day for swimming. The kids spent lots of time practicing tricks (i.e. doing handstands under water), going down the slides, and taking turns on the diving board. Everyone had a great time. I must confess that my favorite part about the Brigham City pool is that it makes my feet soft. I usually have rough, Grandma Cardon feet, but a few hours at the Brigham City pool and they are nice and smooth. It’s like magic.

Our camera batteries were dead, so we just took a couple of pictures with Nate’s phone.

Webelos Day Camp

Ben got to go to day camp twice last week. They went up Tuesday morning only to find out that there had been a mix-up with the dates and they were there on a Wolf and Bear day. Our doorbell rang at noon and Ben and Claudy were standing on my front porch. My first reaction was to say “Did Ben get kicked out?” Poor kid to have a mom who always thinks the worst. Claudy and Tosha had taken the boys up. It ended up being a kind of crazy day with one of the boys throwing up in the car right as they got there and Claudy falling into a little river, getting herself and her camera wet. I was glad I missed all of that fun.

The real day for Webelos camp was Thursday. Tosha couldn’t go again, so I volunteered to go with Claudy. Only three boys ended up going the second day and they were so well-behaved. They got along great together, paid attention, and did exactly what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it. They were awesome! It was so easy that it was actually fun. I’m glad I got to go with them. Ben’s favorite parts were the geology class (the girl that taught it really knew her stuff), shooting bb guns (even though he’s pretty sure his gun was defective), archery (he got 2 bullseyes!), and the canoes. He, Korbin, and Conner each bought a coonskin cap. The three of them looked pretty cool walking around together with those matching hats.






The girls got two fun days out of the deal. Maddie spent the day with us on Tuesday. They played outside, built forts in their bedroom, made bracelets, had a picnic, and watched a movie. They were so good and had lots of fun together. I love it when babysitting someone else’s kid makes being a mom to my own kids easier. They totally kept each other entertained.


My mom came to stay on Wednesday night so she could watch the girls while I went to camp with Ben. She brought Rachel and Bryton with her. My girls were super excited about having a slumber party with their cousins and loved every minute of it. After listening to all of the squealing and giggling on Wednesday night, I was pretty glad that I was leaving my mom here with six girls (Maddie came again) on Thursday. The boys were lots less spastic and loud.

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

Nate and I went to South Ogden Days for the Ryan Shupe concert on Saturday. It was so much fun! It was very family-oriented with lots of kids running around and dancing, so I felt a little bad about not bringing our kids along. I felt better when I realized that we couldn’t have taken them anyway since the van was in the shop. We ran into our friends the Bowens and hung out with them a bit. Their boys kept us entertained with their awesome dance moves.

Cousin Fun: Temple Square

For last week’s cousin date, we took the kids to Temple Square. Our original plan was to go swimming, but too many kids had gotten too much sun on Wednesday. So, we bumped Temple Square ahead in the lineup. We took tours of the Beehive House and Church Office Building and then spent some time in the South Visitor Center and the Church History Museum. It was hot and I was tired (and maybe a little bit grumpy), but I’m glad we went. The kids always have a great time hanging out with their cousins and hearing them tell Nate about everything they saw made it all worth it.





Our van started having some serious transmission issues on the way home. Driving 55 mph on the freeway the whole way home with the air conditioning off (it was making the engine overheat) did not add to the fun of the outing. I kept telling myself “we’re making a memory,” but some memories I could live without.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Ben was excited to get home from boating because the UPS man had left his BB gun. He has been saving up for a long time and finally had enough money for the gun, a canister of BBs, and some safety glasses (Nate told him he couldn’t buy the gun until he had enough for the glasses too). We set up a target in our back lot and let Ben practice shooting for a while. He was in heaven.

Back to Boating

We went boating on Wednesday. It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for a warm enough day to take the boat out. Our original plan was to just to go for a ride, but we all ended up in the water. Nate was a pro (as always). I was pretty gutless. I got up just fine, but I had to talk myself into even crossing the wake. I’m getting so wimpy in my old age. Nate lectured me about how I need to push myself. Next time. Emily popped right up on skis and had fun skiing for a few minutes. The rest of the kids were content to ride the tube. We let them take lots of turns. Both Emily and Elise fell off and both of them totally freaked out when they went into the water. Hopefully with more experience it won’t be so traumatic every time it happens. It was a great day on the water. We were sad to see that all of the annoying little gnats are back this year. We seriously didn’t see any of them last year and we were hoping that the pattern would hold. No such luck.