Surf n' Swim and S'mores

Wednesday was a fun day with neighbors. Claudy and I scored a great deal to Surf n’ Swim a while back and decided it was a good day to take the kids. Our family has always gone during the winter when they have the bubble on. We loved being out in the waves in the sunshine. The kids had a great time playing with Korbin and Maddie, and I had fun hanging out with Claudy. Nate joined us after work and stayed to play for a couple of hours. It was a fun day with family and friends.



Wednesday night, the Parrys hosted a little neighborhood party in honor of National S’mores Day. The kids played while the grownups chatted, and everyone had their fill of s’mores (and lots of other treats). We stayed out way too late when we really should have been packing for our trip, but it was good fun time.

Boating with the Godfreys

Our good friends the Godfreys were here visiting from Texas last week. Since we couldn’t make it to the big friend gathering on Saturday, we planned a boating day with their family on Tuesday. I was not thrilled when I got summoned to jury duty that day. I had to report to the courthouse at 8:45 a.m. I was worried that I was going to have to miss out on all of the fun we had planned for the week. I felt lots better about things when the judge said that he anticipated the trial being over by the end of the day. Fortunately, my jury duty experience only lasted about an hour and a half. I was just there for the selection process. It was really quite interesting, but I wasn’t disappointed when I wasn’t chosen as one of the “lucky” eight to serve on the jury. I was happy to go home and head out to the lake with my family.

Nolan and Lori had some lunch plans and couldn’t meet us until later in the afternoon. So, we got in a little boating time before they showed up. I had the most fun skiing that I have had in years. Warm, glassy water makes all the difference! It was also wonderful to have the whole beach to ourselves. Boating on Tuesday afternoons is infinitely better than weekend boating.









It was fun to catch up with Nolan and Lori and to get to know their kids’ personalities better. Our brother-less Ben sure loved hanging out with William and Stephen. They had a great time together. Some days I wish that more of our friends lived close-by so we could hang out more often, but we’ll take what we can get.

Cousin Fun: Boating

Holly and Shane’s family joined us for a boating trip on Saturday. We were happy that the weather was gorgeous and they actually got to get in the boat this year. It was a huge improvement over last year. Their older kids were all pretty excited about learning how to ski and/or kneeboard. Nathan was a natural at skiing and got up on his first try, and Taylor mastered the kneeboard well enough to be doing spins by the end of the day. Jacob wasn’t quite as enthusiastic to get out there, but he tried skiing and had some fun on the kneeboard. Nate loves teaching beginners, so it was a fun day for him. He was impressed with how well they did. Rachel and Bryton got in a few rides on the tube and spent lots of time with my girls playing at the beach. A good time was had by all.




















Even though we had loads of fun, we were reminded why we never go boating on Saturdays. The beach was packed and there were tons of boats out on the water. It made me more fully appreciate how lucky we are that Nate’s work hours are flexible enough to let us do fun things during the week.

Sleepover with Sarah

Kevin was having some health issues last week, so I volunteered to keep Sarah for the day (and overnight) so that Jody could help him/get some rest. She is such a good-natured baby that it was so easy and so much fun to have her spend the day with us. She has superstar status with our kids. They gave her their full attention all day and thought everything she did was adorable. They actually started driving me nuts with all four of them wanting to be right next to her at all times. She is certainly loved. I got to have some one on one time with her after they were all in bed. We bonded. She usually doesn’t give me the time of day, but we were best friends by the time I took her home.

Family Camping Trip

We went camping with my sisters and their families last week. Nate and I always assume the responsibility to get up the canyon early and find a good spot. It’s a lot of pressure. We lucked out this year and scored our favorite campsite. It was occupied when we got up there on Thursday morning, so Nate walked over to see if the people were staying through the weekend. It turns out they were his neighbors when he was growing up/the parents of one of our good friends. And, they were just packing up to go home. Sweet! Thank you to the Tesches for saving our spot.

Jody’s family came up on Thursday afternoon and Holly’s family joined us on Friday. It was a great trip and we all had so much fun. The kids decided that camping with their cousins is lots more fun than just camping with our little family. I loved that they kept each other entertained so I could be extra lazy.











We took the kids’ bikes up with us. They don’t get lots of bike riding in around our house, so they (except Elise) couldn’t get enough of it. They rode their bikes all around the campground and they each (including Elise) managed to have at least one wipeout that was bad enough to draw blood.





We made a few trips down the river on Thursday and a few more on Saturday. It was amazing how much the river bed had changed (I’m guessing from the high water that we had this spring). The changes were mostly good, but there was a big tree stump that had been uprooted and was sticking root-end-out into the water. That, and a few big boulders, made navigating downstream a bit more challenging. I’m afraid that some of Holly’s kids might be scarred for life after getting dumped off their tubes.















We played a few different card games with the kids, but the biggest hit was Speed UNO. We’ve been waiting for them to be old enough to introduce them to the fun way to play UNO. It is great when you can turn a mind-numbing game into something the whole family can enjoy.



We got in a few games of volleyball with the older kids while the younger ones played at the park.




The favorite activity for my kids was playing kick the can on Friday and Saturday night. Abby declared herself the winner and claimed the trophy (the plastic Pepsi bottle that we had used as a can). Kevin had helped her sneak up close by having her hide behind his wheelchair, and she managed to kick the can while Nathan was guarding it. She was so proud of herself.


We cleaned up and headed home on Saturday night. It was sure tempting to stay another night, but Ben had reminded us earlier that “we don’t camp on the Sabbath.” What were we thinking teaching our kids the Ten Commandments? :)