Guys trip to Zion

Darryl finally got Chris Goode on a Zion trip with him!  They both have talked about planning a trip ever since we started going to the Hale Theatre together with Chris and his wife but the Zion trip never seems to happen.  They both have crazy schedules so I was surprised when Darryl told me they had finally set a date to go hiking. They were joined by Darryl's brother Greg.  It's fun to see these two taking a break from work and just enjoying life. 

Demolition Derby!

Like most youth in Sevier County, Darryl and I went to the Demolition Derby every year.  Well since we were kids (that is bizzare to say) we haven't been to a derby, until this year.  Our boys thought it was, "SO AWESOME!!!"  Watching their excitement and listening to their amazement made me feel kind of bad.  I felt like I have deprived them of some wonderful thing.  One thing that made the derby so fun for me was that we knew a few of the drivers so we got to cheer them on.  I don't remember specifics from the past derbys I have been to but it seemed like back then the drivers would cower in the corner as long as they could in hopes to save their cars and keep them running so they could win the prize in the end.  At this derby it seemed like the drivers were more interested in entertaining the crowd.  We all really had a blast and we're already counting down the days until next year.  

We were sitting near Paul and Wendy Malan.  They were both getting a kick out of Cole and Clint and their dancing.  The background music isn't just in the background for these two.  They just can't help themselves.

Real Salt Lake

Our Pass of All Passes got us into a Real Salt Lake soccer game so we went today.  The boys were beyond excited until we got there.  We were sitting in the sun and it just cooked us!  It was an incredibly hot day and everyone in the stand on our side was drenched with sweat.  There was a 45  min. wait for the drinking fountain and bathroom sinks.  We couldn't get enough water.  Oh, fun times!  The boys still cheered for their team-- a little. :)

Concert in the park

We went and enjoyed an evening at the city park tonight with Annette and Steve Williams.  Darryl on a business trip so he missed out but we enjoyed listening to the band and eating Mexican food from the vendors.  The boys had fun wrestling, dancing, and teasing each other.  They entertained the Philly fans behind us, who immediately "adopted" them since they had Philly hats on.  Such a great way to spend an evening celebrating living in this great State.

Park City Farmers Market Fun

One of our favorite places to frequent in the summer is the Park City Farmers Market.  The kids love it for the rides on the cabriolet and I love it for the yummy produce I buy.  It's close, beautiful, and free(unless you buy produce and an Italian Ice--ha ha!).

Brag Tag--Shooting Range

Chalk another one up for an awesome brag tag experience.  We went to the shooting range today to do the Bullseye Brag Tag. There were 2 volunteers there that were on duty to manage the range for the day and they were extremely wonderful with the boys.  They went above and beyond teaching the boys about gun range safety.  They were shooting their personal guns and asked the boys if they wanted to take a few shots.  Of course they were excited to shoot a gun, especially one that "looks cool!"  I didn't think to take a picture while Kade and Clint took their shots.  Kade hit the target dead center and the guy, in good humor, was frustrated because he'd only shot the gun 3 times and hadn't been able to hit the bullseye and Kade's first shot found the center.  His next couple shots were pretty good as well.  Clint did pretty good as well.  He sights with his right eye so she shoots left handed which is a little awkward for him.  I wasn't even considering Cole attempting to shoot but the guy was insistent that he get a turn and Cole didn't understand why he shouldn't get a turn when everyone else got a turn-- he's oblivious to the fact that he's much younger than Kade and Clint.  He shot well and was smiling so big until it kicked back on his last shot and hit his mouth.  I felt so bad because the guy was feeling so good about helping the kids and then after that happened he seemed to regret ever doing it.  I think he felt like I would be upset with him but it was completely and accident.  If anything I felt very indebted to him for sharing his time, patience, ammunition, and knowledge with the boys.  I really wish I would have gotten the guys names.  They were so great and I would have liked to do something for them to show them our appreciation.

Sail away!

There have been some amazing Brag Tag opportunities this year and this one takes the cake. The Park City Sailing Club sponsored this one. Every other week they all get together to sail. They study techniques, do races, and just talk sailing.  For this tag you had to go sail with them.  They had a couple of larger sail boats that you could ride in.  I initially stayed on shore to save space and it was such a quick load and embarking so I didn't get a picture of the boys in the boat.  While I was watching them from the shore another boat came in and loaded the spectators up so we could get out on the water and have a closer look.  It was so interesting to learn a little about sailing.  The best though was looking out over Jordanelle Reservoir and seeing all of the boats.  What a beautiful sight.  Sailing across the water with no noise but the splash of the water on the boat was so serene.  I felt like I had been transported to somewhere like Florida.  I didn't get a picture of the boys getting off their boat because the wind died so our boat got stuck.  Our captain ended up paddling us back to shore.  When I returned to the boys they were talking about the different parts of the boat and said the captain had them pull the ropes on their boat. :-)  SO awesome!!!

Clint is 8!

Is it possible that I have 2 of my 3 kids old enough to get baptized!  I'm not old enough, I tell you!  I still think of how old I thought my sister was when her first was baptized-- I thought, "She is no longer a young mother but she's now like as old as . . . mom."  Between the both of us we have 6 kids 8 or older but I actually think we're both still 25.  Funny how  your mind doesn't let you age. (notice I didn't say memory, or body-- those age!)
Well for height and weight Clint is now 51 lbs. and all muscle!  He's 49 inches tall which is a big deal because many places require kids to be 48 inches to ride certain rides or do certain activities.  He's all good now-- for the most part. ;)  He loves to laugh and so jokes, or silly things are right up his alley.  He can retell a show with a play-by-play of every character.  This happens often. :)  He can read extremely well and really enjoys school.  The hardest part for him is not being able to be called on every time.  It is hard for him to understand why the teacher won't call on him when no one else is raising their hand.  We've tried to explain to him that the teacher is trying to get the other kids to answer, give insight, or think and not just rely on him to answer every time.  He understands the reasoning but he just thinks they should still call on him because, well, he knows!  Clint was born easy going and he is still that way-- most of the time.  If he has done something wrong though it really eats at him and he feels completely horrible about it.  The thing I love most about him in situations like this though is that no matter what it is that he did he feels like he can always be honest with us and he'll tell us exactly what happened.  He's such a great, helpful kid and I'm pretty lucky to have him as my son.  Love you buddy!

Birthday Party Starring: CLINT BOSSHARDT

Clint chose a friend birthday party so today he celebrated with many of his close friends. Those that came were:  Peter Bringhurst, Ashton Jones, Garrett Marsh, Zack Goode,  Ben Chappell, Parker Mayne, Karcson Madsen, Korben Madsen, Ben Ailshie, Spencer Ailshie, and Zack Karl.

Unfortunately, I can't find the pictures from the party.  Hopefully they turn up before I get this published in the book.  :-*(

All Clint wanted was to have a movie party and watch The Lego Movie with snacks.  I went off that idea and here is what we ended up with:

• We, of course, watched the Lego Movie-- with popcorn, licorice, and a drink.
• We played pin the face on Bad Cop.  He had a blank yellow lego face and they boys had to try to put his face on the right spot. 
• We played lego match.  We paused the movie and they had to dig through all of our legos and find 5 pieces that were currently on the screen.
• We opened presents.  Clint received some super fun toys from all of his friends.  You would think with that many presents he is sure to get something he's not too excited about but nope!  He loved everything he got.
• Instead of a cake he wanted doughnuts so I got the bar doughnuts and cut circles on them to make them look like a 2 by 3 lego piece.
• They ended the party with playing outside.

Such a fun time with so many boys!

Scouties at Bridal Veil

The "scouties" as their den leader calls them hiked to Bridal Veil Falls today.  Wendy Malan is Kade's Bear den leader and she took the boys down the canyon to hike around the falls.  The boys thought it was one of the best scout activities ever!  Kade loves every activity though-- he's was meant to be a scout.

WICKED!

I was so excited to go with this group to Wicked tonight! It's the best to go with people that haven't seen it before.  They get so excited-- just like I did the first time I saw it.  Ugh!  It's just so good!  I want to watch it again!  I spent a lot of time watching Kade and Clint's captivated stares at the stage.  So fun to be able to give them this experience!

Fishing Clinics

For 6 weeks Kade and Clint spent every Wednesday afternoon at the Wasatch Mountain State Park fishing.  They participated in a fishing clinic that they offer for kids during the summer.  It was such a wonderful program.  Their instructor, seen standing between them in the picture, is a volunteer from the community.  My dad would have loved to be involved with a program like this.  The way it works is they get a handful of volunteers and then they assign a few kids to each volunteer.  They teach them how to fish, tie knots, etc.  The boys were typical kid fishermen; they loved it when they were catching fish and not excited about it when they weren't.  Next year if we do it we are making sure we get the morning session.  The afternoon session was just too hot for the fish to be very active.

Brag Tag-- grow a tomato (and this year's garden)

One of the brag tags was grow your own tomato so the boys had to pose next to the tomato plants.  I want to add that this was the first year we've ever done square-foot gardening.  Darryl went to Best Vinyl and picked up some used pieces to make the garden boxes.  He dug 4 spots on the East side of the house, built the boxes, and filled them with potting soil and manure.  I was so worried it wouldn't work because I just don't have the best luck with things that are planted in boxes or pots; I can grow things fine in a garden bed though.  Well the first few weeks of square-foot gardening looked promising.  The next few weeks things went down hill.  We were thinking we put too much manure in the soil but we decided I was just over watering the beds.  Once we got the water under control and added some ammonium fertilizer the plants started to look green instead of yellow.  We did lose a few plants and a lot of growing time so there wasn't a lot to harvest but we were happy to have every little veggie we got.  We planted many of the same veggies that we usually do but no corn.  We had zucchini, chard, beets, basil, arugula, lettuce, spinach, kale, carrots, beans, peas, onions, anaheim peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes.

Hiking Bryce Canyon

We had another fun trip at Bryce Canyon.  The boys really love hiking there, especially with the cousins!  We headed down Friday night and came back Sunday morning because I'd just finished YW camp and Darryl was heading out of town this week.  It was a short trip but to the kids it was worth going to swim and hike.

I love YW camp!

I was the camp director this year and though I felt very uneasy about it all.  In the end I was glad I was apart of it.  These pictures don't depict most of our time together but it's all I took the time to capture-- pretty poorly, I might add.  The camp theme was Be-you-tiful.  We wanted the girls to realize that doing the things that they would really want to do and doing the things that really make them happy is what really makes their beauty shine through.  To get that across we wanted them to be exposed to many different activities so they could discover that everyone enjoys different things on different levels and they don't have to love something just because their friend does.  We had so much fun.  We went paddle boarding, made salt water taffy, did a Yoga session, went for a Razor ride, organized and stocked shelves for the food pantry, geocached, played in the river, had a water balloon fight, learned how to make sushi, tried sushi-- and loved it, created our own version of a cooking show competition, sprayed bleach on our shirts to make our Be-You-Tiful designs, shot bow-and-arrows, and ran our hike like we were on a roller coaster ride!  You could say we were a little busy.  It was so great though.  One big highlight of the trip was Jasmine.  Jasmine is not a member of the LDS church but came anyway even though she didn't really know any of the girls.  It was because of her that I know camp was worth every moment.  She expressed how nervous she was coming because she figured all the girls were more popular than her and so they would be stuck-up and not freiendly.  To her surprise everyone was very friendly and welcoming.  She said she felt wanted and said she doesn't feel that very often.  The last night we were riding down the mountian in the Razors during a huge rain storm.  The Razor Jasmine was in started having problems.  They pulled over and one of the girls suggested they pray.  Jasmine asked if she could say it, and followed up with stating that she had never prayed before.  She said she really wanted to talk to God and was so happy she did.  The Razor was fine and they made it back to the Condo and she was excited to share with everyone the feelings she had and her new experience.  Pretty neat.  I'm just glad she knows there is a Greater Someone that is always there, and she can talk to Him.

I really appreciated all of the work the other leaders and the youth leaders put into this camp.  It rocked and that was largely because of them.  I feel pretty strongly about roughing-it for girls camp and so going to Midway to a vacation condo (that is larger and nicer than our first Heber home) seemed like a ridiculous location.  In the end I discovered that camp isn't about the location-- it is about what goes on at camp.  The girls showed Christlike love and felt Christlike love.  That is what will last.  I hope they learned a few other things as well. :-)

Crazy hair

The boys wanted to make their hair crazy since we were cutting their hair today.  Clint started with crazy top and slicked down sides.  Then we got out the hair clippers and they directed me with their crazy creations.  In the end we evened it all out and the left the "salon" (aka the bathroom) looking clean cut and sharp.

Horse Rides

The boys haven't been on horses for years and today was their lucky day.  Darryl cut down a tree for Laura Marsh's mom and so they have wanted to do a favor for us.  They were taking their horses for a ride today and called us to see if the boys wanted to come and go for a ride.  It made the boys happy so I was happy for them.  The smiled from ear to ear as they walked and trotted around the pasture.  Mike rode a lead horse and then all the other horses mostly followed him.  The boys we're pretty comfortable holding the reins, pulling them back, and turning them.  Thanks Mike and Laura!  Cole was sleep deprived and so he was being a little obstinate so he didn't go for a ride.