June 2013 on FB

June 5: I don't know what's healthier for me--walking until my legs are numb, or laughing so hard my stomache hurt! Thanks Krissy & Debbey!

June 6: Strawberry & rhubarb are my favorite fruit dessert combination. Just dug some up from the garden and made a crumble, and it was oh so delicious! yum yum! love summertime fresh produce from the garden!

June 8: I love being a mom to independent boys!

June 9: what would be your reaction if your dog bit your child's face? Would you punish it or put it down for good?

June 13: The best part of my summer: walking over a mile every day with these lovely ladies. Lovin the physical exercise and the soul therapy with my friends at the same time!

June 17: Saw "The Great Gatsby" last night and absolutely LOVED it!!!

June 20: Ahhh--the sights, sounds, and smells of summer: I love the smell of freshly mowed lawn, listening to the sound of the lawnmower, and the sight of my boys pushing it.

June 21: As of today, we've been out of school for 4 weeks already. WHAT?! I can't believe how quickly time passes when you spend it lazily!

June 23: LOVED spending yesterday in Jerome with family. I'm a lucky girl to marry into a great extended family! Many thanks to our Jerome family for hosting such a fabulous reunion that we all enjoyed!

June 26: I'm happy for random events that turn out to be a blessing--yesterday we couldn't find Kanyon's goggles for swim lessons, so I looked at the pool's lost & found and discovered his glasses that we haven't been able to find for 3 weeks!!! Last night, I discovered the goggles in the soccer bag, so all is found once again. What a blessing to discover his glasses, though! I didn't realize he took them to the pool with him when we went swimming at the beginning of June & would never have thought to look there otherwise!

June 28: Looking forward to going camping with my family this weekend. Kanyon is looking forward to going fishing while we are camping. Good thing Josh will be there to help him because I still haven't gotten over the last time we went fishing together (When I took the kids by myself to Kid's Fishing Day and everyone around us caught multiple fish but we caught none!).

so much bait, not one bite

Oftentimes when we tell people that we are from Salmon, we hear the question: "How's the fishing there?". And we always reply "I don't know".

Salmon is famous for two main things: being the birthplace of Sacajawea, and having the Salmon River. The Salmon River is full of Steelhead, and in the spring and fall, the fishermen line the river for miles, both in boats and along the riverbank, hoping to catch a good bite.

We are not fishermen. Josh hates fish--he won't eat it and he dislikes the smell of it. I'm not allowed to cook fish in our house because the smell makes him sick. So, we don't do a lot of fishing.

Sometimes, though, when we are camping, or there's a fishing derby, we take the boys because they are interested in fishing. I will eat the fish if they catch it, and I'll cook it over a campfire or on the outdoor grill. Because, unlike Josh, I do like fish. In fact, I love seafood of any kind!

The first weekend of June was the Fish & Game's summer fishing derby. I'd never taken the boys to it before, because we're usually gone the weekend it's held, but I decided to take the youngest 3 boys to it this year. They go almost every year to the winter ice fishing derby, but this was at a different spot: the Kid's Creek Pond close to town.

That Saturday morning, we packed up all the fishing gear and poles and snacks and drinks and drove to town. I had never taken the boys to a fishing derby without Josh, but he was at a church service project with Ammon, so I was on my own with the youngest 3 boys. When we arrived, we signed in with the Fish & Game, then picked a spot along the pond, and the boys began fishing.

We spent 3 hours there. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and I worked on getting my tan while watching the boys, and of course constantly helping them attach bait to their hooks or untangling moss from their lines. Everyone around us was catching fish. Seriously. Everyone to the left, everyone to the right, everyone across the pond from us. The kid to our left caught 9 fish. The kid to their left caught 3 fish. The kids to our right caught 3 fish. The kid across the pond caught 7 fish. Every time one of them walked by us with another fish they caught to go get weighed, I would ask what bait they used, and I would try that same bait on one of my boys' fishing hooks. We tried colored marshmallows, worms, salmon eggs, and five kinds of power bait--all with no avail. We walked away empty-handed after 3 hours. I was disappointed, and so were the twins.

That's the bad thing about attending a fishing derby: you are aware of everyone else who's catching fish, and it's hard to maintain patience after you don't catch a single bite. I was really irritated by the time we were done--but I maintained my happy façade for the boys so they wouldn't pick up on my attitude and start hating fishing (although by the time the kids around us were catching their 5th, 6th, &7th fish I quit congratulating them and smiling at them in their excitement). I'm really proud of my boys for not ever vocally expressing what I was inwardly thinking. They never complained or whined while we were sitting by the pond--they were still so eager to catch a fish even after 3 hours of waiting for one and the time for the derby ended. I confess I even said multiple prayers that they would catch one because they wanted it so badly, and I wanted it for them.

The worst part of it for me is that the kid to our left (who caught 9 fish) didn't actually catch a single one--his dad did. The kid was only about 2 years old (if that), and he wasn't interested in fishing. He liked laying on the grass and picking flowers and watching dogs and eating snack food--typical two year old stuff. Every time the dad caught a fish, he would scream "{insert boys name}, you caught another fish!", and then the little boy would come look at it, and the dad would make him go with him to the fish-weighing table. After about the 7th fish, I was wishing they would just leave so that the rest of us could have a chance. And the sister (or babysitter or girlfriend, I don't know) kept threatening that they would leave because the boy wasn't helping to catch any fish. But they didn't. My boys kept inching closer towards them in hopes for catching some of the fish that were still left in their area of the water, but that strategy didn't work, because they were still catching the fish and we weren't. I was proud of my boys for doing their own casting, their own waiting, their own fishing, and I was angry that an adult was taking excessive advantage of the situation (and taking away all the fish, too). When the dad caught fish #8, the little boy brought over their power bait to me and said "this is what we use". I wasn't sure if that meant we should also have some, or if he was just showing me what was working so well for them. I wasn't expecting him to approach me, and I was caught off guard, and I didn't know what to do. I looked at the dad, wondering if he had sent the boy over, but the dad had just as blank of a face as me. I drew a blank, my mind froze...do I take some of their bait, do I say "Oh, that's nice", do I say "get back to your fishing pole, kid"? He just kept standing there, holding the container of power bait up at me, and I kept looking back at him stone-faced. He was too cute, but I was already too agitated and in the wrong frame of mind to know how to handle the situation like a normal person. Finally I said "Oh look, we have some like that too", and I pulled a similar kind out of my tackle box, and he turned around and walked back by his dad.

But, the nice thing about going to a fishing derby is that everyone receives prizes at the end, regardless of whether they catch a fish or not. The winners all get cool stuff like new poles and tackle boxes. My boys left with new hats full of little fishing items, and that was enough to keep Kanyon happy. He wanted to go home and fish some more in Grandpa's pond right then! (But we didn't, because I'd had enough fishing for one day already.)

Even though Josh doesn't like to eat fish, he has a lot more patience trying to catch fish with the boys and spending time helping them to do that. I'm the opposite: even though I like eating fish, I prefer to not have to do the fishing! I learned my lesson; next time, I'll either have Josh go with us or we won't go at all!

Ladybug Land

We got to grow some ladybugs this summer, and it was a very interesting process.

 

At the end of April, I won a raffle at the elementary school's Dinner & A Book Night. The raffle was for a book called "The Grouchy Ladybug" and a Ladybug Land kit for raising ladybugs. I was ecstatic that I won anything! And the boys were very curious about the Ladybug Land and looked forward to raising the insects.

 

In the middle of May, I contacted the company Insect Lore and they shipped the ladybug larvae directly to our home. We received the package the last week of school. The larvae were inside a plastic tube. I opened the end of the tube and the lid of the Ladybug Land, and placed the larvae inside.

 

The larvae looked weird--they were small and black and had very long tails. We gave them water every other day through the lid by dripping a few drops onto a spongy section inside. After about a week, they started attaching themselves to the walls inside the Ladybug Land and entered the pupa stage.

 

They were in that stage for several days before they started emerging as adults. They came out of their black exoskeletons as light pink ladybugs with lots of spots. It was fun to see them all emerge over the span of a few days. We fed them soaked raisins and continued to drop some water into their land. After about a week into their adult state, we decided it was time to set them free.

We took them outside one bright June morning, and opened the plastic lid of the land near an area close to lots of grass and plants so they could find aphids to feed on and continue to live.

They hadn't been able to fly around inside the enclosed space, so it took them a little while to figure out how to leave.

It was so fun and interesting watching the ladybugs grow, and the boys checked on them multiple times a day while they were growing to check out what was going on in the see-through container. When it was time to release them, and they weren't flying off, the boys tried to show them how to crawl out of the container into the natural surroundings. It was all very hands-on!!!

I've never grown insects before or watched them change in their life cycle. I'm not a science-lover, but this was a fun project for all of us! I'm so glad we won that raffle!

an "extra-kin" event

Josh has one sister, Tiffany, and she is the oldest sibling in his family. Tiffany has 8 children of her own: 4 boys and 4 girls. On the first Saturday in June, we went to Pocatello to visit Tiffany's family as they celebrated their oldest daughter Coral's graduation from high school, and their youngest daughter Emerald's baptism.

 

Coral was born right before Josh graduated from high school, and she is his oldest niece. She's the first one of any of mine or Josh's nieces or nephews to graduate from high school. It's hard to believe that she's already 18 and a high school graduate!

 

Emmy's baptism was nice, and we were glad that we were able to attend her special day!

There was a family party for both girls following the baptism at a church gym near Tiffany's house. Her girls had decorated the gym so cute--with tablecloths and balloons, and had set up the tables in a U-shape to accommodate feeding family and friends. Their family made and served a nice lunch of baked potatoes, roast beef, rolls, and salads, and we had a great time visiting with family and watching the kids run around and play together.

(Pictured above around the table L-R: Josh's brother Malachi & his girlfriend Molly, Josh's brother Gideon, Josh's aunt Jane, Josh's sister Tiffany holding her baby Alexander, Josh's mom Kathy, and Gideon's friend Joe)

 

It was one of my favorite family parties hosted by the Entrikins (or as Kanyon says it: the "extra-kin" family). It was a happy occasion for both girls, and a very well organized party in their honor. We were glad to be a part of it!

Bye Bye Birdie

The Father & Son campout is an annual tradition in our ward. The guys and their boys spend the night at a nearby campsite one evening each May, and they make & eat dinner, stand around the campfire, play games, and apparently have lots of good male bonding time together. My boys look forward to it every year, and this year was no exception. There was a family get-together planned for the day after the campout in southeast Idaho, so the boys thought they wouldn't be able to attend it this year, and they were very bummed. But then plans changed at the last minute, and we realized that they would be able to go and spend the night after all, and they were ecstatic. Due to the last minute changes, Josh needed my help to get the trailer ready to go while he was at work. So the day of the campout (which was the very last day in May), the boys helped me make preparations: we went to the grocery store and got food, we took all the food and necessities to the trailer, the boys packed up what they needed overnight, and then they helped me clean out the trailer. There were a few items that needed to be fixed inside the trailer that I attended to while they swept and mopped and vacuumed it.

The trailer is parked alongside the garden area by our home. The previous day, I had been weeding the garden, and I noticed a bird fly in through the vent in the side of the trailer, and I never saw it leave. I mentioned to Josh that night what I saw, and I was worried that it was living in there now. The following day, as I was fixing and making adjustments to parts inside the trailer, I remembered what I had seen the previous day, and I looked over to the spot where the vent is. Sure enough, right above the propane cook stove, I could see pieces of hay and dried grass poking out through the vent filter, and I knew that the bird had made a nest inside the vent. This was definitely a hazard, with dry grass directly above the propane stove--pieces of the nest had already fallen on top of the stove. If the stove was lit while the nest was in the vent it would be dangerous--the vent was plugged so there would be no air flow for the propane, and with all the dry material, it could create a fire inside of the trailer. I knew the nest had to be removed.

I pulled out the filter, and began reaching up into the fan space to pull out pieces of the nest. I removed glob after blog of string and twigs and hay and straw; it felt never-ending. Seriously, I worked on clearing the vent space for over a half hour. Unfortunately, during that time, after I had reached inside and brought out a handful of the nest materials, two little eggs fell out and dropped onto the hard surface of the stove below. One of the eggs split in two and I could visibly see a baby inside of it. I felt terrible. I didn't even think about there being eggs inside of the nest, nor could I see the inside of the nest to know that they were there. The vent was above my head in a space that only one hand could barely fit at a time, and I was completely blind as to what the hand was touching above me. I knew that since I'd messed with the nest, the mama bird wouldn't return to care for the little eggs anyway, but it was sad to see such a tiny baby birdie, and know that I was the cause for its death. 

After the trailer was all done getting cleaned and fixed and ready to go, I took the sack of nest remains out to the garbage can, but pulled out the little eggs first, and set them on a table outside in the warm sun. The baby birdie lived for several hours after that, and my boys were all very curious to see it before they left for the campout: a skinny little being smaller than my finger without feathers or fur. The skin was translucent so you could see the tiny organs inside of its belly. The tiny talons on its feet were already developed and its little beak was perfect. It was so precious, and it simultaneously broke my heart and intrigued my mind to see it. I took several pictures of it--if you find me insensitive, please forgive me. It was too amazing to not document with photographs.

 

 

 

Isn't it amazing?! In the last photo, you can see blood vessels in the belly, tiny talons on its foot, eyelids forming, and the perfect little yellow beak. So adorable, and so sad. It stopped breathing that night. We laid it in a different nest, taken from the boys' collection (we have so many mature trees, and when the wind blows, sometimes nests (built and secured with mud) fall down and remain intact, and the boys have collected several) as its final resting place.

Life is a fragile thing, and I was reminded of that fact the day I cleaned out the trailer to help my boys and accidentally killed an innocent bird in the process.

Memorial Day Weekend

We didn't make it to the cemetery once over Memorial Day weekend this year. I kept thinking about it, but it never happened. It was the first weekend of summer vacation, and we were so happy to be out of school that we spent it doing typical summer things instead (both working AND playing).

On Saturday, we had Sons Day, a fun day of shopping, campfire cooking, and bowling (I blogged about it HERE).

On Sunday, we had friends over for an evening of fun: games, food, and laughter (it's part of my yearly goals to invite others to our home each season).

 

 

On Monday morning (Memorial Day), we planted the pumpkin patch (our typical Memorial Day work activity).

 On Monday afternoon, the boys played with water balloons that they got on Sons Day! I love Jonah's face in the first photo!

On Monday evening, Josh cut the tree stump for me.

It was a happy weekend, and a great intro to summer vacation! I enjoy spending time with my family--whether it's working or playing!

My Husband...Dedication at its Finest

The second story I ever posted on this blog was about Josh running for the school board, back in May of 2008 (It was titled "My Husband...the Politician?" and can be read HERE). That election was the last contested one for a school board member in the past 5 years, and Josh won it. His term was originally for 3 years, but during his 3rd year of service, the Idaho Legislature changed the term of school board members to 4 years. There are 5 members on our school board, and the cycle of each position starts in differing years so that the entire school board's terms don't all end at the same time. When the legislature changed the term to 4 years, his actually got lengthened to 5 years to complete his particular cycle.

For 5 years, Josh has devoted his time and service to the Salmon School District Board of Trustees. It has been challenging--during the past 5 years, they've hired a new superintendent and new principals, ran multiple bond elections for a K-8 school, dealt with the cuts in spending and budgeting dilemmas, and have had several employee disciplinary actions. It has been a rough few years in our school district, with some positive times intermingled in.

For the past two years, he has served as the Vice-President on the board. He was an excellent board member.  He's a good listener, he is not quick to pass judgment, he understands the worth of hearing both sides to any report, he is calm and patient, he is supportive of the employees and positive changes necessary for our schools, and he learned the laws regarding how meetings should be conducted. One of the few benefits that school board members receive is free passes to all sporting and scholastic and school activities, for which he has taken advantage of and frequently attended school events. People have appreciated his attendance to those, because it shows that he's visible in his support. He has really earned the trust of a lot of members in the community, as well as employees in our district, and others have voiced repeatedly to me regarding how much he will be missed.

(Pictured above: Superintendent Joey Foote, Vice President Josh Tolman, President Gail Baer, Board Member Dorrie Prange, Board Member Shannon Johnson)

Josh has given up a lot of Monday nights (over 100) to attend their regular board meetings, and sometimes the meetings were several hours long. He's missed a lot of Monday Night Football games (we got DVR 3 years ago which helped), and too many Family Home Evenings (I've just done them in his absence), and we've adjusted family vacations and events for our children based around his meeting schedule. His term ends at the end of this month, and we are looking forward to it and so glad to have him home more!

 (Pictured above: Josh got to hand out diplomas at the high school graduation this year--his assignment was to give them to Principal Dan Hull, and then the Principal gave them to each student.)

One of the greatest disappointments while he was on the school board was the fact that the bond for the new school failed without even 50% community support. It's difficult for him to understand the mentality of the community who doesn't vote in favor of the bond. After attending so many extra meetings, and learning about the extent of the need for it, and going on numerous tours of the current buildings, and speaking with contractors, it's discouraging to know that after all the extra time and energy that has been spent focusing on a positive thing for our students and community, that the community continues to reject it.

He's also had frustrations with the Idaho State Legislature--they've continued to drop funding in schools during his 5 year term, and it's become increasingly difficult to provide quality education for our students with budget cuts. It's sad to know that our state leaders don't understand the effects that these cuts are having on the students.

But on the flip side, Josh feels pride in knowing that he's put his time and effort into his assignment on the board without regret, and that he is able to act upon his words. So many people in our community continually voice their negative opinions about the school system without ever doing anything about it. It is frustrating to continually hear negative remarks from bystanders who never step up to help or volunteer. Serving on the school board has really given him a broader perspective of what it takes to run a school, and that it's harder than it looks! He feels good in knowing that he's always acted upon what he says he'll do, and that he doesn't just say words without following through. Josh has high hopes and beliefs in the future for our schools, and he's been encouraged by the amount of excellent educators we have in our district. He knows that the youth are being guided and directed by amazing people, and he's enjoyed the opportunity to get to know several teachers better and seen presentations by them about things they do in their classrooms to give the students more and greater opportunities to learn. He knows that our students are in good hands.

 (Pictured above: My handsome, well-dressed husband at the 2013 SHS graduation--the same school he attended and graduated from 18 years ago.)

Despite the difficult times he's endured in the past 5 years, he's glad that he's served on the board and that he's been instrumental in making a positive difference in our school system and community. I have been so grateful to know that he's always had the best interest for the students and teachers and school district as a whole in his mind as he's made decisions on the board. My boys are so lucky to have a father who serves as a role model for them, and who is willing to donate his time to make their school experience better.

Stumped

We are so blessed that our yard has several mature trees. Unfortunately, mature trees are harder to maintain and take extra assistance to prune. So, the bigger trees in our yard don't get pruned beyond what we can reach with a ladder and a chainsaw. Last June, a windstorm took two major branches off one of the big trees in the yard that lines the driveway. I blogged about it HERE.

 

(This was the view from above our driveway--you can see two large trees next to each other, and the first tree has 2 tear marks in the bark where the branches ripped off.)

The thing I loved most about this particular tree was that there was a branch that arched over the driveway. The arch was high enough that tractors and trucks could pass under it without a problem. It felt so welcoming to drive home and pass under the tree branch!

(This was the view looking from our home down the driveway--the broken branches blocked the gravel-covered ground. This is a beautiful view of the arch.)

The tree was so old and rotting out, and my father-in-law was concerned that the arching branch would snap in another windstorm due to the weight of the new growth on the tip of it. So while they were cutting up the broken branches, he decided it would be a good time to cut that branch off, too. I persuaded them to just cut the new growth off, and leave the arch, and thankfully they agreed to do just that.

(Edward raised up the scoop on his tractor with his friend in it, and the heavy growth was cut down at the end of the arch, seen here:)

It was a big cut, (but a healthy one for the tree), and it made the arch much more visible. I absolutely  loved the new look!

(This is another view of the tree and the arch over our driveway, looking down the driveway from our home in the winter time.)

 

I loved that arch. I was very attached to it.

 

I'm saying "loved" and "attached" in the past tense, because the arch is no longer there. I'm not bitter about it anymore, so I'm ready to share the story of its death with you, coming from a good place instead of a sour spot in my heart.

 

Edward & Kathy also have a lot of mature trees in their yard, and they wanted some tree-trimming done, so they hired a man to do the job for them. Then they offered to also have that man trim the broken tree in our yard; there was a lot of dead branches in it, and it was necessary to remove a lot of them so that future windstorms wouldn't cause more damage to it and the surroundings. We greatly appreciated their generosity, and accepted their offer. One afternoon in early spring, the tree service guy came out and looked around the place at the trees we were requesting trimming. When he looked at this specific tree, I pointed out all the dead branches towards the top that I'd like to have removed. He listened politely, and then he said that in a tree this old, there's a lot of rot and it would be best to cut it completely down. I was shocked. I recognized that what he was saying was true, but I wanted to save the arch. I asked him if he could just cut from the arch up, but Josh and Edward agreed with him that the tree could just come down. The tree guy said he would be back in a few weeks to do the job, and that he would call before he came, so that we could remove the fence panels surrounding it and move the bench swing that was next to it out of the way. During those few weeks, I worked on explaining over and over to Josh my reasoning of wanting to keep the arch. (I kept telling myself that I was like the Lorax, and that it was my job to speak for the trees.) He finally agreed with me, and we decided that when the tree guy called, we would tell him to just remove everything higher than the arch. We waited and waited, but he never called.

 

One afternoon in April, I came home from a very crazy day at school to see this:

The tree guy had come unannounced during the day while we were at work, removed the fence panel, moved the swing out of the way, and chopped the tree down.

I immediately went into the house, into my room, onto my bed, and cried for about a half hour. I was so angry and broken-hearted! That arch had begun growing over 80 years ago, and it felt so tragic to have it be gone in an instant. Every day for about 2 weeks after, whenever I drove past it coming or going, I felt sad. I mourned the loss of the beautiful, natural arch that was so perfectly draped over my driveway. I hated the new stump that was left in its absence. I hated how the stump wasn't cut level. I hated how it looked out of place--the bench swing had always been between the two large trees, and now it didn't look symmetrical anymore. I hated how it stood out like a sore thumb to me.

I AM grateful that they removed all the dead on the tree, because that corner of the yard has so much more light now, and the bushes and pear tree that were previously in its shade, are growing so much better now. But, I knew that I couldn't look at that stump in my yard for the rest of forever without feeling angry and remorseful. After feeling this way for a while, I began considering new ideas to rid the yard of the ugly stump--like cutting it off ground level and covering it with a shed. Then I was enlightened with a way to transform it. I told Josh my idea--the plan was for him to cut the stump straight across (to make it level), and then cut out the center of stump a few inches deep, and I would make the stump into a natural planter box. I was so relieved when he consented to do the task!

One evening at the end of  May, he got out the chainsaw and began the job of cutting through 120 years of growth (I counted the rings in the stump).

 

 

 

It took him a lot longer to cut through it than he anticipated--about an hour and a half. The chainsaw had to be sharpened mid-way, and refilled with gas, and there was a lot of cursing going on through it all. I laid on the grass near him, watching him labor with angst, and I smiled the whole time because I felt such love for this man who was willing to perform this challenging task just to make me happy. And it did make me happy! But as I watched him have such difficulty with just leveling the hard, thick stump, I devised a new plan: instead of hollowing out part of the inside, I would just create a planter on top of the leveled stump, and put some kind of trim around it. He liked that idea--he was ready to stop cutting for the day, anyway!

I thought about the new idea for a few days, and decided that bricks would be a good choice to put around the edge of the stump because they would be tall and uniformal, but they wouldn't be too wide and take up too much space from the planter. So I found some old bricks (with Josh's help) and placed two rows of them around the edges, filled the middle with topsoil, and planted the remainder of my Mother's Days flowers that the boys had given me weeks before (that had just been sitting on the deck for weeks in their plastic containers). I'm so happy with how it turned out!

I love seeing the bright colored flowers in that corner of the yard. Whenever I drive by it now, I look at the beautiful flowers in that stump and I'm filled with happiness again. I still wish the arch was there, but this was the second best choice for the tree that was cut down. And it wouldn't have been possible without Josh's help. I think of this planter stump as the memorial to the arch; it's like the tree that keeps on giving!

Sons Day 2013

It's been 5 years since we started this family tradition. Click this to read about how it got started: SONS DAY 2008.

In the years since it's inception, we've gotten the boys new summer sandals and done fun activities with them like: golfing, going to the zoo, and rollerskating on their special day. We usually do it the day after school is out to kick off the summer. This year, our school got out on Thursday, May 23, and we were unable to do it the following day, so we did it on Saturday, May 25 instead.

 I got the 3 older boys new flip-flops (Kanyon said he liked the sandals he already owned and didn't want a new pair) as well as some new summer shorts (Kanyon has lots of shorts, so I got him new swimming shorts instead). 

After going shopping for them, and also buying them some water balloons and sweet treats, we came back home for a bbq lunch. Edward started a fire next to the driveway to burn a lot of tree branches and trunks that had been cut down in the yard recently, and he set up a table by it with all the fixings for hot dogs. The fire got huge and very hot, so we sat on the littlest trunk in front of the big trunk, and stuck our cooking sticks over the edge to cook our hot dogs. It worked out very well, because the big trunk acted like a shield to protect our faces from the heat, but the fire was still able to cook the hot dogs perfectly!

After lunch, we all went into town to go bowling. We were the only ones there, and we had a great time playing together!

Kanyon used the metal ball pusher that rolls the ball down the alley with a gentle push. He did very well using it, since we didn't use any gutter liners this time.

Micah was super happy during bowling, even though he got last place. I was surprised, because he's my most competitive child and doesn't like losing. After the game was over, he even posed and asked me to take his picture. Again, I was so shocked, because he's my child that dislikes having photos taken! I was happy to oblige!

We bowled in the order of youngest to oldest. This is our scoreboard:

Ammon won! He remembered how to bowl from years ago when he was on the youth league, and tried to give his brothers tips during the game to help them, too. Kanyon and I got a few spares, which was worth shouting about! And Josh and Ammon both got strikes, which was exciting to see!

Son's Day was a lot of fun for the whole family this year! We enjoyed spending time together, and treating our sons after another successful school year!