Week 26

{June 27 - July 3} 

On Monday, Kanyon and I got back in our routine of weeding the pumpkin patch in the morning (much to his dismay). That afternoon, I worked on moving some of the cut stones that had fallen into the old cellar closer to the door, in order to have better access to move them with the Kubota to the carport where they would be stacked to create a retaining wall. It was hot and they were heavy, so I took a few breaks. The boys played around with the 50 4-wheeler, and had the bright idea of tying a wagon behind it, and pulling each other around. Luckily, nobody got injured and surprisingly nothing got broken in the process! As they were riding around, Kanyon found a noisy, squawking baby bird in a spot lining the driveway, and he really wanted me to see it. It resembled the looks of an Angry Bird!!! Uncle John and Aunt Linette, Cousin KC and his wife Jordan all came up to visit that afternoon and spent the night in the yard. They're shuttling vehicles for family members who are doing a week-float on the Salmon River. Josh and I took Jonah out to dinner at the Junkyard Bistro for his monthly date. I veered from my usual and got a noodle bowl, but it wasn't as good as my usual rice bowl. Jonah got the French Dip and Josh got the Garlic Burger. This was Jonah's first time eating there, and Josh never likes eating there. Dinner was okay--it was full inside, so we ate outside, but it was warm and crowded, too.

On Tuesday, Kanyon helped me weed the pumpkins, and he was SUPER fast at it because he was asked to puppysit for KC's and Judson's puppies that day while the Franson's went on an ATV ride in the mountains. He was SO excited to puppysit, and he took his job very seriously. He sat in the yard by those dogs ALL day! They slept a lot, so I took him a book and some food so that he would have something to do. Everytime they pooped, he immediately bagged it, and he loved playing with them when they were awake. He was an excellent caretaker for them! Their names are Rusty (the golden retriever) and Range (the beagle mix). Ammon left for Cross Country Camp that day. Originally, it was going to be in Bozeman again, but then the Bozeman coach was hired at a college back east, so that camp got cancelled. Coach Rea came up with his own camp to replace it; they headed up to Lost Trail pass for 2 nights; running on mountain trails, sleeping in a cabin, and swimming at the hot springs. Ammon was looking forward to going! The county building inspector came in the afternoon, and signed off on the final inspection for our garage!!! Yay!!! Josh helped me move the stones out of the cellar that afternoon with his Kubota tractor. He drove down in the ditch, we'd load up the rocks, then he drove them over to the carport and dumped them. It took us 3 trips using the Kubota, and was a 100 times better than moving them all by hand ourselves! It was super hot, though, and after moving the rocks, we decided that was enough project work for one day! Jonah and Kanyon both had soccer games that night, and while Josh went to Men's Golf League, I went and watched the boys' games.

Kanyon was a good drop-kicker in the goalie position

On Wednesday morning, after doing the pumpkin patch weeding, I worked on making the retaining wall at the end of the carport where all the rocks had been relocated. It took me almost two hours, but I got the project done, and I used every single rock we'd moved the day before. I was pretty proud of myself! We didn't want a tall retaining wall, just a short one that would keep all the rocks/dirt out of the space in the carport from the sloping wall behind it. After that, I spent the entire remainder of the afternoon and evening studying for my upcoming Praxis test.

Look what just bloomed today!!

The new retaining wall I built!

I spent the bulk of Thursday studying for my Praxis test. I tend to ignore life around me when I'm working on college--my house becomes messy, the boys are on their own for meals, and I have no idea what they did at all that day!! Ammon got home in the afternoon from X-Country Camp, and he had a great time! They ran a TON, and he was sunburned and sore, but he was glad that he'd gone. Thursday evening was the FINAL soccer game of the season. I was SO glad!!! After twice a week for 8 weeks, I was ready to gain our evenings back! After the games, all the players were treated to ice cream, which was a super nice treat for the kids because it was especially hot again that evening. Both Jonah and Kanyon improved their skills over the season, and Jonah's team really evolved with their teamwork skills. There was only two U-16 teams this year, so his team had to play the exact same team every time. The other team was taller, and older, but Jonah's team began winning all the games the second half of the season because they really worked together as a team, which was exciting to watch. On Thursday night, the Entrikin's and Uncle Malachi came to Salmon for the July 4th weekend, and the boys were glad to have their cousins around to play with!

On Friday, we went on a river rafting trip with Josh's family. After we went last year, Ed & Kathy enjoyed it so much that they wanted to go again this year! So they reserved a float for 20, and wanted all the kids to come up and participate. Unfortunately, they reserved it on the 1st but thought they'd reserved it for the 4th--although they told everyone in the family it would be on the fourth, and that's when everyone was planning on coming. Edward discovered that week that it was actually on the 1st, and by then, not everyone could change their plans. Gideon, Alyssa, Molly, Coral, and Eric weren't able to join us, so we gave their spots to Tim, Barb, cousin Andrew, his wife Jo, and we had one extra spot to fill. So Ammon asked his new friend Hannah that he met at X-Country camp (she'd just moved to Salmon a few weeks earlier), to join us, and that was so awesome that she did! He was glad to have someone to hang out with his age, and she was a fun addition to the group, and her family even has history with the Tolman's, so Edward was ecstatic to meet her as well. We had an excellent time on the river with the Rawhide Outfitters, and their food (snacks and lunch) was outstanding (of course!). After we got home that evening, we hung out in the yard together, and the kids played night games as it got dark.

There were 3 boats in our group.
In the 1st boat was Edward, Kathy, Malachi, Isaac, Joel, Kanyon, Aysha, and Jessalyn.
In the 2nd boat was Tim, Barb, Andrew, Jo, Tiffany, Emmy, Jonah, and Micah.
In our boat (the smallest one) was Josh, me, Ammon, and Hannah. 

Our boat was always behind the others, so it was hard to capture good up-close
pictures of the others. This was Jonah on his way back to sitting down after
"Riding the Bull" in the front of the raft. 

Hannah and Ammon were in the front of our raft. Hannah got the wettest!

I love rafting!

What a stud

Micah standing up to ride the bull

Lunch break

Heading out after lunch--the left side view of the twins' boat

The right side view of the twins' boat

The left side of Kanyon's boat

The right side view of his boat--and Kanyon riding with NO HANDS!!!

These two were fun passengers in our boat

I might need to invest in a selfie stick!!! I have short arms!

Towards the end, lots of people jumped in the river.
I was surprised that Kanyon did!

Ammon and Hannah after jumping in

Jessalyn, Aysha, Jonah, Micah, Josh, and I all jumped in.
In this picture, it's Jessalyn and Aysha you can see in the water. 

On Saturday, Josh took me to town that morning to get some side rails of a crib I was purchasing from someone in order to make a bike rack to put in our carport. Then we walked around the Farmer's Market together (where I bought some earrings), and went to the Hospice Cart to get some of their homemade waffle cones. They were delicious! When we got home, Josh and I worked on cleaning out the trailer and setting up in his parent's yard for Coral and Erik to sleep in that night. We had lunch with Josh's family that afternoon (Molly, Gideon, Alyssa, and Teddy, Coral and Erik all arrived that day), and everyone hung out in the yard for several hours. Molly and Malachi came with Josh, the boys, and I to the Demo Derby that night. It was an exciting derby, and one of the best ones we've been to! After we got home, Scott did fireworks in the yard for everyone who was interested.

Grandpa buried lots of coins in this bucket of sand,
and the kids dug for quite a while getting it out!

Chatting after lunch

I loved watching Alexander playing pretend with this water gun. He was
talking and acting like it was a real gun. It was so hilarious!

He just "shot" an imaginary someone!!

More kids digging for coins

Micah riding the toy tractor that we've had for years

Aysha loves to ride in the boat every time they come

Teddy loved to ride on the tractor too. He's more the right size for it!

I just love this picture of him trying to push it around, but waiting to take a
step until he absolutely had to! What a cute little boy!

We love to watch our neighbors the Troughton's in the derby! They had 3 cars
in it this year, driven by Chevy, Brian, and Rik Carlson. The car to the left,
and the one in the front center are two of their cars. 

Chuck Porter's car got stuck on the logs after a hard hit. 

During the Herby Derby, the blue car driven by Tommy Reid, hit the car
behind it so hard that it flipped over. As it was flipping over, the guy put his arm
out the window to brace himself, but then his arm got trapped under the vehicle.
The volunteers all ran over, and lifted it up enough to get his arm out. Then
the ambulance came and took him to the hospital. He broke his arm, but
was otherwise okay. It was definitely an exciting moment, and Tommy
won the "hardest hit" award for the night!

The balloon-bashing events even seemed better this year too: good
sportsmanship, not too slow, and fun to watch!

It was fun to have additional family members join us for the event! 

On Sunday, we went to church together and had a nice meal afterwards. During the weekend, both Dallin and Teddy had had birthdays, so Kathy had gotten gifts and cake for them. We had Teddy's teddy-bear-shaped cake on Sunday. Tim and Barb came down and joined us on Sunday afternoon, and Aunt Jane did as well. After the meal, the Entrikins left, and we relaxed in the yard for a few hours, and even played a few games together.

Ammon dug to the very bottom of the can,
after all the grandkids had had a chance to,
and discovered some coins that still hadn't been found!

Kanyon dug for hours in the other sandbox. He worked steadily on building a tunnel

He completed the tunnel!!

We played Buzzword and Heads Up! (that game was on Malachi's phone)

It was a good week. And 2016 is now half over!!!