Week 31

{August 1-7}

What?! It's August already?!

Monday was perhaps the best day of our family's summer. We'd been camping near Stanley Lake since Saturday afternoon, but hadn't gone to the lake yet because we spent Saturday evening getting settled and on Sunday the boys all went on a long hike to Bridal Veil Falls and Hanson Lakes. We woke up and had breakfast on Monday morning (Jonah slept outside on Ryan and Heidi's outdoor carpet). After going to Stanley Lake last year, we were much more prepared for going this year. We packed up a cooler with lunch to take with us to the lake, as well as chairs, beach toys, water tubes, and the paddle boards. We wanted to spend all day there, and we did!!! Ryan and Heidi left the lake around 3 (because Heidi was getting a ride back to Boise with her mom since she had to work the next day), but the rest of us stayed until almost 6. The smoke was really bad all day (from the fire that's near Lowman), and it didn't dissipate that night like it had the previous nights. Although it made the Sawtooth Mountains not visible, it also resulted in less people camping and hanging out at the lake. We had a wonderful day together!

Jonah sleeping deep in his sleeping bag. Stanley is traditionally the coldest
place in Idaho every single day!!!

Ammon tried out the paddle board for the very first time. He was leery at the
beginning, but by the end of the day, he was a pro at riding it!

Ryan and Josh took a ride together to the far side of the lake,
to the bay, and then back. 

Ammon and Micah covering Jonah with sand

Micah, Kanyon, and Josh covering Ammon in sand

Micah, Josh, and Ryan covered Kanyon in sand

Three boys in sandy graves (Micah didn't want to be buried)

The boys got hot, so we gave them some shade: Ammon used sunglasses (and
later we put a noodle on his forehead), Jonah got the umbrella, and Micah put
a camp chair in front of Kanyon's face.   

Ayla and Ryan playing in the sand

This is the first time we've taken Tiki to a public lake.
She LOVED it, but she also went bezerk because there
were a lot of dogs around. We finally had to put a tie-down
on her collar, and attached the other end to the pop-up canopy
to help keep her from running after the other dogs. 

Josh decided to try out my new tube, and he really liked it!
When I first bought it in June, all the boys thought it was a
dumb purchase, but after Josh tried it out, look who else did, too...

...and they all liked it as well! Apparently we need to get another one now!

I'm totally lovin this new tube, but I didn't get a lot of time with it at Stanley
Lake because I had to take turns with everyone else!

Ayla and Heidi playing in the sand

Kanyon building a sand castle

Ayla loved to smash the sand castles (much to Kanyon's dismay). See two of his
newly-built smashed towers by her feet?! haha! Also, these were some of the
dogs that were hanging around with other families on the beach, that Tiki
felt like she had to protect us from--hence the need for a modified "leash". 

Jonah and Micah riding in Ryan's boat--they argued the whole time they were
on the lake, telling each other which direction to row. So funny!

Kanyon didn't want to ride the paddleboard at all on Monday, after the experience
he had on it the previous week at Meadow Lake, but Ammon gave him a ride once!

All five of my guys on the lake together!

After the Stephenson's left, the boys got heavily involved
in building sand castles since no one was there to smash them!

Micah taking a break from building sand structures. He really
enjoys paddleboarding; he and Ammon used it the most. 

Josh and Ammon played frisbee on paddleboards for quite a while.

It was so fun to watch them!

This was our spot for the day. From this view, you can tell how smokey it was
that afternoon. You can barely see the outline of the mountain behind the lake. 

Josh grilling up some yummy steaks for dinner

We ate banana boats for dessert (with ice cream again, too!)

This view of the setting sun reminded me of a football going between goalposts.

Smokey skies always make for gorgeous sunsets. 

Tuesday was our last day of camping. All three of the older boys slept outside the previous night: Micah in the Stephenson's hammock, and Ammon and Jonah on their outdoor carpet. We got up and had breakfast, and then decided to head back to the lake again for a few hours before packing up to head home. The cold night cleared out a lot of the smoke, and since we went to the lake before 10am, we had the beach to ourselves for almost an hour. It was absolutely glorious! The water was so calm, and it was so quiet, and it felt like heaven! We headed back to our camp site at lunch time, ate lunch, packed up the trailer, and headed home. Ryan and Ayla decided to leave the same time we did and go camping at a different location somewhere on the way back to Boise that would hopefully not have as many no-see-em bugs (Ryan had SO many bites, despite using repellant). Once we arrived in Salmon, it took us about an hour and a half to unload the trailer, put all the food and water toys away, and clean out the trailer to get it ready for the next time. Then Josh and Ammon went to Men's Golf for a few hours. My college mentor called that night, and signed me up for my next college semester, and I went to Jen's house afterward to watch a movie and she made me some beets that she'd grown in her garden. I don't like beets, because the only way I've eaten them is out of the can and they're gross that way. She cooked them with oil and seasonings and they were SO delicious!!

Their sand castle structure was still there from the previous night!

This was Ammon's first paddleboarding ride that morning--so calm
and the color in the sky meshed with the color of the lake, and his
outline was amazing and also a bit eery!!

The dog was keenly watching Micah

Tiki went out as far she could to be closer to Jonah on the lake;
she'd done that the day before, and even ran around the lake as Micah went
further away from our site.

Josh's first ride of the morning

I love this picture!

Ayla was the self-appointed "operator" of the tubes and
paddleboards that morning. We had to "check in and check
out" all our equipment through her!! So funny!

Kanyon "checked out" his tube with Ayla before going out!

Josh taking a small snoozer in the beautiful great outdoors

Ayla wanted to help the boys build a sandcastle--but secretly she just wanted
to smash them all! So after a few minutes, her dad banned her from the activity

The boys wanted to make their structure even bigger!! Ammon worked on
making a moat and an inside castle, and Jonah worked on building pyramids
around the exterior

Kanyon worked diligently for over an hour building a wall around his bucket-
shaped castle. He was very detailed, and did all the work with the trowel.
He looked like a master of masonry as he worked!

Micah built a much smaller castle than Ammon's but had the genius
idea of digging a hole next to it so he could always get the right consistency of
sand/water to build his formations.

Ammon and Jonah's completed project

Micah's castle formation

Kanyon still working away on his--he had to hurry on the
4th side of the wall because we were packing up to leave
the beach, but he was intent on completing it, so that wall
is not the exact size of the others

Just before we left, the three older boys decided to tube down the cold stream
that leads into the lake

I like how they all have their own style of riding the tubes! Jonah on his knees,
Micah on his butt, and Ammon on his stomach.

Kanyon FINALLY finished his castle and surrounding walls!

My first experience with home-cooked beets!

Wednesday was a long day for Josh--he went to work that morning, attended bus driver training meetings for several hours, and went back to work at the golf course that afternoon. He got home around the same time we ate dinner. I took Kanyon to town after we weeded the pumpkins that morning, and he purchased the Grand Theft Auto game for his XBox. He'd played it the previous week when we were at Jackson's house, and had talked about getting it ever since! Let it be known that I wasn't a fan of him getting it, though. I spent the bulk of the day watering everything (since we'd been gone for several days without the lawn and garden getting watered) and blogging! Progress feels good--I'm only about a week behind in blogging, now!

The smokey sky makes for pretty sunrises at the golf course!

Thursday was the last day that Jonah and Micah had to weed the corn, and it was the end of a complete rotation of weeding the pumpkins for Kanyon and I. Whenever the twins join us in weeding in that location, the dog always comes down, too, and most of the time the cats are near us when we weed as well. It's quite the circus making sure they stay out of the plants while we weed, because they seem to enjoy being right in front of us (which is where the weeds are, so we're always pushing them out of the way but scorning them for getting into the pumpkin vines). Ammon left around 11:00 that morning to go to Boise with his friends for a concert at the water park, then they were spending the night and planned on returning home on Friday.

Micah worked on the left side of the row

Jonah worked on the right side

Kanyon at the end of the row between the last pumpkins and the first corn

Almost done!

Jonah puts his weeds in piles, then picks them all up
when he's done to put them by the fence line

Kanyon's progress in his designated area for the day.
He's a slow weeder and complains the whole time about it!

The patch is looking good!

On Friday morning, Kanyon and I weeded the pumpkins for the very last time this year! We were both elated--him because he hates it, and me because I got tired of listening to him complain, and it was really drying out my fingers; the cracks on my thumb and pointer finger were always brown no matter how much I washed or moisturized them! We finished the top row and half that morning--every other row in the pumpkin patch is too overgrown to weed now. We did a great job weeding this year--better than we ever have before! Josh worked a long day again, between working at the golf course and mowing lawns, so by the time he got home, he said he was too tired to go to Couple's Golf League. So instead, we watched the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics!  Ammon was supposed to get home that evening, but when he and his friends got to Lowman, they were the 4th car that got turned around saying that the highway was closed due to the spreading fire. So they turned around and went back to Boise and spent the night again, and decided to come home on Saturday instead. I took Jonah and Micah to their summer running program that night, and as they ran with their team, I walked around the park loop. Ellen Schultz was there with her family, and I ended up walking and talking with her which was so much fun! After the second loop (and second mile), I didn't want to go again, though, so I went down to the Mexican Restaurant and treated myself with an Horchata until the boys were done. I love that drink!! The boys were done about 8:20, and then we went back home and watched some more of the Opening Ceremonies (so thankful for DVR!) until almost 11.

Our pumpkin weeding for the year is complete! Yay!

This flagbearer from Tonga was a fun surprise during the
Opening Ceremonies. I just love the Olympics!

Saturday was a weird day--because of the weather. We had two huge storms that blew through that afternoon, with SUPER strong winds, and each of the windstorms that came blew in from different directions. First the wind blew north, then south. The Harris clan came down to play that afternoon while a lot of the grandkids were in town, but we didn't feel like going outside in the terrible weather and they left shortly after! Josh was gone all day to work and then Youth Conference (he 's in the Stake Young Men's Leadership). He came home around 5 to take a quick shower after doing service projects and water games, and asked if I wanted to join him at their dinner/fireside/dance that evening. I'd been lonely without him (he usually comes home early on Saturdays) so I was happy to join him! The fireside devotional was by Helen Stuart and President Beyeler, and was very nice. There was a DJ from Rexburg that did the dance, and the music was an awesome mix of current and 90's hits. Ammon got back in town just as the dance was beginning, so he stopped by with his friend Eli and ACTUALLY danced two dances with Hannah before leaving (he hates dancing and hardly even comes to the church dances). The dance lasted for over 2 hours, so about halfway through it, Josh and I left for a bit to drive around the golf course to survey the damage that the windstorms had caused. Two complete trees were blown over (a pine and a willow), and several large branches were all over the course, too. After the dance, we helped clean up and got home around 11:30.

An early morning rainbow at the golf course before the wind damage occurred

My handsome husband serving dinner at Youth Conference

On Sunday, we were supposed to go to Great Falls to visit his Grandma and Grandpa Parsons. It was our one family vacation we'd planned for the summer. But Grandma called in the middle of the week and said her and grandpa were sick and they weren't up to entertaining us. So, we changed our plans and stayed in Salmon on Sunday instead, and decided to head to Lava Hot Springs on Monday. After church, we went to Ed & Kathy's for dinner, and we watched some Olympics as Josh took a nap. Since it was fast Sunday, I'd had a contest with Josh and the Hobbs again and I won against both! So Gina and her family came over to visit that afternoon and brought us some cookies. After they left that evening, we headed into the golf course to work as a family to help Josh out since he was planning on taking off early the next morning to go to Lava Hot Springs with us, but needed to clean up some of the windstorm damage first. He'd taken care of the blown-over pine tree earlier that morning when he was at work before church, so our family focused on raking up some of the branches on #2 and #6 teeboxes while he took care of another tree that had been halved at the top near #4 and #6 greens. Then we worked together on clearing the big willow that had fallen over by #9 green. As it was getting dark, we also cut up and cleared away part of a poplar that had split in half and had fallen from the driving range perimeter onto the park walking path. We worked for over two hours together, and got a lot done in the process!

The base of the willow that was blown over