July 2018 Randoms

July 9: We had a family goal of hosting 3 family get-togethers this summer. The first one was in June after Ammon's high school graduation, and he got to invite whoever he wanted to come. In July, the younger 3 boys decided what families to invite. The Hobbs, Deschaine, and Oliverson families came over. We ate homemade ice cream and brownies. The kids played outside together, and the adults played "Cover Your Assets" before hanging around the fire pit. It was such an enjoyable evening with our friends!

July 11: I went to Bingo Night at the Eagle's with Darcy. I hadn't played Bingo there in over 10 years, but now that Darcy is part of the Eagles group and helps with it every week, I've been wanting to join her for a night. This ended up being the only Wednesday night I could make it all summer. I only won one bingo, and unfortunately at the exact same time as two others, so my winnings were only $3 for the night, but I had so much fun!

Look--my bingo card revealed a smiley face!

July 14: This was the first raspberry picking of many of the summer! The golden raspberries started off stronger than the red ones, but by fall, the red ones were coming on more abundant than the gold.

July 15: So last fall, my friend Camille let me know about this Mexican Train Dominoes game app. I was in a phase where I loved that game above all other, and immediately downloaded it. I added it to my daily regime of playing solitaire (which I play once a day in the morning to help my brain wake up) and soon had a goal of getting a perfect score on it--I got close several times, and it gave me the desire to keep going. Finally, on this particular morning when I played it, I actually did it and got a total ZERO!! And I haven't had a desire to play it since--in fact, I deleted it from my phone a while back! But since it was a quest that I succeeded at, even though it seems pretty lame, I decided to document the experience ;).

July 15: One Sunday afternoon, we decided it was such nice weather, that we should go golfing. Surprisingly, the twins decided to join us!! They haven't been very interested in golfing until this summer, but when we went to TopGolf in June, the twins had a lot of fun, and it piqued their interest in the sport. Josh gave them several pointers throughout the afternoon, and they actually liked it! We had such a fun afternoon together, and we ended up going a few more times after that during the summer.

July 16: I love that Josh has begun capturing images of the beauty outdoors in recent years. I enjoy seeing the world through his eyes and his perspective!! He took this sunset picture by our house on the 15th, and the sunrise picture at the golf course the very next morning.

July 17: The cherry tree was abundant with fruit this year!

July 18:  Kanyon and I went to the movie in town together after Josh and the twins left for scout camp.

July 20: Our rain gutter along the backside of the house was damaged in the winter of 2017 when we had so many below zero temps, and the ice from the roof was so heavy that it broke over half of the rain gutter. As a result of the missing rain gutter, sections of paint along the base of the house peeled off because of water damage. The water dribbled down the side of the roof, bounced off the deck, and puddled up affecting the paint. When I added the protective covering to the deck at the beginning of July, I repainted the sections of the house with water damage. We knew it would happen again if we didn't re-do the raingutter, so Josh decided to have someone come and do the job for us this summer. Alan Aldous came out and gave us a bid, and came back the next week and put it on. He also added a drain pipe next to the deck, which we didn't have before, and he also added a small section of raingutter above the laundry room exterior door, too. Josh was gone to scout camp when he installed it, and I was gone to Utah, but we were so happy to come home and see the job completed and that the job was well done.

I don't have a "Before" shot of the raingutter damage because I didn't know
the contractor was coming so quickly to replace it and I was out of town when
it happened, but I found a photo from over a year ago where you can see that there
was only one section of raingutter remaining along the exterior of the house
after the rest had too much ice build-up during the winter, and the weight broke it off. 

It's not the best "After" shot, but you can see that the new rain gutter lines the
backside of the house, spanning the length of the deck. At the very end, the
drain pipe leads to the area with bushes to the north of the deck. 

July 23: Kanyon's 5th grade teacher Mrs. Tuckett sent him a $25 visa card for being the top reader with the most A.R. points in her class. It was a fun surprise to get in the mail!!

July 27: Salmon Stake Youth Conference. Josh and I were both the only chaperones from our ward. It was up at Williams Lake Campground on Friday. The youth did a service project, hung out at the lake, had a campfire devotional, spent the night, and had activities all day Saturday ending in a youth dance. We had just gotten home from Bear Lake the previous day, and I was rather stressed out and didn't feel good: I had just started my period and my leg was burnt from a run-in with a motorcycle exhaust a few days earlier. When the kids were at the lake the first time, they were wild! The stake leaders were still at the campground, and the ward leaders were all hanging out on the deck of the home owners, so all the kids were being crazy on the dock. Josh and I helped pump up some inflatables for the kids, and then pumped up our personal paddle boards, including the brand new one we had just purchased for the Bear Lake trip that we'd only had for a week. Unfortunately, a group of teenage boys wrestled with some girls that were on the new paddle board, and the paddle broke. When I talked to the boys about diving down to retrieve the broken part, they came up with excuses why they shouldn't, then the rest of the paddle got lost in the water, too. I went off the deep end and yelled at all the kids about being respectful and showing manners. I was quite disgusted that at one point, the homeowner that was allowing us to use her dock almost got pushed into the water herself after some youth pushed into her as she was walking across the dock. Josh got both of our paddle boards out of the water, deflated and packed them back up, and then he drove me home and dropped me off. I wasn't going to be able to spend the night anyway due to going to a quincinerea in Idaho Falls the next day, but I had planned on staying until dark that night. Josh knew that I didn't feel good, and didn't think it was in my best interest to stay any longer. He's a smart man. I needed the time to myself after being on vacation all week! I hated that I blew a gasket in front of everyone, but I'm not sorry that I told the kids that their behavior wasn't acceptable. The twins had a good time at youth conference, but it overall wasn't Josh's favorite youth conference experience ever.

July 29: We went golfing another Sunday evening with Ammon and his friend Kennady, and loafed around on the deck afterwards. I love being lazy in the summer! Hanging out in the hammock is a favorite pastime, but I found myself sitting on the this end of the deck quite frequently this summer with Josh! It's right next to some tall bushes, so we feel like it's a more private spot to be free to relax unseen.

Rafting and Painting with the ladies

For Mother's/Father's Day, Ammon gifted Josh and I a rafting trip for 2 with Rawhide Outfitters that he won at Senior Sober night after his high school graduation. We kept trying to tell him to take one of his guy or gal friends and use the gift certificate himself, but he refused. Josh doesn't like floating with strangers (we did that on our very first float trip years ago), so I decided to go with a friend instead. Jen had never floated the Salmon River before, so I asked her to join me. We put out the invite to any of our girlfriends who might be interested in joining us, too, and only a couple could go on the day we had scheduled. All together, we had only a group of 4!!! Lexi Keller and Cristy Turner also joined us. We floated on Monday, July 30 (Mondays were better for Jen's work schedule). It was the first time the 3 of them had floated with Rawhide; there was another group that floated with them that same day, too. The weather was simply glorious! Our boat guide was pretty new at it, and as a result, we got stuck on 2 boulders throughout the float. The first time, we nearly flipped over in a rapid, and the second time, we had to shift people around in the boat to get off the rock that we high-centered on. Overall, it was a fun time, and I enjoyed spending the day with these fun girls! We had great conversation, laughed a lot, and had a good time with each other. 

Cristy, Jen, Lexi, and I

As soon as our shuttle bus made it back to town, I went home and showered and then headed back in to town to go to the Eagle's Lodge Paint and Pint Night with Darcy. I'd never been to one before, but had been wanting to go to one for a few years, so I was excited when she invited me to go with her. I'm not an artist--but painting was easier than I thought it would be, and I really enjoyed spending the night with Darcy! They served pizza, too, which worked out for me because I hadn't had time to eat the few minutes I was at home in between rafting and painting. Our creations were complete after just a couple of hours, and I was so proud of our products!!

Spending the day and night with my girlfriends was so invigorating for me! 

My First Quinceanera Invite!

Ever since I was a teenager, I've wanted to attend a Quinceanera party!! However, it wasn't until this year that I FINALLY got my first invite! I have a group of friends in Terreton that I get together with usually once or twice a month--we play dominoes, go to dinner, go to movies, go shopping, etc. One of my friends, Lidia, has a daughter who turned 15 this year, and she invited our group to attend the Quinceanera over the summer. I was SO excited! 

I drove down to it with my friend Angie, and we sat together all night. It was her first Quinceanera experience, too! Our friend Rosalba also came with her daughters, and we spent time with them during the celebration that evening as well. It was held in a big open room that's meant for large get-togethers behind a small Hispanic grocery store in Idaho Falls (which I accidentally went in at first because I couldn't figure out where to go!). It was decorated beautifully in the colors Aliyah had chosen: maroon and gold. Angie and I got there early enough to watch the ceremony. Then the family hosted a dinner for all in attendance. There was a TON of food, and the carnitas were SO delicious! Angie and I helped with the dessert--cutting up all the goodies us friends had brought, and putting them on platters near the cake in the front of the dance hall. 

After the dinner hour was over, the tables were moved out of the way, and the dancing began. Aliyah, her brother, and friends performed several choreographed dances. Then she got to dance with her dad and all her uncles, which was tender. She opened several gifts, and one of her uncles danced a silly dance to bring her one of her gifts, which was hilarious! Following the choreographed dances, the dance floor opened for everyone, and the DJ had a mix of songs he played. Shortly after that began, Angie and I left because I was heading back to Salmon that night and I didn't want to get home super late, and neither of us felt like dancing without our husbands ;).  

It was such a fun night! I enjoyed the celebration immensely!

My friends Angie and Lidia

Aliyah looked SO beautiful! I just loved her dress!

Dancing with champagne, and drinking to toast the special event!

I love her smile in this photo!

A Beary Nice Family Vacay

We took three small vacations this summer rather than one big one (one each month). Because it was Ammon's last summer at home, we picked trips that we knew he would enjoy. Our first vacation in June  we went to Top Golf in SLC. For our second vacation, in July, we went to Bear Lake. We hadn't been there in 7 years, but we love the beach there, and wanted to return. We stayed for 2 nights at a really nice condo rental in Garden City that I got on Air BnB. To save money, we planned ahead and brought all our food from home (except for one meal--it's always nice to eat out at least ONCE!!). The suburban was packed to the max with 6 people, our packed bags, the food, and all the inflatable water toys:    

We went from Tuesday, July 24 to Thursday, July 26. It needed to be on weekdays to work with Josh's weekend work schedule, and we also coordinated our vacation to be with Eve Whall and her mum Amanda from England--Eve's semester at BYU-I had just ended, and Amanda came out for the week to go to Eve's friend's wedding the following weekend so the weekdays worked better for them, too. We met up on Tuesday evening at the condo where the Whall's stayed with us. Our friend Amanda, daughter Regan, and husband Ryan came up from Ogden to spend the evening with us as well, which was really fun. We had dinner for everyone, but couldn't find a good picnic table at an outdoor place that was handicap accessible, so we ended up just eating at our condo rental before we went to a beach and hung out in the water for a while before the sun set. Afterwards, we got some of the famous raspberry shakes before the Berube's left to go back to Ogden. Eve played some board games that night with us at the condo before we retreated to bed. 

On Wednesday morning, we headed out about 9am after breakfast to go to Rendezvous Beach on the south end of the lake. We'd only ever been to the North Beach before on the Idaho side. When we first arrived, there weren't very many people there, so we had a great parking spot and claimed out a decent-sized area with two picnic tables on the beach. As the day progressed, more and more people showed up, and by late afternoon it was pretty packed. The weather was beautiful, and we had a wonderful, relaxing day playing on the beach, in the water, and on the water toys all day. We rented two sea-doos for an hour, which was AWESOME!!! I've always wanted to ride on a jet ski and never have my whole life. Josh and Eve each took control of one, and the rest of us each got to take two rides during the hour. It was incredibly fun! We bought another paddle board right before this trip, so we had two paddle boards, some floaties, and a boat to share during the day, too. We left around dinner time, and went to a nice pizza place in Garden City. That night, we watched a movie before bed. The whole day was heavenly--probably my favorite day of the whole summer. 

always the golfer, no matter the location!

Josh trying out our newest paddle board. 

Kanyon thrives when he's at a beach!

This picture of him makes me giggle every time!

Our two jet skis that we rented.

I couldn't get enough of the view!

The bedroom that Josh and I stayed in at the condo was upstairs on the 3rd floor. We had a sliding glass door that opened up to a balcony that overlooked the lake. I woke up early on Thursday morning to watch the sunrise over the lake. It was glorious! After breakfast, we packed up, cleaned up, and left town. We stopped at Minnetonka Cave on the drive back, but there was already such a long line, and we didn't want to wait an hour and a half for the next available tour time, so we continued on our way. However, we did stop at Soda Springs to eat a picnic lunch and watch the geyser burst (which I did not even know existed until this trip--as we were on our way TO Bear Lake, I just happened to see it in the distance above the tops of the buildings on Main Street, and googled it!). We timed it just right--as it blows every hour on the hour, we got there about 15 minutes before it blew so we had time to eat before walking around the geyser area. After that, we went our separate ways: the Whalls headed to Boise for the wedding, and we drove on to Salmon. It was definitely a memorable vacation!