first trip of the summer

In the middle of June, the boys and I took our first family trip of the summer. We went to Utah, without Josh because he was working and couldn't join us. The initial reason for the trip was to drop off Ammon at my parent's house, because he was going to scout camp with my dad's troop on Monday, June 17. I decided to take the boys down on Friday and make a fun weekend out of the drive. 

 

The boys were so good in the car ride--which is about 4 1/2 hours long. I was truly amazed at just how well. I rented a Redbox movie and they watched that the first two hours. Then they played on their tablets & Nintendo DS's for the next two hours until we arrived at my parents' home in Tremonton late Friday afternoon.

 

The weather was beautiful when we got there--unlike Salmon that had a rainstorm that day and the previous day. The boys needed to move their legs & bodies after being contained for so long, so my mom pulled out the bubbles wands, and they played with them until the containers ran out of bubble juice. They made big bubbles, and trails of little bubbles, and tried catching & popping bubbles. They were fun toys to play with.

 

Then they played Frisbee for a while, until it was time for me to leave. I'd made plans to go see my friend Eve's play in Midvale. She was the sound director for their production of the Tony Award-Winning Play "Avenue Q". After reading about it on her blog, I really wanted to go, and I was so happy that they were showing it during the time that I would be in Utah. I made plans with my friend Kim, and I picked her up near Tremonton and we drove together to the theater in Midvale. I'd been to that theater before with Josh last year to see a different production that Eve was involved in, and really loved that particular theater. I was happy to go back there, and introduce the place to Kim, too. We sat on the front row, even though we were almost late. The play was awesome! I loved it!!! It's like Sesame Street--with puppets and real people, and the story is about adult lessons in life. Here's a tidbit about it from my friend Eve's blog: http://allaboutevey.blogspot.com/2013/05/opening-night.html

The play was a musical, and the actors and puppeteers were so amazing! I loved their unique voices and listening to them sing. I was completely enthralled with the show! It was a comedy, and I laughed so hard! One of the actors thanked me afterwards for my laughter. I laugh loud on purpose when I go to the theater--I know what it's like to perform on stage and need the energy from the audience! When I was in high school and performed on stage, a retired staff of my high school always came to the plays and was the ideal audience member--she laughed and cheered and applauded loudly. I told myself that I wanted to be that person when I grew up. I also told myself I wanted to perform in community theater when I grew up, but since that can't be a reality (uh--no auditorium here in Salmon and no community theater), I can still be the person that laughs and cheers for performers when I watch plays in the live theater. So, I do. It truly was an awesome experience to attend this unique play, and I'm so glad I went!

After the show, Eve and Kim and I went out to Denny's for a late night meal. We all went to the same high school and were involved in the drama program together, and going to Denny's after a play has been a tradition since our high school days. We reminisced and chit-chatted about life, and it was good to catch up with my long-time friends. We said our good-byes at about 11:30, and I drove Kim back to her car and went to my parents' house and went to bed.

While I was gone that evening, my mom took the boys to Pizza Plus and they ate pizza and breadsticks and played arcades for an hour. Then they went back to her house, and they watched "True Grit". She texted me a half hour after starting the movie, but I was in the play and my phone was shut off. She wanted to know if it was okay that the boys were watching a PG-13 movie. I laughed when I saw the text since I knew the boys were already watching it (which was fine with me, btw), and she obviously didn't think about that before they began the movie. I wasn't about to have her shut off the movie mid-way through it, and have angry, tired boys on her hands. But I thought back to when I was a kid; I was not allowed to watch anything but PG movies. One time she even came to a sleepover party at my friend's house and made them shut the movie off because it was PG-13. My, how times have changed!

The boys slept in sleeping bags in her living room that night, which they've wanted to do for years, and were so happy to have had a fun evening with good food, fun arcade games, a grown-up movie, and a wish granted! They went to bed super late (about 11:00), so they were ornery the next morning and I made a mental note to not let them sleep in Grandma's living room anymore! But I was very grateful that my mom was willing to babysit the boys for me and do fun things with them while I went to a play date (literally) with a friend.

walky & talky

During the first week of June, I started walking almost every day with my good friends Krissy and Amanda. We walk over one & a half miles 5-6 days a week. We use a few different locations, but mostly we walk by my house using an uphill farm road, and a downhill paved road. It takes us about a half hour, and we usually go later in the evenings because it's cooler, but we sometimes change times, in order to coordinate better with our different daily schedules. I have loved talking and walking with these two awesome ladies! We laugh a lot, so it's exercise for my body as well as my soul! I always feel better after walking, and I've noticed that my body has had more energy and needed less food, too. Bonus! We walked diligently for one month straight (almost a record for me)--and then the week of July 4th happened and was a little crazy and we haven't been as faithful since.

 

We decided to take before/after photos, so here's the "before" shot after just one week of walking. Our goal is to do another similar photo at the end of summer to see if we notice any difference in our bodies after all the walky/talky time!

Walking almost daily with these women has been one of my favorite parts of summer thus far! I'm so grateful to have good friends that are motivated to exercise, too. I need others to keep me motivated to exercise, and it's so fun having people to work out with! One of my goals this year is to get my weight under 200 pounds, and I'm hoping this will help me achieve that goal by the end of the year.

Tiki

After our dog Shorty died, Josh wanted to get another dog, and so did the boys. But I was not in favor of getting another dog. I did not want to go through the process all over again of training another puppy. The boys had seen some blue heeler puppies the week before, and were interested in getting one of them because they thought they were so cute. I especially didn't want another heeler puppy--a dog that nips and jumps.

Josh prayed about what to do--he wanted our boys to have a dog again, and he didn't want me to be upset by their desires, and he wanted to do the right thing. The dog-bite, dog-killing incident had been a shock to everyone, but very hard on Josh and he wanted to make things right again. He felt like we should go to the animal shelter, and he kept having the same thought over and over again. He told the boys we would go look at the shelter first, and if they didn't have any dogs we liked, then we could look into getting one of the blue heeler pups instead.

I was hesitant about getting a dog from the shelter (what if the dog came from an abusive home? what if it didn't like kids?)--but I thought it was a better solution then getting a new puppy. So, on a Tuesday afternoon in June (2 days after the dog-biting incident), we all got into the van and drove into town to the Animal Shelter. We told them we wanted a family-friendly, medium-size dog that would not bite. They said they had one dog that fit the criteria: a female dog with the name of Tiki. She was a Corgie/Border Collie mix, and they'd only had her for one week. She was a year old, and had already been bred once and fixed. When she arrived at the shelter the week before, she came with one of her puppies, but the Shelter had sent her pup to a Boise shelter just that morning. A worker went to get her out of the kennel and bring her to us. We all instantly liked her. She had the same coloring as Shorty, but her fur was longer & thicker, and she was a little taller. We took her on a walk around the shelter, and made a family decision to keep her.

This has been the best decision for us. Having her has helped the boys heal tremendously. Kanyon loves her so much, and has almost forgotten his dog-bite incident. The boys all love their new dog. She is super sweet, and follows them anywhere around the place. She rarely barks--only at animals that come around our home at night. She doesn't jump up on us, and she doesn't chew as badly as Shorty did. She doesn't run off or chase cars; she stays close to our home and runs up to greet us when we arrive after being gone.  I've never heard her growl, and she is so friendly with other people. She is an awesome pet. I'm so glad Josh listened to his mind & heart to go to the Animal Shelter, because she is the perfect dog for our family!

 

 

We weren't given much information about where she came from, only that her previous owners were breeders, and they said they had too many dogs when they dropped her off at the pound. The day we picked her up, right after we brought her home, we had to go back into town to soccer. Ammon tried putting her in the kennel, but she quickly escaped through the small hole that Shorty had created by biting through the wire. As we were driving away, she quickly started running after us on the road. So, we put her back in the car, and I drove into town, dropped the older 3 boys off at their earlier soccer games, then Kanyon and I drove Tiki back home to try and fix the kennel so that she would stay and wait for us. Edward came over and used some wire cutters to fix the kennel, and then Kanyon and I drove back into town for our soccer game at the later time (I was coaching his team). During Kanyon's game, Edward called to say that Tiki found a different way out of the kennel, and was following him around while he was doing chores with the cows, so he tied her up on the leash on our porch instead. As soon as we got home, we unleashed her. We discovered that first day that she doesn't like to be alone, and the boys wanted her to feel welcome with them, so that very first night, they all slept outside on the trampoline. She was hesitant to join them on it, but they lifted her up and carried her onto the trampoline, and she laid in between them on it all night. They've all been good friends since! She has never tried to follow us down the road in our car since that first day. She now knows we will return, so we've never had to put her in the kennel or tie her up again, either.

 

We quickly discovered she doesn't like loud noises. She doesn't like yelling, and will back away or hide when the mowers are going or kids are screaming. One night the pump in the backyard ditch was sucking a lot of air, and it was making horrendously loud belching sounds all night. It scared Tiki, and she hated it. That night, she made a large rip in the back screen door by yanking on the screen with her paws so she could come inside and lay by us instead. The next day, I sewed up the tear so that the screen door could still be closed at night to allow the cool night air inside. Unfortunately, there was a big thunder storm that night, with lots of thunder and lightning, and she tore through the screen door again, completely ripping away part of it. She only tries to come inside when it's noisy outside and she's scared! Now we have to keep the sliding glass door closed all night instead of the screen door, because it's an easy access for her to come in. Whenever she does come inside, however, she's very calm and just sits or lays down. One night, we actually let her stay all night inside and she laid by the boys and didn't run around at all, but when she started chewing on their things, we took her back outside.

Whenever we weed the garden or pumpkin patch, she follows us down there and she takes turns sitting by each boy as they work and weed. She does so without even being called, it's so cute. She's loyal to all 4 boys and loves to be with them. She's followed us on 4-wheeler rides, walks, and watches the boys as they play in the yard.

She likes to lay in her dog house on the back deck or on the dirt underneath the back deck during the days, and at night she lays on our front porch. She lays a lot, and sometimes I wonder if she's depressed or if she's just content to not be active. She only runs when she's chasing away another animal or she's trying to keep up with us on 4-wheelers. The workers at the animal shelter weren't even sure if she would bark, but we have heard her a couple of times at night to keep the deer, foxes, raccoons, and skunks away (she's already been sprayed a couple times by skunks). She's everything we wanted in a dog!

a heavenly gift

June 10 was the day after our dog Shorty died (due to biting Kanyon's face twice). It was a tough day for our family (I blogged about it HERE). We were all sad and processing grief in different ways, and the feelings in our home that day were not good. The boys and I stayed inside pretty much all day, allowing the grief to swallow us up.

That evening, as I was putting Kanyon to bed, I looked out his window to find a bright orange sky. It looked similar to the skies we had last fall when huge forest fires were plaguing the nearby mountains, but this wasn't a result of any fire. The bright orange sky was a reflection of the sunset in some approaching storm clouds. I grabbed my camera, went outside, and started taking photos of the ever-changing evening sky. It was truly glorious to just behold.

The evolution from our backyard view:

The night sky from the view in front of the house:

By the time the sun had completely set, the storm had fully blown in. It was a lightning storm of great magnitude, and the lightning was so bright it completely lit up the sky. There were lightning flashes continually, and hardly any rain, so we got the boys out of bed and we sat on the porch watching the night unfold before our eyes. We remarked how Shorty hated lightning and thunder, and it felt like this was a blessing for this beautiful storm to come on the day after he was gone.

It was difficult to capture a photo of the beautiful lightning, but I have images that show just how bright the night sky was as a result:

Without lightning:

During lightning:

Without lightning:

During lightning:

Watching the beautiful night sky, and seeing the amazing lightning storm with my family somehow brightened the mood inside of me and my family. It felt like gift from God above. I felt like He was aware of how I felt and that He loved me, and I was filled with peace. The magnificent sky and storm was the best thing that happened that day. It was very healing for me, and I felt so much better afterwards when the storm had passed and it was time for all of us to go to bed.

Father's Day 2013

We are so blessed to have 3 strong men lead & guide our family, and we were happy to celebrate their examples in fatherhood on Father's Day this year.

"What I like about Dad":
Kanyon - that he makes good dinner and he jumps on the trampoline with me
Micah - he takes us camping
Jonah - that he does fun things for us like take us camping
Ammon - he's funny
Kala - he's a good listener, is funny, a hard worker, and an excellent husband & provider

The boys all got him a gift each of a new yard gnome and chocolate that they'd picked out.

 

"What I like about Grandpa T.":

Kanyon - that he pulls me on the stride in his yard

Micah - that he makes hamburgers on Sundays for us sometimes

Jonah - he builds fun things for us to play on

Ammon - he's a hard worker

Kala - he's generous, a very hard worker, and has fun playing with the boys

The boys made him his favorite cookies (No-Bake), and gave him a spatula that says "#1 Grandpa".

"What I like about Grandpa P.":
Kanyon - he plays chess with me
Micah - he lets us play wii at his house
Jonah - he likes to play chess with me
Ammon - he is nice
Kala - he's devoted, has a great sense of humor, and is responsible with his finances

The boys made him a candybar-gram poster with their Perkins cousins. They all chose their own candybars and sentences to go along with them.

piano players

In June, I started teaching my 3 oldest boys piano lessons.

 

Ammon has taken piano lessons on & off for 6 years. He's had two teachers besides me, and he's improved over the years and is doing pretty well. Once he entered 5th grade band, I backed off teaching him piano lessons steadily since he was learning to play a musical instrument at school. But, during the summers the last 3 years, he's been having piano lessons to help him retain his piano playing abilities. My hope, and Josh's desire, is that Ammon can play well enough to be the pianist in Priesthood meeting at church. He's been learning and practicing out of the simplified hymns book to better enable him to accomplish that goal.

 

This is Jonah & Micah's second summer of piano lessons, and my first year teaching them. Last summer, we had a young woman living with us who taught the boys piano lessons in exchange for free rent. They only had about 6 weeks of lessons, but it was a good start. This summer's lessons have been more difficult for them--it's been more challenging for them to learn from their mom than another person, and they sure give me grief whenever I make them play a piece more than once before passing it off. I never once heard them talk to their teacher last year like they talk to me during lesson time! Sheesh! But I offer them prizes when they do pass off all their songs each week, and unfortunately Jonah & Micah have each had a lesson already in the past month where they didn't receive a prize, due to not passing off songs & doing a lot of angrily back-talking. Regardless of those times, I have seen improvements in their playing since we began, and I do enjoy hearing them practice and knowing that they are getting better in their skills!

bridge builders

When Josh was younger, he did his Eagle Scout project on the day before his 18th birthday.

 

He vowed he wouldn't make that mistake again when his boys were going through scouts, so he's been helping Ammon work on his scout requirements in order to help fulfill that vision.

 

Ammon is 13 years old, and his Eagle Scout project is done; he completed it during the 2nd week of June. Josh needed some new bridges built for the golf course to replace some old, broken ones, and it was the perfect opportunity for volunteers (aka scouts) to do the job.  Ammon agreed to do that as his Eagle project, and was glad for a chance to improve the local golf course.

 

The local steel company fabricated two metal bridge frames. Then Ammon made a materials list and went to the lumber store & hardware store with Josh to pick up lumber, paint, stain, nuts, & bolts.

 

He had two of his fellow scouters (& friends) come out to the golf course one night, and they painted the bridges and stained the wood together as Josh & I went golfing.

Then he called most of the scouters in his troop to ask for their assistance the following day, after the paint had dried, to assemble the bridges. We thought we'd have a good showing of boys, but it was just the same two boys who came out to help him again. Josh cut the boards into lengths that fit the span of the bridges, and then he drilled holes through the wood & metal. The boys then took an air compressor to blow out any shavings off the bridge, and they attached the wooden planks to the metal frame with nuts, bolts, & washers.

After all the wooden planks were attached to the bridges, most of the edges of the wood that had been cut needed to be stained again.

Then it came time to transport the bridges onto the golf course. Josh used his work loader to carry the bridges to their locations using chains.

Ammon took a golf utility cart, and carried his friends, shovels, and rakes to the spot on the golf course.

 

Ammon's scoutmaster Justin Williams helped Josh transport the bridge.

This is one of the old bridges that needed to be replaced spanning a ditch on the course--it was rotting and was unsteady. The new bridge is the entrance to the #2 green.

Josh & Justin maneuvered the bridge until it was in just the right spot.

Then the area around the bridge needed to be leveled, so Josh & Justin used their muscles & some shovels to get it situated just right.

Josh brought over a load of sand to compact the area on both sides of this bridge, and the first bridge installment was complete!

Then we took a break from it, it was a hot day, and we were all tired. They'd been working in the sun for 3 hours, so I treated them all to sno-cones, and they cleaned up their work area and went home.  Ammon went back with Josh the next day to install the final bridge. It stands next to the new #1 men's teebox. Then they took out both of the old bridges that were falling apart, and the project was officially complete.

We've heard lots of compliments about the nice, new bridges on the golf course! I'm so glad that Ammon was able to do a project that he felt pride in doing, and that he will always remember--since he's a golfer, he will always have the visual reminder of the work he completed on the golf course for his Eagle project. It wouldn't have been possible without Josh's help--I'm so grateful he's been so instrumental in helping Ammon stay on task to obtain his Eagle. He should be able to receive it this fall!