Friends

I don't consider myself a big social person and I really don't need lots of social interactions like some do.  I do love one on one interactions.  I am one who gets drained if I am around crowds or in social gatherings.   However I have friends who are opposite of me and get recharged being around lots of people.  I am grateful for opportunities to reconnect with friends.  It was fun to see Tia (she served in the Relief Society presidency with me a few years ago).  We happened to be at the same library function today.   They are an awesome family.  

RAIN

Man did it rain, thunder, and lighting yesterday afternoon.  It smelt good and felt good.  It probably wasn't the most appropriate Sunday activity but you can tell it has been some time since it has rained here.  The kids loved jumping in the big puddle that formed within a half hour near our back door which will be fixed sometime this summer.  

BEST sitter

This gal is the best.  She is a very good young lady and so helpful to me.  I have been away from home a lot this summer with camps and various other things for the other kids and she has been in charge of whomever is home.   I sure appreciate her.  I do think she was quite happy to escape to girls camp Wednesday morning though.  I go pick her up in a few hours along with other young women and I am excited to hear how it went.  I have missed her.  

Sadie has been helping Elijah with writing.  He was able to write all of our names down including the dog.  I love his E's. 

Cub Day Camp

I survived another day camp this week and man I am tired. It has been a crazy month 

Jarom had so much fun and that is what makes it worth it.   He had to meet all new boys sincce he was the only cub who went to camp from our packs.   It didn't take him long to make friends.  We had a great group of boys and adults.  

They had a cooking station.  They made donuts, grilled sandwiches, arm pit frosting, and stew.

Jarom's favorite station was BB's.  He ended up with 5 bull eyes.

This was on his last day

He liked the wood station too

Archery was fun for him too.  He brought his own bow the last two days.  Although the range master discovered the last day that he might be left eye dominant.  We will see.

The obstacle station was also a hit.

Practicing folding the flag.

They did an awesome job with the opening flag ceremony on Thursday morning. 

Craft Station making candles

Game station

L to R Larry, Jackson, Jarom, Leslie, Jacob, Coyle, Ryan, Melody, Reece, and Scott 

The camp was Knights in shining armor.  We were Knights of Stag.  I still have our chant going in my head this morning.  We are We are knights of stag We are We are Knights of stag to the tune of We will rock you.  We were fortunate to have a small group.  There were some that had 11 boys.  We had two tiger cubs so a family member had to be with them all week.  

Family Home Evening

Our Bishop and his wife shared with our ward in a talk about how they do family home evenings.  So we are going to give it a go.  We have the lesson part on Sunday evenings where we can hopefully get better discussions since we have more time.  Plus it is the Sabbath and we tend to be  more focused on spiritual things.  Monday evenings will be the activity chosen by the one who is in charge of the activity.  Jarom had us all go to the "bike park", as we call it, this week.  It was great fun till the mosquitoes came out in full force.  

This boy needs to try a bigger bike with peddles but he goes so fast with this balance bike he doesn't want to make the switch.

Sadie giving it a go on the monkey bars.  She was surprised to see that she could reach the bars from the ground.  

garden and yard

While we have been running like mad around here our garden continues to grow out of control.  I planted pole beans this year in hopes to make more room for more corn rows.  I had chance to look at the garden over the weekend and below are the beans.  Yikes! I don't think I want to pick down those rows and I am sure they are going to get worse.   Yes they are super close together.  

The corn is doing awesome and we hope to get more than last year.  

Our yard isn't looking so awesome.  I vowed I wouldn't let our yard get brown and die during the summer.  The lack of time and desire to pay the big bill we have succumbed to the the norm for this area.  Doesn't that look so inviting???

Webelos Day Camp

Last week was Josiah's day camp.  He had a great time.  You can tell he is getting older .   He was  frustrated at times and felt like he was being treated like a baby.  He loved all of the stations.  The BB station went well for him, he was able to get 10 bulls eyes.   I love how serious he looks whenever he is awarded anything but deep inside he is so excited about it.  

Our family isn't much for theatrics so it is difficult to get our kids involved.  A couple of the kids tolerate it when asked to do so but it stresses Josiah.  All of us adult leaders agreed he could do the props instead.   I don't blame him I do not like performing in front of others.  However once the den guide brought all of her medieval costumes the last day I was not surprised he jumped at the chance to be in the skit.  It's okay to perform as long as you have a cool costume.  It was a fun group of boys and parents to be with.  

Wood reunion 2015

Last weekend we had the chance to hang out with this crowd.  It was our turn to host the reunion and man I am glad I don't have to plan it every year.  I like spending time with these people but it was a little stressful as it got closer.  We have such a wide range of ages and will soon be adding the first great grandchild in August.   We enjoyed our time with everyone.  

This is a great picture for having the camera set on a tripod with a timer and all 38 people are looking at it.  

Top row L-R Sterling, Alexis, Addyson, Shellyne, Braidon Seth, Kim, David

Next row L-R Caleb, David, Kayla, Derek, Leslie, Nathan, Heather, Robert, Melissa, Travis

Next Row L-R Jaylin, Kaitynn, Etta, Mason, Camille, Sadie, Josiah, Karsten, Jennifer, Jeff

Next row L-R Jace, Nysa, Langdon, Duane, Chris, Jarom, Elijah, Peyton

Last row L-R Sariah and Teagan

Day canoe trip to Blake Island.

Nathan was quite proud of his set up, 13 canoes total.

Braidon showing Camille, Peyton, Sadie, and Nysa the jelly fish in his hands.

climbing on dead trees

The night before some of the kids made their own kites.  There is a wind on the west end of the island that is perfect for flying kites.  We were impressed with how well they did fly.  

sitting around visiting and watching kids play

More sitting and watching along with some eating.  We are good at eating.

There are two kites up in this picture.  The weather wasn't bad, as far as temperature goes.  

As we were having fun relaxing and visiting I noticed the wind picking up speed and the water getting more rough.  We left the island at 1:30 pm and little did we know we would be making some "great" memories for some.  One canoe with four people didn't make it too far from shore because the waves came up quickly which made it difficult to keep water out.  They were rescued by a guy in a motor boat.  They readily accepted the ride back to where the cars were.  I would have also.  The other four canoes that were near them made their way slowly back to the other side.  Once they were able to get some control of their canoes they ended up stopping at the closest place they could to land.  It was tough getting control of the canoes and made it scary.   My sister pinned where they were from her phone so we could find them.  Another group pulled in a few minutes before anyone else and got across quicker than the rest even though it was tough for them.  There were a few of us in the middle group with three canoes together.  Nathan, me, Jarom, and Elijah were in our wood canoe.  I felt very confident in Nathan getting us back but the boys were done about a half an hour in.  One of the canoes that with us was moving slow and having a hard time keeping the canoe heading in the correct direction so we kept back with them.  At one point we decided to tow them and had them continue to paddle.  We soon learned that the combination of them paddling and the canoe zig zagging wasn't good.  The canoe tipped and they went in.  The ocean water is cold.   I was impressed with how well Nathan was able help and guide them back in their canoe.  At that point we continued to tow them but they didn't paddle this time.  It seemed like we weren't moving at times.  It was so frustrating.  We were paddling with all our might because we knew they were freezing back there.  Jarom and Elijah were so fed up with the ride that they didn't want to save those who fell in.  They were mad and scared.  Under the circumstances they did very well.  I will admit it was a crazy experience and one that many won't forget.  One thing is that we all of us worked together to assure each others safety.    I suspect nobody in my family will want to canoe ever again.   

We actually got two semi decent pictures of our family.

The next day we hiked up to Murhut Falls for those who were brave enough to continue to hang out with us.  This is a neat area and we trudged up to the upper part of the falls which was even better.  

Sariah, Taegan, Jarom

A few of us that went

Kim, David, Jeff, Robert, Leslie, Melissa

Duane and Chris