Scouts....need I say more.....

Well kyle has had a busy summer with scouts. Right after school got out for the summer he went to Boys Camp up near Flagstaff. They had a wonderful time and got to do lots of fun things and yes....even finish up a merit badge or two or three !!! YIPEEE. That was a five day camp. Then last weekend the boys headed off again to Blue Ridge Reservoir. It looks like a beautiful place. Let's face it though....anywhere right now that's under 90 degrees is beautiful. Although I think you can see in the pictures that it is a pretty place.

The boys were working on their canoeing merit badge. Kyle already had his, so he was able to help demonstrate many things. I think the boys stayed in the water for the best part of the 2 days they were there.

I forgot to mention that when the boys got to Blue Ridge Reservoir they then had to take their camping stuff by canoe a couple of miles up the river to where they were going to camp for 2 days. So we had to try to make things they were taking as waterproof as possible. I just knew that there were going to be wet sleeping bags and food and clothes, but to my happy suprise none of the boys tipped their canoes over. Not a single one. They had 8 canoes with two people in each canoe. That's really good.

I really do appreciate these leaders who take these crazy boys out to do these things with them. I'm grateful that I don't have to go as a mother and witness the things they do. Some things are just better not seen.









Notice all the boys hovering around like there's going to be something good to eat?



Yes those really are crawdads. YUCK !!!! Another reason I'm glad I don't have to go on these adventures. Kyle thought they were wonderful though. He thought they tasted just like Lobster (that's funny.....he's never had lobster.)




Although as good as those Crawdads were, Kyle was especially grateful that Bro. C stopped in Payson on the way home and fed them all breakfast at Denny's. You would have thought that was the first meal kyle had eaten in 2 years, not just 2 days. He just kept telling us about Denny's and how good the breakfast was.....two huge pancakes, bacon, sausage and a huge plate of hash browns. We actaully heard more about Denny's than the campout at first.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?`

I ask myself this every summer....especially when it gets to 113 degrees of blasted heat. There is nothing you can do in this heat and survive unless you're wet from head to toe. I also find it quite funny that on the days we can't make it to the swimming pool, that the "baby" pool in the backyard is a whole lot of fun. Thank heavens for the fort and the slide. Kayla and Nathan love going up and down the slide every which way possible.

There's also the slip and slide and yes.....that's soap bubbles on the slip and slide. It works better with a little help from the kitchen soap. It makes it all the more slippery and fun to slide on.






Nathan is a creative thinker and likes to wrap the garden hose around the top of the fort to create a water slide. They have more fun.

Happy 4th of July

We love the 4th of July and especially since we get to go to the White Mountains and spend time with my sister and her family. Every summer growing up our family camped in the White Mountains when my dad had vacation time. My grandparents stayed there all summer and we would go and camp with them and have a wonderful time. Lots and lots of great memories with Grandma and Grandpa teaching us how to fish and clean the fish as well.

Now, however, that times have changed it's time for us to start new traditions with our own families. It has been so much fun the past 3 years to go and spend a long weekend with my sisters family in the mountains. Sometimes it rains and sometimes we luck out. This year we really lucked out. It didn't rain on us not once. We had perfect weather. The first day we went to a place called Bog Tank. It was great. We got there towards late afternoon or early evening. We got out all our stuff and threw in the lines. We started catching fish just one right after another. Of course with 17 people in our group it wasn't hard to keep the fish comming in. Everyone had so much fun. The first picture of Kayla however, if you couldn't tell by her facial expression, is her dissatisfaction of not having caught a fish yet. She was being very patient but thought that her turn should be next. Thank heaven for small blessings and her turn did come soon enough.

All in all at the end of the evening between 17 people, we had caught over 46 fish. 46 is what we actually kept on the stringers, but there were still many more that were returned to the lake. You may be asking yourself....who cleaned all those fish. Well Kyle cleaned his "one" that was required to complete his fishing merit badge for scouts and then I along with my brother-in-law and his son-in-laws cleaned the rest. It made for a fun evening at the cabin.

Kayla much happier after having caught her first fish


Kyle learning from Uncle Steve how to remove a hook from a fish who has swallowed it. Not a pretty scene.



Nathan down at the river where we used to camp when I was little. For some reason he thought he could only fish from the middle of the stream. Somehow it just works better if your feet are wet and cold. It also helps a lot if you just fall completely in, but thankfully we managed to avoid that.



Kayla being patient once again on the 2nd return to the lake. The ice chest made a perfect little seat for her to wait patiently upon.


Then of course I had to have some of my own fun that wasn't fishing. Thanks to my neices and their hubbies for letting me take pictures. Some of my new favorites.

Then our course there's the group shot....what a gang!!