Raking

Here in Arizona the seasons get all messed up. We rake our fallen leaves in January but have to rake up massive piles of pine needles in August. It is a hot, sweaty, seemingly never-ending job! This was Noah's turn. He was a good sport!

Goosebumps

Jacob had been saving his money for a long time. When I told him he couldn't buy a DSi, he decided to buy a lizard. I said he could if he cleaned off the black hole on top of his dresser. All Jacob needs is a little motivation! Once the dresser was cleared off, he and Jeremy spent an entire Saturday researching the kind of lizard he wanted and comparison shopping at different pet stores. They came home with a leopard gecko and all the items needed for her new home. Jacob named her "Goosebumps" for all the little bumps on her skin. It's been a great dad and son project. They feed her every night (we all love to watch her hunt and eat crickets and mealworms) and clean out her cage every Saturday. She's been a nice little addition to the family.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Whenever we visit Grandpa Tom's house he gives the boys opportunities to earn some money. He's a demanding employer; he insists on a job well done, but also pays generously. He had the boys mowing the lawn, picking up dropped fruit, and weeding this summer. Thanks, dad!

Planetarium

I love that my boys all love science. They always ask to go to the Planetarium in Salt Lake when we are in Utah. (And Nana and Papa and Uncle Jon always comply!) We usually don't get to take Jeremy with us, but he spent a few hours there before we had to take him to the aiport to go home. We loved the 3D Imax "Under the Sea" show. Isaac tried and tried to catch the bubbles coming out of the screen! Our next favorite was watching the pendulum swing slowly back and forth and trying to guess when it would knock the next marker over. We were all so intent on seeing that moment that we had to laugh at ourselves!

Stake Cub Scout Day Camp

In honor of the 100th Anniversary of Scouting, we held a Stake Cub Scout Day Camp in June. Many, many hours and many, many hands helped to make it a day of fun and achievement for the Cub Scouts in our Stake. (I just received these photos; that's why I'm finally including this in the blog!)

For our gathering activity, the boys each made a #10 can head to store their scout "stuff" in at home. Jacob likes to dress his up with his scout hat and neckerchief.

Then the boys split into groups for the day's activities. My favorite: the scouts folded little pocket flags to send to deployed troops throughout the world.

The finished product!

Each of the scouts were able to write thank-you cards to go with the flags they folded.

Another highlight of the day was having a real State Senator come to speak to the boys about service and citizenship. Senator Verschoor is a member of our Stake and was so good with the scouts!

Each boy made a poster about being a good citizen, especially at home.

One of our rotations was about the outdoors. Since this is Arizona we didn't want to spend too much time outside the air-conditioned comfort of the church building, so we brought the outside in. One of our Cubmasters talked about local plant and animal life and how to "leave no trace" when you are in the outdoors.

The scouts did a service project of picking up trash from the church's parking lot (it really needed it after our next activity...see below!).

Water Balloons!!! This was a riot! The boys used balloon launchers to soak each other and then played a very wet game of baseball in the parking lot.

Another favorite class was about Leadership and Cooperation. The boys learned about good leaders and group participation through some fun games. In this one, one boy from each team was blindfolded and led through a maze of chairs by listening to just his partner.

Jacob especially liked crawling army-style under the tunnel of chairs.

In the Manners class, the scouts earned their Good Manners belt loop and pin. They wrote thank-you notes...

...learned how to eat finger foods appropriately (yummy popcorn!)...

...and all about phone manners and treating others with respect.

This is Niki, the Stake Primary Secretary and her adorable boys (that was Jennifer, the other Primary counselor above, with the popcorn).

The class we don't have pictures of was one of the boys' favorites: Volleyball! It really helped get out lots of energy. They were tired as we gathered at the end of the day.

Jennifer took this picture of me. I know it's not pretty, but it makes me laugh. I was so concerned about watching the time all day long!

Dear President McClellan. He is our biggest cheerleader and came to speak for a few minutes at the close of the day. What a great man! All in all, we had about 75 boys participate in day camp and earn the 100th Anniversary patch and ribbons (not to mention the numerous achievements and other awards they passed off). I'm both super proud and super humbled that it came off as wonderfully as it did!

Temple Trip

On the Sunday after the Fourth of July, Jeremy wanted to take us to see the model of the Salt Lake temple. We drove to the Visitor's Center on Temple Square and had to stand in line to see this exhibit!

It is incredible! The Church commissioned an exact replica model of the temple to show people what it is like inside. The workmanship is stunningly beautiful.

It really was amazing to see cut-away parts of the temple that we had never seen before.

On the way home, Jeremy drove us up to the foothills in Bountiful to show the boys a close-up view of the temple there.

So many memories from our days living as newlyweds in Bountiful! We drove by our old apartment and by Granny Bell's old house, too. The boys got so sick of our reminiscing. They couldn't wait to get back to dinner at Nana's so we had to make it a quick trip and get back on the road.

Parade

On the Fourth of July we took a trip down memory lane and went to the hometown Kaysville Parade with both the King and Allen families.

To be right on the grounds of Dear Old Davis High School was fun for both Jeremy and I. It always brings back such great memories when we watch the current members of the band, student council, cheerleaders, etc. And to watch the D'Ette's march by was a kick!

At the end of the parade, those brave souls (and those dying of heat after the 2 hour extravaganza) stay for the water parade, which ends up as a giant water fight between the parade attendees and the float riders/firetrucks.

Noah, Jacob, Calvin, and Liam had way too much fun getting themselves (and others) wet!


This picture cracks me up. Isaac was determined to get into the thick of things and had no other weapon than a water bottle. He used it to full advantage, though!

King Family Reunion

The King Family Reunion was shortened significantly this year. Jeremy couldn't take any more days off work, and Kami was homebound with kidney stones and a soon-to-be-born baby. So we spent one fun day in Logan! After a quick session of family pictures during Brian's lunch hour, we went to the Logan temple grounds on our way a few minutes up Logan canyon. Kami's family shared their favorite spot by the river with all of us. The kids loved wading in the freezing river, building rock sculptures, skipping rocks, and hunting different kinds of butterflies. We topped off the day with a trip to famous Aggie ice cream, and football games, frisbee, and kite flying in the Carlson's yard.

Cherry Hill

We always love when Nana and Papa take us to Cherry Hill. The big boys relish the thrill of Cardiac Canyon, the dragon waterslides, and the lazy river. Isaac likes the Pirate's Cove and pretending to be a pirate looking for treasure. It was awesome to have Jeremy with us this time. He has usually left for home by the time we visit Cherry Hill!