26 July 2009

This is the "before" photo.  Brandan is building shelves in our mudroom to provide more storage and organize the space.  We don't have a basement and this room is our catch-all.  Check back in a few weeks for the finished project.

Hooray for Helen who passed the 42 inch mark this year at the county fair.  Growing taller meant she could ride many more rides, not just the baby ones.  Helen surprised us with her fearlessness.  Her favorite rides were the Ferris Wheel and the Wacky Worm rollercoaster.

Gibson would have preferred to be on the rides, too, but looked at exhibits with Becky instead.  He liked the pigs, but not the steers.  In the photo, Gibson is waving to Brandan and Abe on the Ferris Wheel.

On Saturday two local stakes combined to clean up 20 miles of trail along a creek.  The trail crosses through several towns and is designed for biking, walking, running and equestrian activities.  Brandan provided first aid for a segment of the trail and was loaned a very cool Rhino to get around quickly.  Sophie rode with him.  He treated one bee sting and passed out lots of water (the temperature was near 100.)  Nearly 800 people worked on the project, the largest crew to ever work on the trail.

Last Sunday Sophie brought a lumpy, green "zucchini" home from church.  Saturday night, Becky decided to make zucchini bread out of it.  She had the other ingredients mixed up when she cut into the squash.  It was hollow, with orange flesh, so probably not a zucchini.  She cooked it up anyways and we had mystery squash bread for breakfast this morning.  It tasted great, but then anything with chocolate chips tastes great.

Sophie was recognized in Sacrament Meeting today for completing her Faith in God requirements.  She's been working on it since she turned 8.  She doesn't get a prize for her work-- as the Faith in God booklet says, "Living the gospel is its own reward."  Here is a little shout out on our blog: Nice Work, Sophie!

19 July 2009

Sophie planned a pioneer-themed family night and invited her friend Rylee's family to join us.  She gave a lesson on pioneers and then showed us how to make candles using sand for a mold.  Rylee's dad is a helicopter pilot and entertained us with great firefighting stories. A note of caution: this project was very, very messy.  Wax and sand were spread from the far corner of the kitchen to the end of the patio.  Hooray for Sophie who cleaned it all up.

Here's Sophie with 2 of the finished candles.  Sophie used crayons to dye the wax orange, one of her favorite colors.

Abe loves puzzles.  Sudoku and jigsaw puzzles are 2 of his favorites.  For the past few weeks we've just left a card table up in the family room for him to work puzzles on.  A 500 piece puzzle takes him about a week to finish.  We all help a little, especially towards the end when the pieces are easier to find.

On Saturday, the Activity Day girls hosted a Pioneer Day celebration for our ward Primary.  One of the activities was a bicycle parade.  Helen decorated her tricycle for the parade, but as she watched the melee line up for the parade, she decided to watch instead of ride.

Oh my, it's hot here.  We cower inside with the air conditioning on until around 8 pm when it's really lovely to be outside.  We've been letting our kids stay up late and enjoy the warm evenings, playing in their pajamas outside.  Abe, Helen and Gibson are all taking naps this afternoon to catch up on sleep.

12 July 2009

Our neighborhood association decorates for the 4th of July by planting flags around the neighborhood.  After the holiday, Abe, Helen and Gibson helped gather the flags.  They raced each other to see who could get the most flags and made a cute procession marching down the street with as many flags as they could carry.  Abe was too busy grabbing flags to stop for picture taking.  In the photo are Helen and Gibson. 

Friday morning we went to help our friend, Zachary, with his Eagle Scout project.  He organized planting a hummingbird garden at a local park.  Zachary is the boy in the back of the photo in a scout shirt.  Abe is helping Eric fill a wheelbarrow with bark dust to spread on top of the newly planted garden.

Gibson and Sophie picked up clods of dirt after the flowers were planted.  We had great fun helping with the project.  The garden is a beautiful addition to the park and we look forward to watching it grow.

So much for cayenne pepper deterring cats.  Our neighbor's cat dug up 3/4 of Helen's vegetable garden, leaving a clump of zinnias and a couple of beets.  Helen and Brandan replanted the rest of the bed with carrots and more flowers.  We ate the beets this weekend in the tinfoil dinners we took camping.  They were beautiful chiogga beets- delicately striped and completely delicious.  Drat that cat!

We went on an overnighter this weekend to a little campground along the Rogue River.  Other campers serendipitously left their campsite just as we arrived and we scored a large campsite that backed up against Elk Creek.  Favorite memories of the weekend: Sophie catching minnows and crawdads, Gibson throwing stick after stick into the fire and calling "That's a good one!" after each one, Brandan skipping rocks across the creek so fast that they looked like tiny motor boats, Helen's hot chocolate goatee Saturday morning, Abe's zest for exploring, Becky's tasty food.

5 July 2009

Sarah, Joe and Zina brought the party to us this 4th of July when they came to visit.  We welcomed them with temperatures around 100 degrees.  We spent Thursday at a shady park with a chilly stream to wade in.  

Friday we went to the coast where it was a breezy 65 degrees.  Brandan and Joe went fishing with one of Brandan's patients.  Joe caught 7 sea bass (the daily limit) and Brandan caught 3 before they got cold enough to come in.  The rest of us played on the beach.  Although the water was freezing, the sand was very warm and felt wonderful.

Sophie made several attempts at body boarding.  Watching her lie down in the frigid water made our teeth hurt.

Back from fishing, Brandan helped the kids fly a kite.  The steady winds made perfect conditions for kite flying.  All we needed to do to launch the kite was let go. 

Saturday we started our Independence Day celebration at our town's parade.  Abe said, "Guess what I'm wearing for the 4th of July?  Red, white and blue!"  He pointed to his sunburned face and then to his shirt to show us what he meant.

Our day ended with Matt's famous fireworks.  For those who have seen his show, he outdid himself this year.  For those who haven't, we'll summarize by saying that Matt is the mastermind and financier behind a homegrown fireworks show that exceeds many professional shows.  It's certainly bigger than the fireworks Becky saw growing up in Idaho.

Sarah took this photo about 10:30 pm after the fireworks.  We were all worn out from a weekend of fun.


Thanks for a great visit, Sarah, Joe and Zina!  Hurry back soon!