26 July 2015

Gibson built a model of the River Ribble out of legos and cardboard.

 Gibson spent a couple of hours every day this week at engineering camp.  The instructor gave the kids everyday objects and challenged them to meet specific design parameters.  On the last day of camp, the kids showed their parents the projects they made during the week.  In this photo, Gib is using spaghetti to hold up a marshmallow.

Here Gibson built a tower out of index cards.  The tower is strong enough to hold a stuffed animal. 

 The kids used a variety of objects to make bubble blowers.

 The kids worked in teams to build bridges.  Gib's team built a suspension bridge.

 Gib's team's bridge was strong enough to hold 100 pennies and 9 washers.

 Sofi and Joey hosted a drama camp for kids at our house this week.  The kids came to our house for 4 hours a day.  They practiced the play, made the set and the costumes.  On Friday, they performed the play for a surprisingly large audience.  Helen was in the play.  Abe was Sofi and Joey's tech support.  The play was called "Peggy the Pint Sized Pirate."  In this photo, Captain Sludge and Captain Soggy choose their pirate crews.

 Here's a photo of 2 pirates and Abe moving a sea cave onto the stage for Act II.

 Helen was the voice of the Mama Sea Monster and Abe made the shadow puppet appear.

 Here's a photo of Peggy negotiating with the Sea Monsters.

 Here's a photo of the entire cast and crew.  Back row: Sofi, Abe, Mia and Joey.  Middle row: Lylee, Adele, Annie, Helen and Lucy.  Front row: Eddy, Ava, Mary, Elise and Olivia.

 Sofi and Joey made refreshments to share after the show.  We didn't think to count the audience, but at least 40 people came.

 It's hard to believe we fit that many people in our family room.  Somehow it worked.  It was a terrific show.

19 July 2015

Brandan's mom began care with hospice recently.  We drove to Utah this week to spend time with her.  We stopped on the salt flats just west of Salt Lake City to run around.

Grandma and Grandpa moved their bedroom downstairs.  Everyone likes joining Grandma Linda in her extra-large and very comfortable adjustable bed.

The cousins had fun playing together.  Xander pushed Gibson in the swing.

Here are Helen, Salem, Sutton and Sasha.

Abe is playing basketball with Niko.

We played Apples to Apples at Wade and Steph's house.  Sasha, Kaylee, Emma, Helen and Dallin were on one team.  Parker is also in the photo.

Abe and Logan built the Salt Lake Temple with Kinex.

We went to the Tracy Aviary with Drue and Maggie's family.  Helen liked the flamingos.

Some parakeets were building a nest.  The kids liked finding sticks for the birds.  The parakeets would climb down the chain link fence until they could grab the sticks in their beaks.  Then they would climb back up and use their beaks to shove the sticks securely into their nest construction.  In the photo, Abe and Salem are giving a parakeet a stick.

 We hiked through the Albion Meadows at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon.  In this photo are Xander, Maggie, Abe, Niko, Sasha, Becky (Brandan's sister), Brandan and Gibson.

Many of Becky's favorite hikes are in Utah, but we limited ourselves to the crown jewel.  There is no place on earth quite like the Albion Basin in July.  The intense blue sky is a backdrop for high granite peaks and lush carpets of wildflowers.  The meadow is at the top of the canyon so the hike is not as steep (and much more child-friendly) as other hikes in the canyons.  Here are Salem, Sofi and Sasha. 

 We saw lupine, mules' ears, Indian paintbrushes, blue bells, columbine, coneflowers and a bunch of other flowers we don't know the names of.  Sofi said she was suffering from optical overload.

 Here are Sutton and Helen.  Both of these girls are great hikers!

 Sofi gave Grandma Linda a manicure.  Grandma spends most of her time in bed.  She sleeps a lot or rests if she isn't sleeping.  She also likes to watch TV and visit with her many visitors.

We are grateful that her pain is controlled and that her soul is at peace.  She has already planned her funeral program, and passed a favorite ring of her mother's on to Sofi.  Brandan recorded her sharing her memories as they looked through the photo album of her wedding, his birth and early childhood.  We all spent time next to her in this holy place, enjoying the quiet conversation of loved ones, with indirect sunlight, a ceiling fan gently moving the air, and the background hum of a swamp cooler helping to keep her comfortable.

We arrived back home Thursday night.  Brandan took Abe golfing on Friday.

Brandan also helped Helen hang some curtains on her bed.  Helen sewed the curtains herself.

12 July 2015

Abe left at 4 am Monday morning for scout camp.  He got home on Saturday.  Favorite memories from camp include sleeping one night in a shelter he made for the wilderness survival merit badge, doing a polar bear swim at 6:30 am, his troop winning the camp-wide competition and learning to kayak.  Brandan took this photo Monday morning before the troop left.  In the photo are Jason, Spencer, Jake, Abe, Camden and Ashton.

Helen wanted to use the same technique she used to decorate cupcakes for her piano recital to decorate a full size cake.  She made us this cake for our family night treat.

 Sofi left for Girls' Camp on Wednesday.  This was Sofi's last year of camp.  She enjoyed being a Junior Cabin Leader, writing notes for the girls in the ward, spending time with friends and picking which activities she'd attend (the JCLs have a lot of freedom.)

Helen and Gibson had fun at home while the older kids were away.  We went rafting again on Wednesday.  Our plan was to put in at a quiet spot in the river and let the kids paddle around.  Brandan got in the raft with them and they decided to use the current to go downstream.  After drifting farther than planned, they went to shore and got out to head back.  Unfortunately the shore was thick with blackberry bushes.  It took almost an hour while barefoot for them to get far enough to notify Becky -- who was on the other side of the blackberry brambles and a mosquito infested ditch -- that they were stuck.  She told them about a boat ramp further downstream, so they got back in the raft.  Helen and Gibson were not very happy by the time they made it ashore, with scratches, splinters and mosquito bites galore.  Now that we know about the boat ramp, we'll avoid such trauma in the future.

On Saturday we went to a stretch of rapids along the river to watch a whitewater competition.  Rafters, kayakers and paddle boarders competed.  Most of the boats went over the rapids easily.  Occasionally one would get caught up on a rock or flip, reminding us that it wasn't as easy to navigate the river as the more experienced boaters made it look.

Abe and Helen had front row seats along the river.  The competitors were timed as they went down one stretch of rapids, then had to carry their rafts or kayaks across this island before heading down a parallel stretch.

Saturday was also 7/11 Day at 7-Eleven which meant they were giving away free slurpees.  Helen asked Becky for help getting her slurpee and Becky helped by spraying slurpee foam over herself, Helen and Abe. 

 Abe bought a hammock at scout camp and set it up in the backyard.  He took a nap in it before dinnertime.

5 July 2015

Sunday night our jet-lagged kids wanted to go to bed at 6 pm.  Brandan kept them up until 8 by playing Monopoly with them.  By then they had the late night sillies, they were so tired.

We returned this book to the library this week.  We've had it for over 6 months.  It's the most comprehensive guide to Great Britain we've seen.  The kids are glad to see it go back to the library.  Becky took it on our trip in her suitcase.  All of our suitcases look the same, so if they picked the wrong one, they got a heavy surprise.

Our stake is preparing for a youth pioneer trek later this month.  Abe's trek family met for a hike Monday morning.  Thanks to jet lag, all of our kids were awake by 7 am, so we all went on the hike.  It was great to start the week being active.

Sofi and Abe hiked with a group of older kids.

We went swimming in the river after the hike.  Some teenagers gave Gib a ride in a raft.  This stretch of river was pretty calm and all the kids enjoyed paddling around.

Here's Helen playing with a water gun.

 On Wednesday, it was 108 degrees--ridiculously hot.  Older friends had tickets to a marching band show, but they felt it would be unhealthy for them to sit outside in the heat so they gave us their tickets.  Abe and Sofi had mutual that night.  The rest of us enjoyed the show.  The sun was behind us and we sat in the shade.  We watched bands from Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado perform.  

 Abe and Gib made sails out of tinfoil and drinking straws.  They used fans to propel the sails across the family room.

 We went to the 4th of July parade on Saturday.  Helen and Gib sat up front and got lots of candy.  Gib also got these funny sunglasses.

 They got their faces painted at the park after the parade.  Gib got  a tiger face and Helen got a butterfly.

 We went rafting with friends Saturday afternoon.  In the front boat are Joey, Helen, Sofi, Logan, Andrea and Blake.  In the back boat are Eddy, Gibson, Camden and Abe.  Also in the boat, but not in the photo, are Brandan and Becky.

 It was another hot day and the cold river water felt great.  The water level is low, so we saw more rapids than usual, which is still pretty tame but just right for our family.

 The little kids liked swapping back and forth between boats.  This is a photo of Abe and Camden swimming to the other raft.  

 We got home from rafting in time for dinner before fireworks.  Our neighbor, Matt, almost canceled his show-- understandably.  It's very expensive, takes a lot of work to put together and makes a big mess to clean up.  The neighborhood rallied for him to continue and showed their support by donating lots of money.  We enjoyed 30 minutes of nonstop fireworks.  Matt's entire show looks like most shows' grand finales.