Misc. July Happenings...

As I was going through photos on the camera I noticed there were quite a few random pics...So here's a hodge-podge of stuff from the past month or so.

I don't know if I've mentioned that we got a cat.  There have always been loads of feral cats around the neighborhood because of the farmers' fields nearby.  I'm glad they're around so we don't have mice.  Last fall the kids (mostly our neighbors, but our kids too) started playing with this one friendly kitten (not a tiny kitten--more like an adolescent.)  They called him Sunset or Sunny because he's orange like the sunset.  Anyway, the kids would hold him and pet him and he was just a very sweet cat.  I decided that if they were going to be around the cat so much I'd better get him his shots.  So I found a vet that does shots and neutering for "community cats" for super cheap.  I never planned on keeping the cat, but I just wanted the kids to not get ringworm or some stray-cat-cooties. (That's a thing, right?)  Anyway, the kids loved him more and more so I decided to start feeding him too.  (Bryan was gone on business trips all the time last fall, so all this would happen when he was gone.  Heh, heh.)  We got a dish and cat food for the back patio.  But then when the weather started getting cold and snowy, I decided to move his dish into the garage and persuaded Bryan to install a cat door in our garage door so he can come and go through the garage when he pleases.  Bryan likes to say that he was railroaded into all this, but I know (and even he will admit it now) that Bryan really does like the cat.  It's the perfect pet!  We can go on vacation for 10 days and not have to worry about Sunny for a minute.  We just leave several bowls of food and water and he takes care of himself!  And the kids love him too.  He is very patient and gentle with the kids.  We've even seen the neighbor kid pick him up by his tail and he just puts up with it.  He's a sweet cat.  (He sleeps on the landing in the garage.  I have a cat bed for him but he usually just sleeps on the stairs.  And never moves when you're trying to walk down the stairs...)

I put Bree to bed earlier than the other kids, and it's especially hard in these summer months because it's so light and bright outside.  The other night Bree was in bed and Miles & Tess were outside playing with neighbors in the front yards.  I came out around 9:00 to call them to come in.  They started coming toward the house and then stopped and pointed up at Bree's window, laughing.  I turned around and saw this:

Yep, she not only changed from jammies into her princess dress, but she also moved the blinds and crawled up to her windowsill to watch the kids.  Little (adorable) stinker!

I took the kids to feed the ducks the other night.  Anytime we have a bunch of stale hot dog buns this is where we go!

A beautiful Bree wearing make-up...

...and I noticed the other day as I was getting ready to do Bree's hair just how long it is!  I pull it back every day so that it's not hanging in her face bugging her, so I forget how long it is.  It really is very pretty and just a teeny bit of curl too.

And finally, this is one of my favorite pictures of my 2 sibs and me.  I think I'm around 2-3 years old, Blake would be 6-7, and Melanie would be 10-11ish.

...and I thought it would be fun to re-create the photo with my kids.  I think it turned out pretty cute!  And Bree just happened to have pigtails that day too!  Lucky coincidence.

"The Rock" Updated

Bryan and I thought that it would be a great idea to go up and try to clean up "The Rock."  (See this post. )  So we went and tried to cut down a bunch of the bushes around the rock and also pounded a fence post in the ground and tied a rag to it to hopefully make it more visible.  We thought about trying to move the rock back off the road, but it was WAY too heavy for that.  I think it helped!  It's not nearly as hidden now.

Afterwards we took a ride up the mountain.  As we were riding Tess leaned forward and said, "Mom, I think we should come up and do this every year.  So everyone can see the rock and nobody will crash again."  I think that is a wonderful idea Tess!

Here we are at the top of the mountain.  We were expecting beautiful views and miles of visibility, but there were a whole bunch of wildfires that were sending smoke all over the valley.  Oh well, it was still pretty, just a little hazy.

(Bree's poor sunglasses wouldn't stay in the right place because of her helmet.  That is how they looked the whole ride.)

It was a very dusty dirty ride, and our faces all showed it!

Bree's seemed to be the worst...

I'm so glad to have a nice happy ending to this story.  We'll be back next year! :)

Delta Ski Trip

We continued our tradition of water-skiing on July 6th to celebrate my sweet mother by doing an activity that she loved!  We love the reservoir in Delta best and that is where we went again this year.  I wasn't thinking and I didn't take ANY pictures on the beach or in the boat! (duh!)  But here are just a few shots of the kids chowing down on the Cookie Monster cake for dessert.  It was a fun trip as always!

Happy 4th of July!

Our Fourth of July was pretty low key, but nice.  First we went over to Riverdale to watch the parade and get some candy.

Then over to the games in the park at Riverdale Park (which is such a nice park.  I have great memories of living near it, and Tess took her very first steps in that park!)  Here are the kids doing the obstacle course...

      

...and the ball toss...

That evening we went to a BBQ and watched fireworks at our neighbors' house.  They host a shindig every year and always have tons of great fireworks.  Here's Bree enjoying the festivities.

Camp Kiesel

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tag along to Camp Kiesel with Tess and the Activity Day girls from our ward (ages 8-11).  It was so much fun; they did so many great activities with the girls.  We started off by learning about some of the trees, plants, and animals around the camp and took a nature walk.

Here they are on the row boat.  I was surprised by how many of our girls were really quite afraid of the water and lots of them had never been on a boat before!  They were nervous but we really encouraged every girl to try everything.  And (as is almost always the case in these situations) they all loved it!

 Each girl had to go through an obstacle course which included this rope bridge.

 Target practice with the guns was really fun too.  (Tess's safety glasses wouldn't fit her face so she wore my sunglasses instead.)

 Tess's favorite part was the archery.  She did really well.  (And we had just happened to watch "Brave" the night before, so she really felt like Merida!) :)

 I got to try the archery too.  I was more like the little dumb blond suitor in "Brave" because I'd pull back my arrow and then the tip of the arrow would slowly slide out to the right before I had a chance to release it.  Yeah, I'm good.

 Our last activity was making a little bead craft.  They made a critter...some girls called it a lizard because it had a long tail, some called it a turtle, but it also had a long neck....I think it was a dinosaur maybe?  Doesn't matter, it was fun to make.

The girls also had stations for playing games, learning about how to protect nature ("leave no trace") and a visit to the trading post, where everyone bought candy and jewelry.  It was a really good day!