Summer Swimmin

This summer we haven't spent mach time at the lake. The reason? When I asked the other day if everybody wanted to go to the lake or the pool Britnee told me very plainly, "The Pool!!" When I wondered why not the lake she said," because mom, no matter how careful you are, you always ended up getting sand in your butt."
Okay, the pool it is then.
We went swimming at the pool at Bear Lake West several times this summer. We would get up and get our work done then head for the pool. It's a pretty small pool with no slides or diving board or anything but we've had a blast.
Between lessons from Candice, Britnee, and Katelin, I've learned how to flip and dive in the water. Crazy I know, as I should be better at it than I am. The secret is to wear snorkel goggles. They look dorky but then I don't have to keep one hand holding my nose the whole time I'm under water.
Cody got pretty adventurous this summer. He learned to back flip off the side of the pool. He even took his life jacket off a couple of times, as long as mom was right there to catch him.
Jaycee is still a little hesitant about doing anything water related without the back up security of a life jacket. Once it's on though, she is getting a lot braver about running around the pool.
I just love summer. Playing in the water on hot afternoons is just about heaven for me. I'm so glad that I have kids who love to go as much as I do.

Beautiful Day - Beautiful Friend

Today Candice received her endowments in the Logan Temple. She told me about wanting to take this step at the first of the summer and has worked very hard to get here. Candice asked that I be her escort, something that I very humbly excepted. On Monday we went and bought a dress and her garments. This morning we got to the temple at 8:30 a.m. where we were greeted and helped by some sweet temple matrons. A very full session began at 10:00 and ended with hugs and well wishes from several of Candice's family. After pictures outside we all went to eat lunch at Sizzler's.
I'm so proud of Candice and the decisions that she's made to be here. It's been a beautiful day and I'm so glad that I got to be a part of it.

Cody's 1st Rifle

Last week Matthew went and bought Cody his first rifle so this weekend we went up Indian Creek to shoot guns.

Matt was very patient as he gave Cody all the important pre-shooting instructions.
Cody only missed his target 4 or 5 times before he figured things out and started hitting more than he missed.
Matthew brought his gun and we all took turns aiming and shooting at our targets.
Cody asks several times a day when we can go shooting again. He's pretty excited about his new gun and the new hobby he's found.

Old Friends Renewed

My best friend in 5th grade was Jaime Cox. She had just moved to town and we were pretty much inseparable. At the end of the year, her family moved to Delta. The summer before high school we spent about a week together and then just kind of lost touch.
That is until my little sister, Kelly, moved to Delta. I told her when she moved there that I only knew one thing about Delta, and that was that my friend Jaime had lived there. Kelly checked, and not only does she still live there, but Ben and Kelly ended up buying a house across the street from her.
She married Casey Bassett (my maiden name) and they have 5 kids, the oldest three being pretty close in age to my kids. For the past two summers, my girls have gone to stay with Kelly and have gotten to be good friends with Cambry and Brinlee.
I got to see Jaime for the first time in 18 years this spring. We have been staying in touch through Facebook and this week, her and Kelly brought their girls up to stay for a couple of days.
Yesterday we loaded up and went to the lake. It was so fun playing at the beach. The wind made the water choppy but the kids didn't care, they were out splashing around.


We ate Raspberry Shakes, made tin foil dinners out on the fire pit, and had a great time just spending time together.
It's so funny how things come around. In this case, I'm so glad that I get to be friends with Jaime again, and that our kids can make memories just like we did.

Family Bar-B-Que

This weekend some of my cousins came to visit. Luckily for us, my cousin Teresa decided to have everyone in our family who lived close get together for a bar-b-que.

Everyone brought a pot luck and roasted hot dogs over the fire.
The kids had a blast roasting their king size smallows and playing kick the can in the front yard.
I'm so thankful that we can get together and do this. I just love summer!

I Conquered Wicked!!

Yesterday we went to Lagoon. Kelly, Ben, and Peyton met us there. As we were parking, I looked over and saw the newest ride, Wicked, and said very plainly that I wan NOT going to be riding that ride.
But Cody's goal for the day was to ride every ride in the park. And if we would've had the time, he was going to accomplish that goal.
After about four rides, we came to the long line of Wicked and Cody, Chris, mom, dad, and Kelly walked right up and got in line. My firm rule for my kids is that they have to try things at least once so when Cody didn't have a ride partner, I felt obligated. And you know what, I survived. I was pretty shaky for a few minutes after it was over but I felt so empowered. It was great!
We spent the day riding ride after ride. I loved that my kids are old enough to ride the rides with me. We had a wonderful time.

At 9:30 we rode our last ride and started for the gates of the park. Cody was nearly in tears because there were a few rides that we didn't get to. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to go back.

Bountiful Baskets

About two months ago some of my friends in Montpelier told me about a new food co-op that is in our little valley called Bountiful Baskets. Now, there are 2 food drops in Montpelier and 2 more in Garden City. I don't know much about who started it but it has become something that I really love.
Every Monday night I log on to bountifulbaskets.org and order my basket, meaning the variety of fruits and vegetables that is delivered to the appointed locations. On Saturday morning I take my little laundry basket, or a grocery bag or whatever, and go pick up my food. Some of the more interesting food that I have picked up is bok choy, brussel sprouts, and coconut.
This only works with the help of volunteers, so last weekend mom and I took our turn. We were in Garden City at 5:30 a.m. to help unload the truck. That's right, I said 5:30 on the a.m. side. It's not so great to have the alarm clock go off, but once I got up, the early morning is very beautiful and peaceful.
Anyway, we divided the food into 102 baskets and from 7:00 to 8:00, helped everyone get their share.
It's so much fun to see our little community work together and share in this way. I've found that not only do I get a lot of yummy produce for a very small fee, but our family is eating a lot more healthy, because it's there and it's fresh. What a great idea somebody had.

Big Celebrations

This Independence Day was fairly laid back. Kelly came to visit and that was fun.
We made tin foil dinners out on the fire pit and later we made smores. It was chilly enough that we all got to wear our jackets- in July.
Kelly brought sparklers. Sadly, we were all so tired that we had the kids light them before it was even dark so that we could go to bed.
What a bunch of party crashers we are. But really, just getting home from our vacation, it was just the kind of 4th that we needed.

Play Ball!

This June was a milestone for Cody~ It was his first year of coach pitch baseball.
He was on the red team. They practiced every Monday morning in June and had games on Wednesdays at 5.
2 of the 4 games were called off early because of bad weather (gotta love Bear Lake :) but Cody played hard and had a great season.

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

We spent Friday at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska. It was a beautiful warm day with no clouds in sight. (95 degrees warm, actually) so we were grateful that several exhibits had vented cooling systems.
The zoo is so big that we took the train so that we could see more of the animals we wanted to get to.
The butterfly exhibit was one of our funnest. We had to stand in a little room while they opened and closed doors so that no butterfly's accidentally went home with us.

Britnee brought her new camcorder along so that she could get video to remember all the fun things she got to do on vacation. She was so good about carrying that thing everywhere we went.
My very favorite part of the whole day was going through the aquarium. I could've spent hours in there.
Several giant fish swam right over top of us. There were about a dozen sharks and a sea turtle that was as big as the wagon we were pulling.
The zoo could have taken us two days to walk through but thanks to our tour guide Tia, we hit the main points and called it good after one day.
The last stop was a giant marble statue of the globe. The kids didn't appreciate the etching detail, they were only concerned that there was water under it. There was a little splashing going on.
The trip back to Topeka was uneventful, and took a lot less time than the trip up. Doesn't it always seem to happen that way?