Come again another day

The theme for this week is....

RAIN!

It has been so very dry this year, even in the spring we only got one or two rain storms. It's been a struggle to keep the grass and garden wet enough, and we only got one small turn at the irrigation water this spring. Then this week it all changed. Just like that. Every evening it clouded up and rained, and it made all the difference.

I remember growing up when every prayer was praying for moisture or expressing gratitude for it. It's different of course, when your livelihood depends on it  Even when I left home I continued to pray for rain. It was only when we lived in SC that it felt a little strange to pray for rain when we would have such heavy rainfall, but it always made me feel closer to family to remember Juniper and to pray for rain.

My livelihood doesn't depend on what falls from the sky, but there is something in me that still does. After a week of cool rainy evenings, I can feel myself starting to relax and enjoy summer even more. And what good is a rainstorm with out a picnic, so we called up some friends to come roast hot dogs in the rain with us. It was perfect and we all agreed to not wait for the next rainstorm to do it again.

Only Sonya

Bingham caught a grasshopper tonight and as we were putting it in a jar to add to his ongoing collection of bugs, Sonya shared some interesting personal thoughts. She said,

"I think grasshoppers are handsome. They are the most handsomest insect. If I was a insect, I would marry a grasshopper. They are especially handsome when they stand up on their hind legs."



Then when she saw my incredulous look she said,

"What, don't you thing they're handsome?"

I was speechless.

Floating Lake

Eleven hours is a LONG time to be in a car. For some reason we have no problem with driving the nine hours to Utah, but adding two more on the trip home from Idaho just seems to put us over the edge. We’ve got stories of  sick kids, wet pants, screaming little ones…such things that shouldn’t be written in a blog. This time on the way home we planned a diversion. We’d seen the signs for Hanging Lake on the way to Utah and it seemed like something we should see.

And so we planned.

The hardest part was getting off the freeway. There was a sign that said the exit was closed, but just as we passed it we realized it wasn’t closed so we hit the next exit, turned around to come back. When this part of I-70 was built there was a lot of effort put into creating a road that didn’t disturb the landscape; so, they only had room for one exit. So, we had to go back east 2 exits, turn around again and come back west to finally get off at the Hanging Lake exit.  Of course when we were done with the hike we had to get back on the only on ramp heading west and turn around at the next exit…again, to head home.

Crazy.

But so worth it.

The hike was just over a mile, but pretty steep. It was perfect, just enough to stretch our legs and get our blood pumping, but not so long as to put us to late getting home.

As we were hiking there was a family that was hiking behind us for a while. Finally they made their move to pass us, and just as the mom went by Phil pipes up with, “Are you Mormon?”  We hadn’t even spoken to them at all, but turns out, he was right. He said he could tell by looking at their kids. I think there were a few other tell tell signs, but it was the kids that got his attention. Made me wonder what kind of vibe my kids put off…..

hmmmm….

they’re pretty cute anyway.

The lake was smaller than I expected, but so pretty.

This made it even more beautiful…..smiling, loving, sweet kiddos! 

Success.

And we all drove home happily ever after.

Home, home and home

Family reunions make us happy.

and they had better, because that is what we’ve been doing for the last five days.

Non. Stop. Party.

If only we could survive on no sleep….heaven knows we tried.  Phil and I woke up early Friday morning and went for a run. When I married Phil, I always imagined us running together all the time. In reality, that hardly ever happens, but this trip we managed to get in two early morning runs before our late nights chatting with family caught up with us. After the run we went to Phil’s parent’s home for breakfast. I love meeting together for meals with more family than what can fit around the table; kids spilling outside with cousins and aunts and uncles all over as if they were all their own. The rest of the time was spent on walks, swimming, a temple trip, way too much food, talking, laughing and just trying to soak up every minute of family we don’t see near enough.

After some peaceful Sunday activities….

We hit the road for Juniper. I never get tired of coming home. I love that my kids feel it too. Home is so much more than where your rump rests.

It was so good to pull into the yard and have family all over. We were so lucky to catch Mike and Michelle before they had to take off. There’s never enough time to really catch up, but I’ll take what I can get, and sometimes just seeing a face, hearing a voice and a quick hug can do wonders for a heart. I can’t wait to catch up with all those we missed…and there were a lot that we really missed. Speaking of those we missed, Joe and his family were heavy on our minds. We had a flag retirement Sunday night, and it was a great way to start off the reunion. It was great news to hear he is finally back with his family, but after years of having them across seas we still miss them so much.

The next day we painted shirts and they turned out so cute. Even the boys who swore they didn’t want to do something so girly got into it and made some interesting creations.

Then there were bottle rockets. Larry helped the kids make their own, and I was impressed by how well they flew even though they had some very creatively placed fins.

The kids would go up to the launching pad and put their rockets on and then turn and run for their lives. Of course, Larry was in charge of the launching switch and he wouldn’t have let it go until everyone was a safe distance, but still they ran. Not Bingham’s bravest moment…leaving Sierra behind.

Then we headed up the canyon for dinner and fun.

The best swing ever.

It was all pretty fun. My kids seemed to have a target on their heads and three out of four ended up with a few bumps and bruises.  Austin got in a little fight with the grain bin and Austin was down for the count.  After it all they are both still standing, but I’m not looking for a rematch.  Then Sonya tried to catch a rocket…with her head. And last, just for fun, Bingham took a dive (head first) off the funnest swing in the world. All of  that mixed with very little sleep led to some unhappy campers….

…for a minute or two, but who can stay ornery with all the good times going on? Even a 40 minute down pour didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. In fact, for the most part it seemed to add to the fun. Of course it helped that a few brave souls stayed out in the rain to keep dinner going while others (me) hid out in Jose’s truck.

Dinner was yum, and there was plenty for everyone…enough that we had to go on a little hike before desert.

I love hiking because it keeps kids in one place long enough to have some really good conversations  I had a good chat with Sierra and Reigan…who knew she was so chatty?  I’ve heard rumors that she speaks, but it was fun to witness it first hand.

We were lucky to be able to stay an extra day and just relax in Juniper before the trip home. Going home from home is always hard. It took us a couple hours to settle into our traveling groove.

We stopped at a place called Hanging Lake on I-70. It was a fun hike, just hard enough to make it worth getting to the top. But I’ll save that for another post.

It all came and went way to fast and it has us all wanting to plan another trip…soon.

Shootin’ my foot

 

I love summer.

I love getting up early and having it be light. I love having time to run and get lost in my garden before the kids wake up and get hungry. I love it when they come out in their pajamas to find me digging weeds and watering. I love how they linger and snack on peas, find bugs and tell me stories. I love that all this is just the beginning.

There are also vacations and camping trips and too much time spent reading. There are art camps, library trips and swimming.  Long days full of things we didn’t think we would ever have time to do and laying down at night being completely exhausted with the windows open. 

I love how summer is whatever we want it to be. How in the beginning I can be completely satisfied with a rope swing and the next minute find myself  in the middle of putting together a monstrously ugly swimming pool in the middle of my back yard…

More than two years ago the kids asked if we could get a swimming pool. Not just a kiddie splashing pool, but the kind in the big boxes cluttering the isles of wal-mart. I told them of course they could, if they paid for it. so they started to save.  They made it quickly to about $35 and they lost steam, and I figured I was safe. they would add  a dime or even a quarter every now and then…and then, unwittingly, I shot myself in the foot.

My great plan to encourage my kids to memorize scriptures, to save a little money for each month they willingly memorized. We were saving money for a mini vacation to Etlitch Gardens. They worked hard and before we knew it we had saved the money. Then we realized that Bingham was just an inch too short to go on all the fun rides with us, and what good is a family vacation if you don’t get to stick together as a family? So we had a little meeting and I asked what they would like to do instead. Next thing I knew we were leveling out a 16x16’ circle in our back yard. I take comfort in the fact that my back yard is pretty unfinished and not much to look at any way….might as well put a pool there. It was just as much work as I thought it would be, but I have been a little surprised with how much the kids have enjoyed it. Now that it’s all set up it’s really not so bad and I’ve enjoyed a dip or two myself. So, I’m making peace with the idea, after all it is summer,

and I do love summer.