~Scout Overnighter in the Uintahs~

I thought for sure they were going to cancel the scout backpacking trip because of the rainstorm that was expected to be here through the night, but they didn't.  I gave Hunter the option of football practice or the scout overnighter.  He chose the overnighter.  I mentioned that it probably was going to rain, and he said that was ok.  So we packed him up, and sent him out the door.

A couple hours after they had left the rains came pouring down.  Hard.  There was lightning and thunder and pouring rain.  All I could think about was I hope Hunter was warm.  When he got home I found out that was not the case.  The boys all slept under tarps.  Except for some prepared leaders, and Jake Ballard, who brought their own pup tents to sleep in.  Jake ended up having 4 boys sleeping in his 2 man tent, lol.  Hunter, Davis, and Nate Michael's tarp tent was not working and they were drenched.  When Hunter pulled out his sleeping bag from the night it look like it had been thrown into a swimming pool.  It was completely drenched, inside and out.  He said at one point he poured a whole puddle of water out of his sleeping bag.  He also said it was a little scary, because they had thunder and lightning going all around them.  He was freezing, wet, and he couldn't sleep.  He said that when the rain calmed down a little, he and Davis noticed some of the older boys were up trying to build a fire out of the wet sticks, lol.  He and Davis got up and decided to help.  They did manage to get a fire started and sat around it the rest of the night trying to stay warm.  He came home exhausted and cold.  I asked him if he'd wished he'd have chosen to go to football practice instead of the overnighter, and he said no.  He had fun!  I guess it was a good experience for him to learn not only that he could survive hard things, but how to also start a fire when everything is wet around you.  I am so grateful for amazing leaders that plan such fun activities for the boys to help them learn and to grow.  I know this is a camp out Hunter will never forget!

~Neighborhood Swim Day at Cherry Hills~

My kids have really missed not having our seasonal Cherry Hills pass this year.  We decided we needed to have a neighborhood pool day at Cherry Hills, so we could say we went at least once this summer.  It was so much fun, and the kids LOVED having tons of neighbor friends to play with. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole group together.  There were about 32+ neighbor kids here playing today.)

Garrett is getting more brave as the summer wears on.  He loved going down this slide in Pirates Cove.

Cardiac Canyon is a favorite!

Garrett was so funny.  He was so excited to go down the dragon slides.  That is until they got up to the top.  Then he cried and cried.  He'd go down, and say "again".  Then he'd get up there and cry and cry, lol.  Funny kid!  Mckell was such a good sport and kept taking him down over and over.  She really is the BEST big sister!

Mckell was determined that before we left for the day, Lexi was going to try Cardiac Canyon.  Lexi did, but cried the entire way down, lol.  It's funny cause as we were leaving the park for the day, Lexi commented to me that Cardiac Canyon was really fun, lol.  You'd have never guessed that by the look on her face.
We have the BEST neighborhood!

~Girls Camp~

It is so much fun being in the Young Womens.  I was so excited to be able to go to girls camp with these cute girls!

It was a stake girls camp this year.  We went up to Heber Girls camp, which was a lot of fun!  It was fun to bond with all of these young women.   They are such fun, sweet girls!

We had tons of fun sitting around the fire, talking, and learning to do the whip.

I was glad Dave and I were able to be up there together.

They had tons of fun activities planned for us.  From a ropes course to crafts, canoeing/water fight, and spiritual firesides.  It really was the funnest week.

I can honestly say that I really missed these girls after I got home from girls camp, lol.  I LOVE my calling!

~Razor Riding Day Trip~

We thought it might be fun to take the Razors out to ride the Knolls with Marc and Randee.  It was a lot of fun playing in the sand (which was so soft) and driving up all the sand hills.

Mckell's orthodontist, Dr. John Pobanz, is doing a contest like Flat Stanley.  If you take flat Dr. John with you places and take pictures you may win something.  So Mckell is holding flat Dr. John in a lot of her pictures :)

It was a fun day.  We only got stuck a few times :)  about an hour into the trip, my kids started fighting about who was going to ride with dad in his razor.  I guess I don't go fast enough, and up the fun steep hills like dad does, lol.

We stopped to have a picnic lunch in the only shade we could find, lol.  Pretty sad shade.  It was a fun day though.

~Camp Hunt~

This was Hunter's first year of officially going to scout camp.  I honestly was a little worried for him.  I worried about what he'd do if he got cold during the night, I worried if he was going to like the food and get enough to eat, I worried mostly because this was going to be his first time away somewhere from home without Dave or me.  I can't imagine what it's going to be like to have him go on a mission, lol.  Luckily Dave went up for the first 2 days of scout camp, so that eased my worry a little bit.

Hunter loves going to scouts because he is in with all of his buddies.  That makes it fun for whatever they do.  He was so excited about scout camp!

The first thing you do at scout camp is the swim check.  When our boys arrived it was freezing, like 68 degrees and raining, not to mention that the water at Bear Lake is not the warmest.  But that didn't get them out of the swim check.  Hunter toughed it out and passed the swim check.  Way to go Hunter!!!  A couple of our boys didn't, so I was proud that Hunter toughed it out and did it, in the rain and all.  It took the boys forever to get warmed up after being in the lake though.

When you don't have tables and chairs to play cards on you just play in the dirt.

The last day there, the boys went boating and played in Bear Lake.  They had a great time.  It was funny to hear the boys talk about all the cute girls up at scout camp, and to hear all their funny stories about their week.  I'm so glad that Hunter has such a good group of friends that he will go through scouts with.  It really does make me worry a little less about him while he is away. :)