JULY

SUMMER WK 5 - This week - Wow was it packed!  The first part of the week was spent getting ready for all the rest of the events later on.  Wednesday was the 4th of July and the start of the Erickson family reunion.  This year our reunion was in Eastern Idaho and up to the Humphrey ranch. Yes that meant camping... It is really hard for Jed and I to get excited about camping, but our kids were so excited.  I decided this year to make the food aspect of our camping time more enjoyable this year.  Last reunion in Humphrey (2 yrs ago) I had newborn Dallin and didn't really think about food and we were all starving so I decided to do better this year.  I spent all day Tuesday shopping, prepping, and preparing food for us.  I found lots of good recipes for camp food and ended up with tin foil dinners, breakfast burritos, mac/cheese, pork nachos, and sandwiches for lunch.  So that took a day and then packing clothes, bedding, equipment, etc. took another day.  I needed a vacation from packing and now that we're home it will take me 2 days to do laundry and put everything away.  So I'm still pretty sure I don't understand why people love camping.  I think we will stay on the 2 yr camping plan. Anyway we headed to Eastern Idaho on Wednesday morning

Independence Day!  

We stopped and stayed with Jake and Megan.  Jason & Gini & family were already there.  When we arrived at there house though we were the only ones there.  The kids found all the puppies and thought they were so cute.  Dallin was so excited when they first started running towards him and then this look of terror came over his face and he turned and started running away yelling, "Ouchie!  Ouchie!"  It was so funny.  We hung out in the best weather in the hammocks while the kids played with the puppies for awhile.

Eventually everyone else came back and we hung out, had a bbq, the brothers roped, and then went to Pocatello to watch the fireworks.  Bingham Memorial was sponsoring the firework show and it was really good.  Jake had special VIP seating for all of us. We had quite the experience getting to it which included hiking across the entire racetrack which was filled with active fireworks ready to be lit at any second!!!  Then we hiked up a hill the wrong way, had to turn around and hike up another hill and across a giant field - but we finally made it to the VIP location.  lol  Definitely a firework experience we won't forget!

The Erickson reunion was camping at Humphrey again.  The last time we did this was 2016.  It really seems like it wasn't that long ago - but it was 2 yrs already.  I found some pictures of last time we were there.  The pictures on the left are from 2016 and the right are this year 2018.  It should be noted that we haven't used our tent since this last camping at Humphrey. :)

The kids had a great time camping and Jed/I survived.  I will say that it was much more enjoyable with good food this time.  The kids went on about 50 hikes (especially Kasen - he hiked the ridge 8x one day).  Kasen brought some great flowers for a wildflower bouquet.

Before everyone got there we set up our tent and Kinsley and Dallin played in the little storage area of the tent that has a "sunroof", Ava hung out with Abbie - who is getting closer and closer to equaling Ava in height.

Everone got up to Humphrey about 1pm. People rode horses (Kasen rode bareback & Kinsley rode all by herself), went on razor/4wheeler rides,.

sat around, hung out in hammocks, etc. Dallin wanted to do all the big kid stuff so we spent a lot of time following him around as he wandered.

Dallin also learned how to climb a tree thanks to Jagger.  This kept Dallin in one spot for quite a long time so that was nice!

Of course there were naps!  Samantha may have taken a few naps!  And of course more sitting around and talking.

Campfire for smores after dinner.  Dallin was so dirty!  But so happy.  :)  Ava decided to sleep in a hammock with Will and Abbie.  The other teenagers weren't far away in hammocks also.  When I was helping Ava pack her sleeping bag over to it coyotes started howling.  They didn't sound very far away!  Ava was a little nervous, but slept out anyway.  She was braver than I would have been!  She said the next morning that the coyotes didn't howl again after I left.

We all survived the night though!  Even Ava in the hammock!

The 2nd day we shot guns which was fun.  I didn't plan on shooting but I ended up shooting the shotgun at some skeets.  I ended up hitting every single one which was funny.  Then I shot backup for Jed and when he missed I shot his skeets too.  It was fantastic to beat Jed!  I'm sure he will claim he let me if you ask him.  I was not so good on the hand pistols though!  Ava didn't really like shooting this time, but Kasen really liked shooting the BB guns and even Kinsley tried.  

We also checked cows, and followed Dallin around as he explored with binoculars,

ate alot, sat around, laughed, sat around some more, (at one point Ava asked me why camping was so boring :))

tried some relaxing, the kids tried to build a dam in the creek and truth or dare games, Dallin discovered the bridge and wanted to go on it about 1000x an hr,

 

and lastly played Red Rover which is a horrible game btw.  Lots of injuries and Kasen almost cracked his head open from being clothes-lined.  After dinner we decided to go down  and stay with John and Coleen for the night.  It felt so good to shower and be clean! 

Saturday morning we went to Raleigh's baptism!  There were so many kids getting baptized that day in the stake that it ended up being 2 hrs before it was over.  Raleigh was so excited and we were glad to be there.  Dallin was front and center watching and then when we picked him up to move so the next family could get up close to watch Dallin grabbed the glass and started yelling, "Water!  Water!  Want Water!"  He was parallel to the floor with a death grip trying to get in the water.  Then I pried him loose and passed him to Jed to take in the hall.  But Dallin was able to grab the door, then the door frame the same way and screaming, "Water!"  He is crazy.  A man shared his testimony before the confirmations about Dallin and how we all need to think about if we have the same intense desire to be baptized.  The other kids thought it was so funny that he would talk about Dallin in his testimony. 

Raleigh's aunt and uncle have a carriage they brought to the baptism and took all the kids on a ride in down through Ririe.  It was so cute.  The girls thought they were princesses!  Then we went to the Rasmussen house for dinner and conversation.  The boys started a shirtless basketball game on the trampoline that I'm sure was instigated by Kasen.  They had a pinata for dessert and cute #8 sugar cookies.  It was a fun day and we were so excited for Raleigh.  She is such a sweet, special girl and we were happy to celebrate her decision to be baptized!

 

Grandpa had to go check cows and so Ava and Kasen and Jed and I rode along to check on our cows.  We had to drive past all the mustard seed fields and Grandpa and Ava had to get a picture since they were both in the perfect yellow color to match!

We went back out to Erickson's for dinner (Berry's famous milk-can dinner) and to hang out a bit before everyone headed for home.  A volleyball game got set up and big surprise Jed got a little into it.  It was fun to spend more time together and then we all headed for home.  We were the last to leave.  It was such a fun time being together and we sure love our Erickson family and what wonderful people they all are.  I couldn't have married into a better, kinder family!

SUMMER WK 6 - Another week here we go!  It was nice to be home today instead of driving home.  We had a great day at church and then spent time together.  We took a drive in the razor to go visit the Petzingers.  They have been great neighbors and fun to get to know.  Sundays have really become more enjoyable as we've put ourselves out there to get to know people more.  The first thing my kids ask every week now as we get home for church is "Mom who are we inviting over today?!" 

For Family Night we decided to do some harvesting in our garden.  Things really should have been picked the week before while we were gone so we were a few days late.  Which doesn't seem like a big deal until you think that each day we were gone was in the 100 degree temperatures.  We got a lot of peas (some were too old :() and harvested lots of berries, two zucchinis, three red potato plants, lots of kale and lettuce, and even a few big onions and beets!  I've decided the planting, harvesting, even the weeding of the garden aren't that bad.  It's the cleaning of everything afterward that I'm getting tired of.  Especially the lettuces - they take forever to clean. 

Monday - Wednesday Kasen attended a basketball camp down at the high school.  Mark Bigelow (Bryant's dad) put it together and had two EHS players help.  Mark played and set records at BYU and then he went on to play in Europe for a few years.  He is a nice guy and only charged $5 for his camp.  It was a fun time for Kasen and they ended the camp with a bracket tournament.  One day when I went to pick Kasen up they were ending with a game of lightning and there were only 3 boys left in (one was Kasen), the two high schoolers, and Mark.  There were about 30 kids at the camp and it was so loud as they were all cheering and screaming.  Kasen was shooting so good and stayed in for awhile.  He was the last kid to get out. The only picture I got of him was on the last day as we were leaving..:(

Last minute I decided to take the kids to Utah on Thursday to use the rest of our SL Connect passes before they expire next week.  We had passes to Snowbird,  two museums at Thanksgiving Point, and two outdoor gardens.  The kids were pretty excited to go since we had so much fun during spring break.  We left on Thursday and drove straight to the Snowbird ski resort.  We had tickets to ride the ariel tram to the top of the mountain and 50% off everything else.  I was a little worried, never having been there, what the drive up the mountain would be like.  But it wasn't bad at all.  I guess when the mountains are so huge right there you don't have to wind up them like here at Bogus.  We went straight to the tram and enjoyed the ride up to the top.  I had to laugh at how nervous Kasen, Kinsley, and Dallin were riding up.  It rocked a bit going up and each time they all started deep breathing! lol  Dallin would deep breath and then say, "Momma too high!"  The views were beautiful.  

There were lots of activities up at Snowbird and we tried out almost everything.  Kasen and Ava were old enough and brave enough to do everything by themselves.  Kinsley and I did the roller coaster and alpine slide together and then Kinsley did it a few more times by herself.  The vibe up there was very relaxed and it was a great time to be up there.  We arrived around 4pm and stayed until 8pm so it wasn't hot and sunny.  It was lots of fun.  The suspension trampoline was a blast.  They even let Dallin try.

 

Chairlift rides up the mountain for the alpine slide and tube sliding.  The mountain coaster was my favorite.

 

There was a bouncy house for Dallin right next to the rock climbing tower!

Kids rope coarse and then the big ropes coarse.  Kasen conquered his fears and completed the whole thing!  Kinsley even tried a portion of the adult ropes.

 

That night we stayed at Trena's house and then Abbie came with us the next day.  We started at the Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  I thought this would take about 30 minutes, but we were there for about 2 hours.  They were beautiful.  We went to the waterfalls and amphitheater first.  

Next we went to the Light the World garden.  There were so many amazing statues of Christ's life.  One of our favorites was back down a grove of trees of the First Vision. When Dallin saw the other kids holding hands with Jesus he really wanted to too and wouldn't let go.  He was also really obsessed with a chicken on another statue so...

We also really liked the Italian Garden and the Secret Garden.  I would gladly take either of these gardens in my backyard anytime. The Secret Garden had the coolest entry and wooden door.  Kinsley loved posing by the fountain inside.

 

Another favorite was the Fragrance Garden.  There was a gardener there and she really gave us some good insight and told us what to smell.  There was a plant that smelled like Coke after you shook it a little bit.  She also told us about the Hunger Games part of the garden.  I had no idea, but apparently most of the characters in the book series are named after plants - Katniss, Prim, Rue, etc. all plants.  Pretty cool. Probably the kids' favorite part of the gardens was the Koi pond.  A very nice lady gave us a quarter to buy fish food and they loved and were also grossed out at how aggressively the koi attacked the food.

The gardens were so beautiful, but it was hot and after all that walking we decided to go get lunch and milkshakes to cool us off.  Dallin didn't eat very good while we were there, but he had no problem downing an entire adult oreo milkshake. The kids' hands were getting pretty stamped up when we hit our next spots...

Next we went to the Museum of Curiosity.  This is a very large children's museum.  It was pretty cool, but packed!  The best part of the museum was "The Rainforest" part and the little mini town. 

After that we went to the Museum of Ancient Life.  Trena had told us it was an amazing dinosaur museum.  She was right.  Ava loved this place and said it was by far her favorite dinosaur museum.  

We had planned to stay another night at Malorie's house and visit another garden in SLC Saturday morning before going home.  However, both James and Liam ended up being sick on Friday and we were finished with the museums around 2:30 which we thought would take us the entire day.  So I decided rather than risk getting my kids sick we would go to the Family History Library at Temple Square again (Ava had been begging to stop again so she could use her own account this time) and then head for home.  The library was much more crowded and we stayed for about an hour.  Ava learned she did in fact have Scandinavian blood 9% - which was her big question.  We also found out that there are only 286 people in the US named Kasen and the name Dallin is mostly found in Utah. lol  We stopped in Layton at IHOP before we drove home.  Even though it was a short trip it was still fun and being able to talk the whole way home with Ava made it worth it. On the way home Dallin figured out how to solve the sun in his eyes problem and we got to the Treasure Valley just in time to see a beautiful sunset.

One positive thing about coming home on Friday night was we had all day on Saturday to be home!  We did more garden harvest that morning and then we had the chance to celebrate AVA DAY! This was her 2nd time being celebrated and she chose to go eat lunch at Olive Garden and then practice some volleyball.  She has tryouts coming up in two weeks and has been pretty nervous since she hasn't practiced much this summer.  Most of our lunch conversation revolved around volleyball also.  That and getting ready for school.  We had to laugh at lunch because it was Ava's first time ordering off the adult menu and not the kid's menu.  Ava is growing up so fast.  This past year I feel like she has changed the most so far in her life.  Ava is still a kid at heart, but she is so mature and also into different things and right at the door of teenager life.  We love her so much and are so thankful she is so forgiving of us as we try to figure out this next stage of kid(teenager)-raising on her!

SUMMER WK 7 - Another week started by getting ready for another busy week!  It started off with errands, work on the computer, and Kinsley selfies, and ice cream of course.  Monday night Jed was outside mowing the lawn and I was inside vacuuming.  I looked out the window and it looked like we were in the middle of a tornado!  The sky was dark black and the trees were almost parallel to the ground.  We have really big trees too!  I got nervous and looked out the other windows and saw Jed just cruising along on the mower so I thought it must look worse than it really was if he was still mowing.  When he came in he showed me a branch that had fallen off the tree and barely missed his head!  So apparently he is just a die-hard lawn mower and the storm was as bad as it looked.  It only lasted about 20 min, but actually ended up doing a lot of damage for people in our area and many people didn't have power until midnight!

Katie and Deantre flew in Tuesday afternoon - earlier than expected!  We were so excited to see them. We had a few commitments that afternoon (piano/activity days swimming party.)  Katie joined us for the swim party and Deantre went with Jed to do some cleanup/damage control around the area from the crazy wind storm the day before.  The night Katie and Deatre got here Kinsley had such a loose tooth.  it took her awhile to get enough courage to let anyone wiggle it.  Finally we popped it out.  It fell out as she was yelling at me to stop pulling on it!  The next morning we got packed up and headed to Rigby for Little Rob's baby shower.  Syd, Mal, and my mom had it all ready and it looked adorable.  Katie was very specific about what she wanted there.  There was a table set up with diapers where people could write a message on a diaper and little coloring pages for Rob's first books.  They had hung up really cute little outfits on clotheslines between the trees and put together adorable baby baskets too.

Katie wanted to have a very casual "family" baby shower where people could come with their kids, spouses, etc.  There was a great turnout and she got to see some friends and they got to meet Deantre as well.  One of our favorite people to see is always Vonnie Lou Broulim.  It was fun that all the siblings were able to be there.  (Josh and Georgia came up on June 25th for a month!)

Katie didn't want traditional baby shower food.  She wanted slider burgers and homemade Idaho fries.  My parents have a french fry cutter from the cheese factory that they brought out.  It made making fries a snap and they did taste sooo good!  My dad manned the fry station and my brother cooked the burgers.  It actually turned out really delicious.  Sydnee had made these adorable donuts for dessert.  It turned out really great.  I always feel a little guilty that I can't help more for these types of events because I don't live there, but then at the same time it is kinda' nice to just roll in at party time.  haha

The shower lasted all night (let's be honest it was more like a party than a shower) and the weather was great.  It was fun to see some familiar faces I haven't talked to for awhile.  Ava found a snake in the yard and wore it around like a bracelet.  I'm not really sure if she is our child actually!!!  All the kids thought it was so fun to suck on the pacifiers from the donuts.  The three little amigos explored in the flowers.  It was a great night.  The next day we all went to dentist appointments at Dansie Dental.  Kasen had three cavities and I had three cavities too!  What the heck??!! Little Miss Sugar bug Kinsley didn't have any.  Not sure how that happened!  We of course had to go get Bambinos afterward.  It is one of the best parts of going to Rigby. :)

Thursday evening was the start of the Dewain and Melba Foster Family Reunion.  Even though I think of most of these people more like siblings than cousins we still don't get to see each other often enough so it is a highlight for me to get together when we can.  Everyone from Brad's family was there except Jeremy and everyone from Marilyn's family was there and everyone from our family was there besides Trevor.  No one from Susan's family came up.  Everyone gathered around dinner time for Mexican food (a Foster favorite).  People swam and played in the pond until dark.  My kids didn't want to get in to the water because this year Grandpa had planted trout in there.  But eventually even they couldn't hold out!

It is always so great up at the ranch.  Aside from it just being gorgeous, it is so peaceful.  As we were getting set up for dinner I looked over to see Kinsley coming very slowly across the grass in the tractor.  As she got closer we realized she had somehow convinced Liam to push her the entire way!  Mal and my dad had hula hoop off as we were getting ready.  They were both amazing if I'm being honest!

Kasen was so excited to take his fishing pole he got at his birthday party and fish.  He literally fished from about 2pm to dark.  He didn't get in the water once he fished the whole time.

There were bonfires at night with smores and caramel popcorn.  Marilyn's family brought their campers.  Brad's family went home the first night but ended up camping in tents on Friday night.  One of the nights we also had a firework show.

The next morning everyone met early for breakfast and then the water fun began again.  Lots of swimming, kayaking, paddle-boarding, fishing, running around, lounging around, talking, and of course Max caught random creatures!

There was always so much food!  I almost got sick of eating.  One day I skipped lunch because I was still so full from breakfast.  These three ladies are amazing at always keeping everyone well fed.  We had homemade fries again.  My dad cooks them in oil and then zaps them in really hot oil again to crisp them.  Not very healthy, but they sure are delicious.  All together I think there were 4 razors up there for people to use.  People also played disc golf and my mom got our her genealogy records.

The only organized activity came on Friday afternoon.  Melissa had organized a relay race.  We all lined up by age and then were numbered 1-4 to form 4 teams.  There were about 15 stations that we had to go through.  It was really fun.  Some were intense like swimming across the pond and other stations were simple like picking off your team's shape that was taped to the garage doors.  We also had a family rubber duck race down the waterfall.  It wouldn't be a Foster activity without a little competition of course!  So people were on their bellies trying to blow other family's ducks upstream.

Team 2 had to do a couple of pictures because we couldn't quite get everyone together at once!

After dinner we had a presentation by Kara.  She had gathered pictures of the Foster family from long ago to present day.  She had organized it all to music and it was really fun to watch and reminisce.  I have always felt lucky to have been part of such a close knit extended family. Below is one of my favorite pictures from the video with Grandma Melba.

After dinner we had a special guest (she had been hanging out with us all day) Cassidy speak to us about her life and her testimony.  Cassidy's entire family was murdered right in front of her eyes 5 yrs ago in her Texas home.  A short version is: Cassidy's mom had helped her sister (and kids) leave and move away from a very abusive husband in Utah. A short time later the angry ex-husband came to Texas looking for them.  His plan was to kill them all - his family and Cassidy's family.  He disguised himself as a FedEx employee and went first to Cassidy's home.  She was babysitting and her parents weren't home.  She answered the door and told him her parents weren't there.  He came back and when she answered the door again he forced his way into the house and had all the kids sitting on the couch.  When the parents got back he lined them all up and killed them execution style.  The bullet grazed Cassidy's head but she fell down and played dead.  The man left and she hurried and called 911 and police were able to intercept him before he got to the grandparents house where his ex-wife and family were.  Cassidy was 15 yrs old at the time.  Brad was assigned to speak at the funeral of Cassidy's family on assignment from the church as a general authority.  Brad and Sharol have kept in touch with Cassidy and she is now attending BYU-I.  We loved having her with as at our family reunion.  She is such a positive person and shared many tender mercies and miracles she experienced that day with her family and since.  She has just recently starting sharing her experience with groups of people this past year.  We ended the day with another campfire, more caramel popcorn and smores, and more people camped out!

Saturday morning was a bit cooler and overcast.  We had breakfast and then a very crowded volleyball game and then most people headed for home.  Our family stayed up all day and did some more razer rides, shooting targets, checking cows on the mountain, and another campfire.  My girls could not get enough of Baby Stocky (Stockton)!!! 

On Saturday afternoon we took some family pictures.  I'm thankful I get to call these people family!  Brad and Marilyn's families.  Brad was missing son-in-law Jeremy and grandson Hayden on a mission in England.  All of Marilyn's family was there.

As I was editing pictures I had to laugh when I noticed James.  He very sneakily abandoned our family and decided to join himself with Brad's!  lol  Here is my parent's posterity so far.  We were missing Trevor and Austin.  It is amazing how fast families grow! haha

SUMMER WK 8 - We came home from Rigby on Sunday night.  Katie and Deatre didn't fly out until Tuesday so we had some fun together before they left again.  Monday we slept in until 9:30.  I feel like everyone woke up feeling like they'd been hit by a freight train. We decided to go bowling for a fun activity because it was 100 degrees outside.  It was Deantre's 2nd or 3rd time of bowling in his life and he killed it.  Dallin and I did a horrible job even with bumpers and the ball rolling thing.  Katie ended up winning the game.  They came to support Ava at her volleyball tryouts.  Dallin started getting loud so Deantre lifted him up on his shoulders and after a few minutes Dallin started twisting his beard hair.  It was pretty funny. Later that night they met up with some of Katie's friends in the area and then the four adults went to a late night movie.  It was so fun having them come to our house and we hope it isn't the last.  I can't believe the next time we see them they will have a BABY!!!

We finished the week getting caught back up on chores, yard work, and gardening.  They also spent some time with friends.  Kasen and Kinsley went to another "summer camp" and Ava went to the zoo with a friend one afternoon and to a pizza party with her GT friends another day.  We were able to clean out a lot of the garden that was done growing and harvest a lot too.  Our berries are all done.  Lettuces are done - wouldn't plant any of those again.  We also won't plant beets and cabbage again.  They didn't really turn out.  Some things we did really like were peas of course, kale, onions, and potatoes.  We harvested a couple of carrots to test.  Our zucchini is huge and we got a big bucket of beans also.  The pumpkins and watermelon vines are overtaking the garden.  Probably planted too many.  We have learned a lot.  Friday night Jed and I went to dinner and a movie for his birthday and Saturday night we took the kids to Parma to the only drive-in in the valley. 

SUMMER WK 9 - Sunday I told Jed I would take care of Dallin all during 1st hour of church since it was his birthday week.  We ended up out in the car watching a movie.  This kid is so hard at church!!! He is so stinking cute that it is hard to stay too mad at him, but I wonder if he will ever sit through a full sacrament meeting in his life!

Monday was Jed's 37th birthday!  He left early before the kids were awake so we decided to go surprise him at work.  Ava made oreos and each of the kids picked out a balloon for him.  When we got to the office he had just left to walk over to the surgery center so we quickly went there too.  One of the male nurses was so excited for a chance to embarrass Jed that he sang "Happy Birthday" in the loudest operatic voice I've ever heard right in the middle of the hospital lobby.  Jed was soooo embarrassed! :)

We had fixed him a nice steak dinner Sunday night so Monday we got some Chinese take-out and then Jed opened presents and we went to Coldstone for an ice cream treat.  I hope Jed had a great birthday.  I tried to think of things he would really like and get him some stuff he wouldn't expect.  We got him a Ford emblem for his truck that he has put off getting for 3 yrs, an appt to get his truck detailed inside, a church book on cd to listen to on his commute, a blue and orange (Broncos colors) tie, and a new Nike shirt. Jed is really hard to shop for because all he wants to do is know how much things cost and whether or not they were too expensive.  I've stopped telling him how much things cost that I buy him (even if they were super cheap) just because it's annoying to me because he will usually return everything I buy for him.  Sometimes you just graciously accept a gift for heavens sake.  He did better this birthday so maybe he is learning something his 37th year already!

 To Be Continued...