I didn't get a ton done, mostly the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. But now I can do shelf paper and actually walk into the kitchen without shuddering. Those people were not clean. Especially when they cooked. I've never seen so many splatters on cupboards in my life. And dirt and crumbs and who knows what else in the drawers. I'm so grateful that I got to leave the boys home and just dive right in. It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it!
the only thing i wanted to do the whole time we were at aspen grove was the high ropes course. i had looked forward to it for nearly a year. the day came that everyone decided to head down and do it. i was so excited. the first to go was alice. she went up the log pretty well and over the rock wall like it was nothing. i was nervous, but this was nothing i couldn't handle. next to go was sara. as she started up the log she kept saying "i can't do this, i seriously can't do this"...but she did it just fine. everyone proceeded to go and appeared to have no problems. alice, sara, cj, misty. then it's my turn. i shimmy up the log like i'm a monkey with 6 arms. no problem. i can do this blindfolded. and sara thought she couldn't do it. ha! i reach the top of the log. i peer over the ledge to the rock wall and think, "that looks impossible, but nobody else had any trouble so....sure i can do it." i get out there and start climbing up. i pause. where is my foot supposed to go next? i look down and ask. they tell me, "the red one, put your foot on the red one!" okay...the red one is next to my neck. are you serious? yes. the red one. okay...i can get my foot on the red one but i am then in the splits and i'm pretty sure i can't get my weight on that top foot to go up any higher. what should i do? by now my arms are shaking from holding on so tight. everyone else did it though, so....let's try this. i jump for it! and....i slam back into the wall as the belayer catches me. hmm...that was hard. let's try something else. i'll put my foot on this little hand hold and grab my rope and pull myself up with sheer brute force. whoops, belayer catches me again. and i get in trouble for grabbing the rope and not holding on to the rock wall. okay, one last try. i jump for it again! sadly, i fail. i have to be belayed back down to the bottom. in humiliation i take my gear off and sit and watch as dave s. goes up (he had to come back down because his feet were too big), then james makes it up and over in 30 seconds...then holly has no trouble whatsoever. it's more than i can bear. i decide to head up the hill so that i don't have to face the walk of shame with every other successful member of the family. after you get over the rock wall you walk around in the sky on a wire. it looked really fun. everyone came down saying it was so hard, they totally get why i couldn't get over, i have very short legs (this is true. when you're 5'1", nothing on you is long), but come on. it was hard, but they all did it just fine! it was truly the day of my ultimate humiliation. here are the pictures i took of everyone else's success. there are a million of alice because she was first and none of james because he was last. sorry dude.
Isaac and Abby were inseparable the week of the family reunion. It really helped Isaac be happy at Stompers (his age group that met every day) and was one of the sweetest things I've seen as his mom. They just stuck together and played all day every day. Even when we ran into their group while they were out doing activities, they were side-by-side the whole time. Here are some of my favorite pictures of their week as best friends.
LOVE this picture. I just realized CJ isn't throwing a frisbee like everyone else...he's...picking up trash? Taking a drink? Hmm...I can't quite figure it out. Hilarious.
We went to the 4th of July Celebration in the Park where the kids rode horses...
...and went down some slides
...and then cooled off with some snow cones (it's like 10 am and we're already sweatin)
...that night Jared and I enjoyed some sparklers since none of the kids (well except Kate who wanted desperately to grab one) would get anywhere near them.
A good time was had by all.
Well, it has done nothing but RAIN since we got home from Utah. Seriously, every single day.
I'm starting to get a little bit tired of it although we did get some fun and exciting lightning and thunder to go along with today's downpour. Anything to liven things up a bit...
CJ even had the 4th of July off but it was RAINING so we took the kids to a movie. It was a pretty good and the kids were entertained. Then we went home and watched it RAIN!
I have to agree with Em's earlier post about Aspen Grove. The things I liked the most were things that weren't planned or scheduled. CJ and I played horse shoes one afternoon too and had a blast. He beat me once and then I beat him...which very rarely happens! I'm seriously missing Aspen Grove and Utah today. Must be all this rain...
At Aspen Grove I found that the funnest things we did were the things that weren't planned. Dave had to work Monday and Tuesday so I had to tag along with people and find something fun to do. The kids were at their groups and we had all this free time. So after paintball on Monday we didn't have anything scheduled so Jared and Dave S. and I decided to play horseshoes. Jared is super competitive so of course it turns into a big competition. And then Delos showed up with ice cream...(Dad put money on an account and we could all just go into the store and get whatever we wanted and put it on his account) and then that was all I could think of.
For Independence Day our family went with Delos's family and Mom and Dad downtown to a Salt Lake Bee's baseball game. I waited in line for at least an hour for a hot dog and snow cone...nobody cared about the game, all they wanted was food and fireworks.
