rOw, RoW, rOw YoUr.....CaNoE

On this last Tuesday it was Joint Activity for YM/YW of the 8th Ward. They went canoeing!! Here are some pictures from their challenging river run. What amazing courage these kids have. Most of them had never been canoeing, EVER!! A big ThAnK YoU to Brother Bowman and all the adults for helping make this possible. They started out down below Alexander Dam and ended by Last Chance Canal. About an hour run, and there were rapids!! When myself and the other YW Leaders drove vehicles down to Last Chance to ensure the kids had a ride home, our hearts skipped a few beats when we seen the WaTeRfALL!! As mothers, you could only imagine our thoughts. We all had children in canoes. Everything turned out wonderful and the kids had a BLAST and everyone was safe!!

Pioneer Day 2010

Every year Uncle Jerry and Aunt Brenda have a Pioneer Day get-together. It is so much fun and there is always great tasting food. This year, with the passing of Uncle Jay, my cousin Casey came from Boise to do a memorial ride for him in the parade and the Grand Entrance of the Bancroft Rodeo. What a way to pay tribute to a man who was the true definition of a cowboy. We sure do miss him though!!

It was so amazing to visit with all the cousins and have our children play and hang out with one another. It doesn't happen as often as it should. Maybe there is something that could be done about this.......I have some ideas brewing! :) It was great to see Sammy, along with everyone else!!

We sure do have some handsome men in our family, and some beautiful women too!

The parade was fun to watch as it came pass the house, Shelbi and her fast-pitch softball team were in it, as well as Uncle Jerry along with the City Councilman.

We were able to hang out with Dillon and Chance this summer more than we have in the past summers, Taylor really enjoyed having them around more. It is sad to have them gone, they left for Kansas on Sunday. Taylor and Dax had fun hanging out too. I think they finally learned that they have a lot in common, and like quite a few of the same things.

Shelbi loves Lily and Kayla so much!! It was nice to see Tyler too! He is so TALL and handsome too. We got picture of all the 2nd cousins that were there. FINALLY!!

Uncle Terry was having a little Ciesta on the deck while we all visited with everyone. It was a great day as we celebrated and gave thanks to the pioneer men and women that went through so many trials and tribulations to get to where they wanted to be. What strong and amazing people, they set many wonderful examples for us.

A weekend filled with a little of this and a little of that.......

I knew I wanted to share photos from our fun-filled weekend, so I came up with these collages. We had a little of everything going on this weekend. From tubing to grand fish stories to smores and popcorn.

What a great time everyone had. It was awesome to be with such amazing company!!

Twin Lakes continued......

Twin Lakes

Worth the Wait......

After the parade, we took the kids to the carnival down at the city park and they played lots of games and Bungee Trampoline. While waiting in line for the Bungee Trampoline with Taylor and Chance, Dillon went back over to the carnival games and ended up running one the booths for about an hour to help out. GREAT JOB Dillon!! I think Chances favorite carnival game was the water balloon smasher. He kept getting into the chair underneath the balloons to get wet. He thought that was great fun until the wind picked up a bit, and then his teeth were just a chattering. When they were all finished playing the games they got a prize from the prize wall. Taylor got a water squirter and Shelbi got a little stuffed animal.

4th of July Festivities

I woke up Saturday morning and stepped outside to retrieve my morning paper and all the participants in the "Soda Screamer" marathon were coming down off the hill from the top our street, there were a few spectators cheering them on. Then we had our own pancake breakfast before heading down to enjoy the parade.

It seemed like the entire town all gathered together for the parade! Having been our first year to attend the parade here in Soda, I was tickled to see the creativity of the floats, they were Awesome!! The librarians were doing a dance to "Thriller" in the parade, their costumes were wonderful and the portrayed the music video very well. We got to see what has to be the world’s largest shopping cart from Broulims, and the Girls from Advantage Plus Credit Union were on the coolest pedal bike ever. It came equipped with a canopy too. The thing the kids loved the most about the parade was...TONS OF CANDY!!!!! It is so great to see that they plan well enough for the parade route that they didn't run out!! Our cousin’s were able to ride in the Big RED fire truck during the parade, so much fun!!! Looking forward to many more years of traditions here in this wonderful small town......

Oh say can you see.......the FIREWORKS!!

After a fun day of fishing, we headed to Mom and Dad Peterson's to do some traditional celebrating. We had sloppy joes, potato salad, and fruit and veggies. After dinner, we hung out for a while, then Dad started a fire in the backyard and we roasted marshmallows and made smores while we waited for the city fireworks display. The kids had a "BLAST" setting off their fireworks on the back patio. I think their favorite firework was the GOOD OLD-FASHIONED......sparkler. Yup.....I do believe it was.

We watched the spectacular display of fireworks courtesy of the city, bundled up in our blankets and sweatshirts to boot!! So very THANKFUL for wonderful family and friends, sure does make life more enjoyable!!  What a great day it was!!

The start of the weekend festivities..........

Saturday morning we took the kids fishing out to Chesterfield Reservoir and had a ton of fun. A lot happened out there and I will fill you in on all the events that happened.

Who knew that it would be so chilly, but then again, I tend to sometimes forget about the crazy Idaho weather. However, it was a very brisk morning when we arrived at Chesterfield Reservoir. Well, we got all our ducks in a row or at least our boat in the water after being inspected and lacking only the forgotten registration, which was back at the in-laws house, in Dad’s truck.

Okay, poles in the water…. FINALLY!! I was the first to actually catch a fish….. Taylor had a nice fish on and got it all the way to the boat, and then it got loose!! He was so bummed....sorry little man!!  Despite Taylor’s loss, I was so proud of the one I landed and thought it was a pretty good size fish. Not knowing at the time that I was going to have my bubble burst. I was able to enjoy the "GLORY" if only for a little while.

Shelbi was next one to catch a fish…. here comes the part where my bubble got burst. She was reeling as fast as she could, trying to keep it on the hook. Once it was close enough to the boat, her dad snagged it with the net. With the sounds coming from our boat, you would have thought we landed the WORLD’S LARGEST FISH or something. It was so much fun to see the excitement from everyone, especially the kids. As you can see, it was a NICE FISH!! It made my fish look like a minnow!! Way to go Shelbi Jo!!

Next it was Taylor’s turn, and this time him and Brandon worked well as a team and landed it. His was lots bigger than my “MINNOW” too. Oh well!! The excitement soared once again as he was so PROUD!! Job well done Taylor!!

Poor Renee, the only thing she caught was moss….she was such a good sport though. It has been so fun to have her visiting. She has to go back on the 7th and we will miss her lots.

So... after the 3 of us caught our fish, the girls had to use the restroom, so we headed for the dock. We decided to go back out for a bit, not to sure that was the greatest idea. This is where it gets pretty funny.... On the way back out, Brandon lost his hat, then we lost 2 nice lures. They were a couple of Brandon’s favorites so he was a little disgruntled. However, what took the cake was when I was putting my pole into the holder I got a bite, it was jerked right out my hand and I lost the pole, the reel, and the last of Brandon’s favorite lures. We knew then it was best if we just headed home.

I was really nervous to tell Dad that I had lost the pole and it was now sitting on the bottom of Chesterfield!! He laughed and said out of all the poles, that was the best one to loose. THANK GOODNESS!! All in all we had a very fun day!! Enjoyed the family time….which is always PRICELESS….

Here are just some random photos of the adventure.....