June

It's been a great month. I had girls camp at the beginning of it at Heber Valley Camp and it went really well. The girls in our ward are fantastic and I was impressed with how they conducted themselves and treated each other. In addition, I had leaders there who are great examples of how to work and have fun too. This photo shows me with the girls of my cabin. We had a total of 45 girls, divided into 4 cabins. HVC has a lot to offer like canoeing, hiking, and a challenge course. When we had time at camp we made paper beads, played games, did Tai Chi and camp certification.

 A friend invited us to join them at a local pond to try out these kyaks they own. I was totally surprised how Bennett took the boat out by himself! Just a week or two after that he couldn't let go of the ladder in a neighborhood swimming pool for 20 minutes.

This shows both boys in an adult kyak. Paxton did really well paddling around considering how much bigger the paddle and kyak was. He did well with the small kyak too and he also loved swimming.

Paxton played coach pitch baseball this year. He is understanding the game better and his hitting is improving. Most of the time he only needs a couple pitches to connect. His favorite defensive position seems to be catcher as he is often the first to ask to play it. We had some hot days, but for the most part it's really enjoyable to watch him play.

The boys both wanted to participate in the Strawberry Days children's parade this year. Grandma has this gator ride-on vehicle that she decorated and they both wanted to be cowboys. Paxton drove responsibly while Bennett "shot" at everyone they passed.

Paxton's school was invited this year to march in the parade. When I took him to meet the rest of his school mates before the parades started, there were about 4 others and the principal. In fact, they joined in with another elementary so their group could be more noticeable. But it looked like Paxton had a ball, he waved and threw candy and gave me a nod (literally) when he walked by.  It's funny how fast being a celeb can go to your head.

This pretty pic shows what Jared did while working. Now I know you all may think he has a desk job, but the day he did this he was acting as some kind of Harry Potter character being chased by students. The staff and administration really do get involved in the activities but maybe next time Jared can pass. He heard a crack when it happened, but the dr said it's just a sprain.

At the end of June we went camping until the 4th of July, which is why I didn't post sooner. We went to the usual family favorite spot. Jared's parents traveled there a day ahead to get a campsite saved and it was beautiful. I never get tired of being in the mountains in the summer, away from 100 degree temps at home. We did have warm days but it felt great to me.

There are 3 lakes (technically reservoirs I believe) in close proximity to our camping area. We went on two of them. Gma and Gpa have a canoe as well so we toured the lakes and did a little fishing.

The boys both loved the archery set their grandparents had brought. Paxton can do quite well, but the bow is a little too big for Bennett to handle easily.

I enjoy the beautiful wildflowers in the area. This is Colorado Columbine. I took pictures of 37 different ones and could identify 28 - not a stellar percentage, but passing I suppose. I want to learn all of them.

This little buck wandered through our camp one evening. We think we saw the same one again the next day with a doe following along.









One day we went on a hike that we'd been on before but we lost the trail and went a harder route. The next evening two of us tried it again and were able to figure out where we went wrong. It was the perfect time to spot wildlife like this herd of elk.

There were a lot of cows and their young ones; all making a lot of noise. We saw them cross the trail ahead of us and go through the stream below.

These two were right on the trail; they seemed to have come down the hill and were heading toward the large herd. We guessed there were maybe 75-100 spread across the hillside and moving along together.

They started to disappear into the dead trees, climbing up the opposite side of the little canyon we hiked.

The boys got to splash around in one of the lakes a couple times, they didn't get too far from shore and before long Paxton was shivering but he didn't care.

Bennett looks like the "happy camper" here but he had his moments of frustration. He wants to do everything his brother does but can't always make things work smoothly and he gets really frustrated. I hope he learns to cope....or grows out of it soon!

Bennett took this picture of me and my perfectly roasted marshmallow. Making smores never gets old. We had some other good desserts like apple crisp (with ice cream no less) and lemon cake. Trailer camping does have advantages, although this trip required several upkeep and repair jobs. Before long our "old" trailer will be new again : 0