Hadley's backstroke

  Wednesday, July 28.  Othello vs. Selah 

She came in 6th place out of at least 12 girls.  She loves it.

Justin's fishing blog

Justin's new fishing blog has officially begun. He's posted several stories from June until now with pictures and everything. If you've been out with him recently, you might find yourself on it. Check it out: http://whackinandstackin.blogspot.com/

Another month has just flown by without me recording anything! I can barely remember what happened yesterday. Fortunately, most things in the last month have been picture worthy and I can look back at the pics to help me remember. So, here we go:

Justin did plenty of salmon fishing this June. I made Kale lay down next to the salmon so you could see how long the fish was. I can't remember for sure but I think Kale was with him this day. I am going to help Justin start a fishing blog tonight so that he can post all his pics and tell all his stories. Some of them should never be repeated and some should never be forgotten. Either way, he's telling all.

I missed blogging about the Kindergarten Beach Day in June. Every year, the kindergarten teachers plan a beach day for the kids at the end of the school year. This year it was cold but the kids didn't seem to be bothered by the goosebumps, shivering, and blue lips. They had a great time. They played some relay games, made paintings and crafts, and got wet on a slip and slide.

The 8th grade middle school science teacher helps the kids build rockets at the end of the year and then they have an entire school day dedicated to launching all those rockets. Seila loved this project and her rocket did pretty well. Then, the teacher hosts a family night where the students can bring their families and build a rocket and then launch it outside. Of course we went and we had fun building a rocket from scratch.

At the end of June we went on our annual 4th of July vacation (that wasn't on the 4th of July) with my family. We rented a cabin at Bear Lake. We had a ton of fun practicing and then competing some of the Minute-to-win-it games. See slide show in the side bar. It was great to all be together. My brother-in-law joined the Utah National Guard and just happened to be in-between trainings so he was able to come. My sister-in-law was 8 months pregnant and so they came up for one day. They did send their kids with my mom and dad so we were able to be with the kids all the time.

This is Justin's catch from July 7. Just so happened to be the day after my dad left. Dad had been here for a few days fishing and they only caught one every day. On this day Justin took a friend who was cashing in on his birthday present from his wife and they caught 10.

We had SummerFest the following weekend. Our family had a food booth. We sold hamburgers and hotdogs. Yes, I'm still helping organize that every year. I handle Friday night. It turned out nice and really, not many problems arose.

The following week Seila went to girls camp. Justin and I usually get to go up for one night. We look forward to it (well, I do). I love girls camp!

More swim meets in July. The kids tell me that they don't like it but they sure have fun at the meets. Right now I only have a picture of Kai and Seila swimming. Hadley was sick so she didn't go. This is a meet in Prosser. Kai is swimming freestyle and Seila is swimming butterfly. I really don't know if we will do that again next year. It has been an incredible time committment that has resulted in some sacrifices (no fishing for the kids). I can't believe all the things that I had planned to get done but we didn't because we really don't get home until almost 10 in the morning. It sounds like there should be plenty of time in the day still to get things done but somehow, it never is.

That brings me to last week. We had concrete curbing poured in our front yard. We worked all weekend to get the front yard ready for that. My sister-in-law asked for before and after pics. It's really ahrd to tell which is before and which is after right now. I need to add the flower beds and stuff like that. I'm not sure when I will get to the planting for the new flower beds. Maybe next year. The sidewalk border ended up being a bit more narrow that I had planned on so boxwoods are out of the question. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm taking them.

Wednesday morning we left to go crabbing in the Puget Sound. We had company every day while we were there. Our friends came the first day and then family came subsequent days. We have a great time every year. This year we were able to find a beach house for rent and our family stayed there. It was really convenient because that meant we had somewhere to clean the crab when we came in. It also meant that the kids could go beach combing every morning at low tide. This year we actually snagged one of the jelly fish that plague our ropes with stinging tenticles. We weren't able to get a pic before it floated away.

Last of all, this is a picture of the baby birds that grew up in the nest under the eaves of our house this spring. When we left for our trip, they were just beaks peaking out over the ridge of the nest. Now, they fly.

Yesterday was cold again in the morning and swim team was quite controversial (the coach even yelled at me) so the kids were not very happy. Today, however, proved to be a new day with the weather much warmer and the coach much more pleasant to be around. Not sure what yesterday was all about but hope it never happens again.

Justin didn't fish yesterday but decided to check on his orchards. He took Kale with him and they had a great time. Kale was hungry about mid morning and Justin asked him what he felt like eating. He said a corn dog so Justin bought him a corn dog. Gross. Corn dogs should never be eaten before lunch! Kale was thrilled.

Today Justin went fishing for shad. I'm not sure exactly what shad are or why other people fish for them but we have found them to be great crab bait. We need to stock up for our annual crabbing trip the end of July. They were able to catch 25 today which is much less than was hoped for. Oh well. He had Kale with him again today and of course, Kale had a great time.

Seila and I took the opportunity to go golfing this afternoon. We had a great time on the golf course. We learned that we are worse golfers than we remembered and it was sure nice to spend some relaxed fun time with her one-on-one.

We had our last baseball/softball games last night. Yipee! Our Tuesday and Thursday nights are free again! The kids sure have a great time and it's nice to live in a community where everyone makes sure that the kids enjoy themselves and learn something too.

Primary activity today at the church. It went really well. The kids had a fun time with each other. Hot dogs for lunch again. I skipped the dog and ate lots of watermelon and a snack bag of chips instead. I assigned myself the left-over watermelon clean up job.

Justin and Kai got up early to go fishing. They came home early too. Fishing seems to have slowed down. I mean the catching seems to have slowed down.

I can't believe that we are only one week into summer. It doesn't feel like summer because of the weather but it feels like we've been into summer for a few weeks now because of our crazy schedules. It's a weird feeling.

It was warmer today and I think the forecast is looking up for the next week. I'm not hoping for hot, just a little sunshine.