ryan's eagle project

 I was so excited to have found an eagle project for Ryan a couple weeks ago -- abacuses for the school district.  Each first grader in our district  (there are about 6000 first graders) will have their own abacus for math this year. Each elementary needs about 100 abacuses, and so 100 abacuses equals an eagle project.  But when we called the person in charge, she told us that all the abacus materials had been distributed, so we were out of luck.  However, she mentioned that she would like to keep Ryan's name and number in case anything happened or if she was able to secure more funding and more materials.  So we left it at that.  Then just Saturday afternoon she called Ryan and asked if he still needed a project, because she just had two hundred of the abacus materials returned unfinished by someone who was unable to do the project.  Could he take one hundred and have them done by the end of the week (because school is starting)? We jumped on the opportunity and threw things into high gear!  Ryan hurried to print out his paperwork, get things filled out, and collect all the necessary signatures.  We picked up the materials late Saturday night, and we were ready to begin on Monday.  Monday evening we worked on them for FHE.  This is a picture of Ryan putting the skewers into a plastic sleeve.  This was the one assembly part that worried me most -- I didn't want anyone to put a stick into an eye!  (Thankfully all went well.)

 Next came the beading -- 10 pony beads on each of 10 skewers.

 Then you put the top of the skewers into another plastic sleeve and secure them with hot glue and yellow duct tape.

 This is me cutting the duct tape to fit the abacuses. The duct tape had to be cut and then notched in two places with a knife.

 On Wednesday, he had a bunch of friends come over to help.  The kids worked for about 3 hours and we got a lot accomplished, but we still had tons to do.

 On Thursday, Heidi and Ethan came over and helped glue and put binder clips on the edges.  They spent a couple hours working hard and we got even more accomplished!  That night, Ryan, Mark & I spent a couple more hours putting the last of the binder clips on the abacuses and fixing anything that got messed up along the way.  By Friday morning (today) Ryan was able to deliver 100 abacuses to Layton Elementary!  Wahoo!!

sunflowers

Mark threw a few sunflower seeds in the ground for fun early this summer.  Wow!  They have been so fun to watch grow!

braces off!!

Jared got his braces off today!!  Wahoo!!  I wanted to take a picture SOOOO bad, but knew he wouldn't go for it, so I restrained myself.  We started at the orthodontist at 9 a.m. for the actual removal of the hardward.  Then it was off to the dentist at 11 a.m. for buildups on two teeth.  Then it was back to the orthodontist at 2 p.m. for retainer impressions. Then back again at 4 p.m. for the retainer fitting.  A long day, but so worth it!  He's excited and very happy with his "new" smile.  Just watch for the smile in future photos...

fishing in the uintas

 We headed up to Trial Lake to do some fishing with some cousins and Eric.  As we headed up the canyon, we came to a traffic standstill due to an automobile accident involving a police trooper.  It took us 90 minutes to go three miles!  Thus it took us a very long time to get to the lake.  It made me thankful for patient kids, small screens (i.e. ipods & DS's), and that nobody was fatally injured in the accident.  We arrived at the lake and got set up with poles.  The lake is amazingly low this year due to the dry summer, but there were still a few fish in there.  Most of the ones we caught were small, so we threw them back if we could.  We ended up taking 3 home -- and they were delicious!  Eric is an awesome fisherman and has tons of patience with all the kids.  There was a good little rainstorm while we were there, so we definitely needed the sweatshirts and jackets. The following are just some snapshots from our fishing adventure:

 I love the look on Matthew's face -- it's as if he's saying, "Hey, Katie's getting all my fish!"  And its true -- she did.  And so did Laura.

I love that we get to do this each year. I'm so glad that Eric has patience with us and gets us all together.  We are not fisher-people.  Mark doesn't enjoy it much, Jared hates it only because he can't tie the knots, others of us get frustrated if we aren't pulling fish out every two minutes, but we ALL just love being up in the mountains and being with family.  It makes great memories. 

ryan has a birthday

 Ryan recently had a birthday -- he's officially a teenager now, even though it seems he's been one forever!  We had G&G Vawdrey over for dinner at the last minute the day before and got started celebrating.  Ryan wanted an oreo ice cream cake, so I hurried and put this delicious dessert together! It turned out fabulous, but I felt bad about the candles -- thought I had enough and in reality didn't.  Luckily, he didn't care. The cake was all that mattered!

Next morning was his real birthday, so we had fresh raspberries, peaches, and link sausages to celebrate.

 Ryan has been doing a lot of camping in the past year, so we decided to give him his own tent.  It's a nice little 2-man backpacking tent.

 Easy to set up, light, and roomy.

 Ryan graciously allowed his two younger brothers to help him break it in -- they had a sleepover in the living room that night!

Ryan wanted to celebrate his birthday with our family by going to Boondocks.  That evening we had a fun time together playing lasertag, video games, and riding go-carts.  Happy Birthday, Ryan!  We are so glad you are part of our family!  Love you!

quick idaho weekend

 We had a free weekend and decided it was definitely time to take the family on a mini-vacation.  We headed over to Bear Lake.  Wouldn't you know it, the day was cloudy!  Because the sun wasn't beating down, the water felt a little cold at first as you can tell by Jacob's expression.  But then again, he is the King of Funny Faces!

This was Matthew's favorite activity at the lake -- being out in the water without actually being IN the water!  He and Ryan had a good time floating around and using the squirt gun.

We only spent a couple hours at the lake, so we didn't get in a lot of good sand time.  However, we did get the makings of a sandcastle started.  The boys had fun stomping on the "castle" before we left.

As usual, when it's cloudy at the lake, it's cold when you get out, so being wrapped up in a dry towel feels mighty good!

We headed over to Minnetonka caves for a tour after the lake.  The cave is a constant 40 degrees F inside year round.  The cave is also wet inside, which allows it to continue growing.  The trail inside the cave is windy and has 444 stone and metal stairs.  The cave is full of different and interesting formations.  Here's some cave bacon. Mmmmm bacon!

I can't remember what they named this formation, but I'll just call it the 3 stooges.

And here's Kermit -- I'm sure the name is mostly due to the green lighting.

Here's us, minus Ryan (he's taking the picture).

We stopped for ice cream after the cave tour and then headed on over to G&G Brady's for a weiner roast and to stay overnight.  The next day we decided to check out Lava Hot Springs and decided that floating the river would be the most fun.  (The pool was soooo crowded, we didn't even try -- even though the boys were loving the idea of the slides and platforms)  We got some tubes and spent the next couple hours floating the river.  Everyone had a great time except Matthew.  I can't figure out why, but he hated it.  Mark & I got one of those big quad tubes and had Jacob & Matthew with us, but he still didn't like it.  We forced him to go down the river 3 times and then gave in and let him sit out the last run.   Since I was too busy floating the river, there are no pictures of that activity!

Our next stop was the county fair.  The activities were winding down for the week, but we made sure we got there in time for the "hog wash"!  Here's how it works:  They put a bunch of pigs in a corral.  Each pig has a number.  They have corresponding numbers attached to a barrel in the middle of the corral.  The players get into the corral, put on some goggles and draw a number.  The first player to catch the pig with the corresponding number and put it butt-first into the barrel, wins.  To make everything fun, lots of soapy spray is sprayed from a hose into the corral to cover the pigs, the dirt, the people, and even the spectators occasionally.  Let the soaping begin!

The soapy little piggys.

Almost got one!

Here's Ryan, Jacob & Matthew watching from the bleachers.  They got sprayed with soap after this picture.

The hog wash was pretty fun to watch.  Afterward, we walked through a couple animal barns before heading back to G&G's house.  Jacob and Grandpa especially enjoyed checking out the horses.  We had a great weekend!

swimming lessons

 I found a lady near our home who teaches swimming lessons in her backyard pool, and signed up Jacob & Matthew.  This was a great find!  The kids enjoyed the lessons and learned quite a bit too.  Parents are only allowed to watch on the first and last days.  Usually they swim for 30 minutes and get to play (i.e. jump off the diving board) for the last 5.  This, of course, was Jacob's favorite part.  I love the expressions on his face while he's airborne.

 Matthew still has quite a bit of fear of the water, but he was finally able to put his eyes in the water, with goggles, and even his whole head most of the time.  Wahoo!  I love this little picture of him hanging onto the side of the pool with his flappy strap goggles.

 And here he is jumping in with a little help from Shannon.

The kids had afternoon lessons, and with such a hot summer, the cool pool was the best afternoon treat!