lagoon

It was Vawdrey family day at Lagoon! A very much anticipated day by several of the kids. The excitement was contagious and we all had a fun day -- even grumpy Grandpa, who pretty much hates Lagoon. Matthew has been looking forward to riding airplanes for a whole year! He especially enjoys the ones that have guns attached so he can shoot AND go in circles!
Matthew & Zach testing their driving skillz.
Totally HATE waiting in line for a ride!
We stood in line FOREVER to ride the log ride, the kids loved it. We even managed to keep Zach's shirt dry (by removing it for the ride) -- he detests being wet and tends to strip off clothes, no matter where he is!
A smaller version of the Tidalwave ride -- perfect for Zach, me, and Matthew.
The new Bombora ride turned out to be a favorite. Notice that even Grandpa enjoyed the ride with Matthew. Me & Zach are right behind them.
The scrambler -- one of my favorites! Matthew liked it too!
Matthew & I were good lagoon day buddies. I managed to ride The Bat with the big boys, but they spent 99% of their day riding the exciting rides with Mark, David, Ethan, and/or Eric (rides in which I am a big chicken) . Somehow I totally missed riding anything with Jacob - sad - but he had loads of fun with Sarah and Rachel. Hopefully, they rode all the rides that Sarah had made a list of -- funny girl! Days like this are what good memories are made of and what makes us want to spend time together again.

fishing at trial lake

This is Trial Lake in the Uinta mountains. We headed up there with Eric to do some fishing. Unfortunately, the fishing wasn't that great on this trip -- everyone managed to catch at least one fish, but the ones we caught were small, so we threw them back in the lake. We spent a lot of time waiting for a bite.



Finally! Jacob landed a fish big enough to keep! David helped him get it off the hook.
Wahoo -- proud fisher boy!
David and Sarah took Jacob's fish and put it on the stringer and then left it down in the water with some rocks holding the stringer in place. Sometime during the next half hour or so, the fish came back to life and managed to get itself, with the stringer still attached, back out into the lake! We saw it out there swimming around and it refused to be caught a second time. Yep, the big one that got away! Jacob was a bit disappointed, but it makes a great little story.

Mark helped Matthew hold the fishing pole for awhile and then...
ta-da! He caught a little fish!
Mark also helped Zach take a turn with the pole.
What a day for relaxing on the rocks hoping for a nibble.
Eric provided the kids with Airheads.
Jared managed to reel in this little guy. He tried to throw the fishy back, but he didn't want to live, so Jared decided to use him to complete his fishing merit badge requirements.

Yes, gut the thing to prepare him for cooking & eating.
After fishing, we stopped at Provo River Falls to have lunch before heading home.

Its too bad the fishing wasn't better, but it was a really fun day anyway!

a visit to the fire station

A group of moms & kids from our ward visited the fire station. It was cool to see the fire engines and ambulances, but I think they could have done a much better job teaching the kids what its all about and being entertaining. I was a bit disappointed to say the least. Apparently better tours are given in October when its fire prevention month. I'll keep that in mind, if we try this activity again. Oh well, I got a couple fun pictures anyway. Everyone got a turn to sit in the passenger seat inside one of the fire engines.

Matthew with his friends Weston & Taya, and below is Jacob taking his turn in the passenger seat.

scout camp

Scout camp this year was a unique and awesome experience! I say so because first of all Jared, Ryan & Mark got to go together. This camp was set up to include teachers and deacons, in all about 14 boys and 6 leaders. Second, our ward did its "own thing", rather than attend the usual authorized BSA scout camp. They loved it! All the pictures were taken by Jared, Ryan, or Mark and I'm just narrating what they told me. "Camp" was in the mountains above Fairview, Utah for a week. First off, a picture of some of the vehicles used to get them there.
Next, the necessities: port-a-potties and water barrels. With stuff like this being hauled to camp, you know its going to be a great week!
A flat tire on the scout trailer as they arrived at camp.
Fire -- need I say more?
A weeks worth of cold food.
Gorgeous view. The camp was pretty high, somewhere around 9000 ft.
This is my favorite photo. Absolutely beautiful up there.
It wouldn't be scout camp, if you didn't get some merit badge classes going. I think this might be environmental science. Hooray for getting that out of the way -- its a booger.

The first day/night of camp it rained -- hard. This picture is to show the lovely mud.
This camp included hiking and biking. This is a huge rock cairn at the top of one of the trails.

One of the trails they biked.
Another nature shot. Beautiful.
Fishing! Ryan showing off one of his catches.
We are really blessed to have such awesome scout leaders in this ward. There was a lot of time, effort, planning, and organizing put into this camp. The boys will have good memories of this camp forever!

ghost falls

To "celebrate" Pioneer Day, we decided to take a little hike up to Ghost Falls, which is up in the canyon behind the Draper temple. Heidi and her kids did this hike recently, but it has such a great end (the falls) that they were willing to go again and show us around. The hike is pretty short and easy going and the falls -- perfect for playing!
I don't think Matthew can go anywhere outside without a stick!
Ha -- even got a picture of Grandpa -- taking a rest at the falls.
Grandma and her sidekick, Katie.
Brrr, cold water! Not cold enough to stop Matthew from getting wetter, however.

Rachel & Jacob

Ethan & Ryan

Jared climbing up the little falls in the creek.
Jacob following along behind.
A nice way to spend a couple hours on a summer holiday!