Fourth of july

This week has officially felt like summer. For starters the weather has been hot, hot, hot. We had the most wonderful camping trip on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We stayed at Boyer Park with the Workman family. As with all great camping trips, we had great dutch oven food. The Workmans wowed us with a chicken curry and pineapple upside down cake. We wowed them with a very fattening, cheesy, meat-filled concoction called "Splazana", as well as blackberry apple cobbler. Mom and Dad came on Tuesday and stayed in the marina hotel. That night we all went for a boat ride and discovered "the dunes" on the river. We had so much fun jumping and sliding like penguins in the soft sand. Oakley was hilarious when he headed face first down a steep dune and stopped at the bottom spitting a mouthful of sand. I'm glad Mom and Dad were there to make that memory.

On Wednesday we started our day at the ward flag raising ceremony and pancake breakfast. It was really early, but a great way to remember what day it was. Tony had to go straight to the hospital for call, so I relied heavily on other people to help with my kids and the boat, so that everyone at the lake could have tube and boat rides. Mado was there. She has been in the US for almost a year and I loved seeing her relaxed and enjoying the lake with her kids. Our new friends from Columbia were there as well and they had a great time on the tube. Several ward members were also there and I'm glad we could share the boat.

Wilson spent a large portion of his time caring for several baby birds that a mother had kicked out of the nest. The boys fished them out of the water and then made them comfortable in a donut box. They bought worms from the marina and hand fed them for hours. Wilson was so grateful that Heavenly father trusted him to take care of those baby birds. We will all probably get some avian flu, but it was worth it to see Wilson so tender. Both Cooper and Wilson got up on the wakeboard and skiis. Max even requested tube rides and Tony and I both had great skiis. I'm feeling much more confident driving the boat and just need to conquer backing the trailer into the lake. At the end of the day, I'd never seen my kids so tired, and I was equally exhausted. We went to have dinner with Tony at the hospital, cleaned up and headed for the Endicott fireworks display. Everyone but Max loved it. He covered his ears and closed his eyes for the whole show. It was a beautiful holiday and we were very grateful to have a boat. 

I must be doing something right. Wilson said he feels like crying when I make him clean the toilet with a toothbrush because he feels like a slave. I answered with a resounding, "YES!"

Last night for our date, Tony and I rode our bikes up Steptoe Butte. The view was breathtaking and the ride was good and hard, but not impossible. I thought coming down was stressful, but Tony loved it. He wished he didn't have to brake for cars and deer.

Tonight we went to Rock Lake with the Dickerson family. We always have a good time with them because Todd knows the lake so well. This time we got to watch a tree full of turkey buzzards take flight, an Ospry catch a trout and get the heck out of the way of a fire fighting airplane filling up with water. Todd taught us that when the water is green it means it is "blooming" with plant life deep below and gives the water a beautiful color. Even a few misbehaving children couldn't ruin a perfect summer night.