July 2021- Week 3- Bethany's 6th Birthday, Camping with Websters, Get Air, Ben's Paper Rubik's Cube, Eli Here to Play, Priest Campout

 July 15th- Thursday was Bethany‘s 6th birthday!!  After breakfast we gave her presents and packed and McKenna and Ben had an earlier rehearsal. We went out to lunch at In N Out and stopped by the Pugsley‘s lemonade stand. We finished packing to go camping and then picked up the kids from rehearsal. We got to the campsite a little after 3, hung out and got camp set up. We had dinner around 6pm (quesadillas) and had s’mores and sang happy birthday to Bethany. The kids loved hanging out and running around with cousins and McKenna and Ben slept in other tents with cousins. After kids were in bed we hung out at grandma and grandpa‘s campsite, played Uno and talked.

July 16th- Friday: We woke up around 7:15, the girls got dressed, and we had eggs for breakfast. The kids left to play with cousins, some played the nail game with Dan, some did crafts, and McKenna went rock climbing with the cookies, Brian, and Jake. We ate lunch and then went for a walk around Silver Lake. It was noticeably cooler up there even from our campsite. The water level was very low and apparently the summer heat killed a lot of the fish. Back at camp, McKenna and I rested in our camp chairs in the shade for a while. She was nervous she was having a migraine.  Dan played the nail game with more kids for a while. Bethany and I went and played with baby Will in the Hammock and Ben took a turn rock climbing. After dinner, we all congregated to the Winegar‘s campsite, enjoyed peach cobbler and told stories around the fire while celebrating Katie‘s birthday. 

July 17th- Saturday: We woke up a little later at 8:15. We had breakfast and packed up and left the campsite around 11.  At home, we unloaded, unpacked, and did laundry. Dan organized some things in the garage and I cleaned out the van.  After lunch we did showers, more laundry and I worked on my primary stuff. Ben worked on his paper Rubik's cube. We had Chick-fil-A for dinner in the Backstage parking lot then Ben and I stayed to watch The Jungle Book play to see his friend Luke play Mowgli. Ben and I watered the plants outside when we got home. Then it was bedtime! 

July 18th- Sunday: We had all youth speakers and Dave Mudrow speak about youth conference.  Alice started getting a cold. I worked on Anna‘s baptism book with her and did Anna and Bethany‘s birthday interviews. I had my family conference call. We had pasta salad for lunch then we had dessert to celebrate July BDs at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandpa also dedicated their home. 

July 19th- Monday: I started a 4 week exercise program with Abril. Jasper came here to order some stuff on Amazon with Dan. I took Ben to rehearsal and picked up groceries.  That evening we went to Get Air to celebrate Bethany.  It was way too hot inside there to really enjoy it. But the kids still had fun. My parents and Mickelle came over afterwards for dinner and cake and presents to celebrate Bethany. 

July 20th- Tuesday: Dan and I went to the temple early in the morning to do sealings then we had Kneaders for breakfast.  I cleaned up the kitchen when we got home and Ben worked on his paper Rubik’s cube. McKenna and Ben needed hair and make-up done for dress rehearsal after lunch. I ran errands and worked on my primary lesson. Dan had church stuff, so I took everyone to Bethany’s make-up swim lesson (her bum had healed by now) and sadly Alice was awful the whole time because she wanted to get in and swim! After kids were in bed, Dan did some camp prep. 

July 21st- Wednesday- After breakfast, I took the kids to the live action "Dora the Explorer" dollar movie. It was really funny! Abril and her kids met us there as well!. We traded kids afterwards; I took Eli, and Anna and Bethany went with her. We took Eli to get school lunch with us. I finished singing time prep and McKenna went to Lia’s. Ben and Eli made a fooseball table out of a shoebox, skewers, and clothes pins. Dan left for his camp out with the priests. McKenna and Ben had a tech rehearsal and Abril met me at Backstage to swap kids. Bethany had swim lessons and we had baths that night.  I worked on picture collages.  

Around the time we would begin planning for a summer campout, COVID restrictions were still tight...which would make planning/adjusting within a short time a challenge. Couple this with the boy's schedules, we knew we needed to keep the campout simple.

The Priest campout took place on private property in Box Elder County belonging to an uncle of a fellow ward member, MaryLyn West. Their sons were in the priest quorum. We provided service by clearing trees and branches from the property, set up camp, fished, the nail game and enjoyed dinner together. 

After breakfast the next morning, we hiked to the Wind Caves up Logan Canyon. It was more challenging than we expected, but we all enjoyed it. After a picnic lunch and soaking our feet in First Dam in Logan, we drove to Gossner's cheese factory for a treat. We then drove to Clarkston to see the grave site of Martin Harris, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon.

That evening, my former 1st Counselor, Steven Day (who had recently moved from the ward) traveled up to our campsite to provide a shrimp boil for the boys. A few miles north a microburst weather event had occurred; thankfully we got no rain but plenty of wind. This delayed our meal time while we held down tents/gear and waited for the wind to die down. Gratefully, it did and we finished preparing the food. Always a campout favorite, the food was devoured and we all slept well that night.