Aug. '21- Week 2- Family Camping, Hiking to Timp Cave, Kayaks on Tibble Fork, Prep for Back to School, Stake Conference

 Aug. 8th- Sunday: We had a normal morning at church and after church time. After lunch I felt a little overwhelmed and read books and napped with Alice. I watched some of the “Don’t Miss This” weekly video and had my family conference call. After dinner we watched the girls perform a little silks routine they rehearsed all day. We had treats outside and it was still very smoky. Dan and I both worked on creating sign-ups for back to school. He worked on Carline and I worked on Ms. Laney's Classroom sign-up. We also got news that Adam and Baylee had broken up.  :(

Aug. 9th- Monday- McKenna went to summer band and after breakfast I prepped our camping food. I finished up some classroom manager stuff as well. Dan went to Costco and picked up kayaks from the Stewarts.  We packed up and after lunch we left to go camping by 3 o’clock. We stopped somewhere to buy dry ice and made it to our campsite by 4:30. After we got set up and had dinner, we built a fire, played Skyjo, told stories, then got ready for bed. We were asleep around 10pm. I woke up several times in the night and even felt a little cold at times, but I never expect to have a great sleep while camping. *We were worried about camping with all the smoke in the air, but the amount of particulates had diminished quite a bit for us to feel a little more comfortable with it. I could even see stars in the sky.

Aug. 10th- Tuesday: We all woke up around 7, got dressed, and ate breakfast. Then we drove to the Timpanogos lodge and hiked up to the cave and took the cave tour.  The kids all loved it and thought the total darkness was super cool, except for Bethany. ;) Afterwards, we tried eating pasta salad at a park for lunch, but there were sooo many bees! So we ate in the car and then drove down the canyon to a McDonald’s to get ice cream and play at a play place.  Back at our campsite we had some quiet time in the hammocks, played games, read, and played Double Ditto.  We cooked hot dogs over the fire for dinner and sadly Dan got a small burn on his finger. We had s’mores and played more games and got ready for bed a little earlier than the night before. One of the times I woke up in the middle of the night around 2:30 or 3am, our camping neighbors were still awake. Not fun, but glad I had ear plugs!

Aug. 11-Wednesday: After breakfast we packed up the campsite and left by 10:30am. We drove down to Tibble Fork Reservoir and kayaked around for a bit. The water was very low and very cold but it was still lots of fun. There were tons of ducks swimming around as well.  We had lunch on the beach and then went out in the kayaks again and it was getting a little windy. We got home around 3 and unloaded and did laundry and everyone showered. Dan gave himself a haircut and we had leftovers for dinner. Dan had Bishop stuff that evening and Ben went hiking with his primary activity group.  While I worked on laundry, the girls watched shows, played with the silk, listened to songs, and played on the swing outside.

A panoramic shot of our campsite.  

Aug. 12th- Thursday: We had a normal morning and then Dan took the younger four to Lagoon and I went to McKenna’s junior high orientation with her. We walked around and found all her classes-- twice! Then she and I met everyone at Lagoon. We rode a few rides before having Arby’s for lunch, then we met up with my parents who joined us! We waited one hour for Rattlesnake Rapids, but it was worth it because it was so hot. Anna conquered some fears and rode several bigger rides like the Bat and the Spider. We ate a picnic dinner in a pavilion and rode more rides!  My parents were such troopers and stayed with us till 9pm!  We got frosties from Wendy’s on the way home. This was also the day the First Presidency came out with a statement urging church members to get vaccinated and wear masks at church once again if social distancing was not an option. Many, many people were upset about this and felt that this was not something for the prophet to encourage.  :(

Aug. 13th- Friday: After breakfast I took the three little girls to the store and Bethany and Alice went to Maggie and Lucy Chadwick‘s birthday party. I did some laundry. After lunch Ben went to Caleb’s and Anna went to Aspen’s. Later, I took the 4 girls for back to school haircuts. We got a bid for hardwood flooring in the office and hallway. After dinner, McKenna had Kate, Zoe, Lia, and Brinley over. They played on the silk and watched HSMusical #3 and they all left at 10. I worked on a grocery order and Dan watched “Catch Me If You Can.”

Aug. 14th- Saturday: Ben had baseball practice. I prepped for back to school by washing lunch boxes. McKenna went to Backstage for an audition clinic. I cleaned up the mud room. Dan performed a wedding for couple from the Marshall Islands who were being baptized the next day. I helped Ben look for audition songs and then he got a hair cut. Lyla helped McKenna babysit that night and Dan and I went to dinner with Matt and Emily Hartvigsen to Zupas, then we went to the adult session of Stake Conference. Brynn spoke and did a great job!  We bought Nielsen’s before hand then ate them at Dan’s parents’ house after the meeting. Elder Nash was our visiting general authority and challenged us to talk about what we learned, and what will we do about it.  I said I learned that I can do better at inviting and challenging primary kids to do things throughout the week, then follow-up the next week. On our walk home, we stopped and talked with the Moultons outside untill 12am.  Fun, and too late! :)