The rest of July...

I know I know...my blogging performance this summer has been atrocious. Please refrain from throwing rotten tomatoes (or any tomatoes for that matter.)  

Here is the rest of July....

JULY 16th - It was a reunion of sorts. A work buddy reunion. Jake and the plasma center management decided they wanted to get-together outside of work, and planned a 4-wheeling trip. Tess (a former work buddy) offered to let us all come and visit her new place up in the mountainous majesty that is the outskirts of Pinedale, Wyoming.  It was absolutely beautiful! Our adventure took us a few miles up the road to Green River Lakes --- Like heaven! 

 Here they are, all happy go lucky. 
Jake, Nate, Tess, and Mike. 

After a lunch break at the house we went back out. There was just too much great outdoors to be enjoyed. We found a remote area where we could do some shooting and the guys set up some great targets. Jake of course brought his .50 cal and let everyone try it out. I wandered off with the shotgun when it wasn't my turn.

Needless to say, Jake and I seriously enjoyed the weekend. All the fresh air felt so good and we felt really spoiled thanks to Tess and Tim! I am sure we will take them up on their offer to visit again soon.

JULY 18th - I had the chance to make another b-day cake. YES! My friend has a little boy who turned 4 years old. She is doing about a bajillion amazing things right now, so she was short on time and asked if I could step in and help in the cake department. HAPPY to :) She requested a Cars2 theme because his main present was something to do with that. Here is what I came up with:

A city-scape complete with buildings, roads, and a "spy worthy" explosion surrounding Lightning Mcqueen on the top. I put foreign flags around the back along with the grand prix checkered flags to represent the other characters in the movie. I had planned to make a few more figures, but it turned out good with just Mater. Happy Birthday Zackery!!!

JULY 18th - Also on this day, I started a new job...

...And then promptly quit that very afternoon. hahaha. It was not at all what it was advertised to be, and the commute/salary were less than enticing. Let's just say I am so very grateful that I have the option to choose. I know many of the people there had no real choice in the matter, or were taking this as a second job. It made me feel like the biggest brat in the world when I turned in my I.D. badge and walked out. Thank you husband for working so hard and giving me the opportunity to be choosy about my working endeavors!


JULY 21st - Time for Pack Meeting once again. And it was actually our last Pack Meeting as scout leaders. Because of the new job schedule I was supposed to have we were no longer going to have a week day where scouts would be feasible. They had already replaced us when the job fell through, so our scouting streak ends just before we hit the 4 year mark. wowza. It was a good note to end on though - a nice bonfire with hot dogs and a discussion on fire safety. I even learned a cool new trick about using rock sparks and char cloth to start a fire. I got pretty into it, and finally succeeded in starting a fire this way.

We were in charge of refreshments for the occasion, so I made these lovely patriotic cupcakes with the leftover fondant from Zackery's birthday cake.

JULY 24th - The infamous Pioneer Day in Fairview, Wyoming is nothing to scoff at. My family and I take this celebration pretty seriously. It's the one time every year that all the siblings come home (even more regularly than we do for Christmas!)

Jake and I arrived Friday night just in time for me to join the night softball game. Man I LOVE softball! I thought we were going to be too late, but to my delight they had not even started yet. I was ready to get my game on.

I couldn't talk Jake into playing, but he was good about sitting through it all and cheerin' me on! The teams were decided by age because the young guys challenged the old guys to beat them. I fell into the old category - can you believe it!? My family makes up almost half a team, so that was pretty fun. The young'ns did quite well and were actually ahead for a while, but we ended up winning. And let me just say that one inning I caught two fly balls in a row. That's a boo yeah.  

That night we set up our bed in the back of our truck!  Sweeeet. We chatted with the fam in the house for a while, but then we headed out to sleep under the stars. I am sure we could have found a place on a couch or the floor, but the house was pretty full and this turned out awesome. It was the closest we came to camping all year - sheesh!  


Now let me tell you all about the hickish good time we have on Pioneer Day:

 We make a float for the parade. (And when I say parade I mean a few local kids riding their 4-wheelers and a couple of cowboys riding their horses which lasts a total of 2 minutes from start to finish.)

This year our float said "Our Family is our Treasure." We constructed a giant treasure chest for the center piece so that the majority of the grandkids could stand inside and pop out periodically. Then we had some other chests sitting around it for the rest of us to sit on. I made some giant jewels and coins to stick everywhere. We also printed out a picture of every member of the family and put it on a coin.  And that was about it. Credit to my older sister Kendra for the cool bleached matchy shirts. Jake probably would have preferred if we didn't get purple, (hahaha) but we love 'em!

We spend all our quarters on burgers and baked goods. 

The good ol' boys of the community grill some mean burgers and the women folk bring goodies. You can keep going back for more all day long.

 And this year there was free watermelon! Mmmmm.

We get overly competitive during all the games - and push our children/nieces and nephews toward the same fate:

 TUG-O-WAR!

 ANKLE-BALLOON-BATTLE!

EGG-TOSS!

EGG-TOSS SPLATTER!

SAW-DUST-DIGGING!

 CHICKEN-CHASING!

 

 But we also participate when there is no competition involved. The barrel train is a huge hit and is always zig-zagging through all the other activities. There was also a happenin' fish pond off in the corner

This year we even brought a few of our own activities!

Dad constructed and brought this ingenious dunk tank. If you hit the bullseye with the softball, there was a board with nails on it that would spring up and pop the balloon above your head!

 

We all experienced this cold rush more than a few times. 

 We even got Dad to sit in his own invention. Each of the kids got a shot, and Kendra was victorious! 

This contraption was definitely the biggest hit of the day! Everyone loved to dare each other to sit in the chamber. Much more involvement than any normal dunk tank. Everyone loved to stand around and watch - 

A great time filler between the other big events.

And MarLeice appeased the crowds of children by making balloon animals by request! 

 

I guess that gives you an idea of our AWESOME celebration. Come on, you know you are jealous of this local yokel who had herself some backwoodsy fun! Jake is always a good sport to come along for the culture shock, and helps out a ton while I am busy being immature.

When all the official festivities were done, we had just begun! Back at the house, there was a slip and slide just waiting to be set up on our front lawn. Wahoooooooo!

At the beginning we set up a sprinkler tunnel made by putting holes in PVC pipe and running water through it.  We called it the "kid wash"

The huge tarps covered in plastic made for an excellently slippery ride!

And at the end... a huge pool for a nice splash finale, and a spectators splash zone!

 There was also some strawberry pickin' in there somewhere. Dad (Grandpa) has an awesome garden!

All the kiddos were tuckered out and the grown ups beaten to a pulp, but there were still lots of plans to be carried out! Jake took the guys out shooting, and the girls made Mom a  birthday cake!

Another reason that all the siblings manage to come home this weekend is that Mom's birthday is the 25th! We used a gem from the float as a cake board and got to work. Just a simple design, but still fun, and she loved it.  

Taya was a big help on the cake, and then she wanted to make fancy cupcakes with the remaining batter. 

The boys came back with big grins on their faces from shooting, and you know what that means.... no, not rest and relaxation for the weary. Time for hay hauling! Can you believe it!?

Finally something up Jake's alley. He whipped my family into shape and they got all the hay hauled and stacked into the barn. No thanks to me and my hay fever. phooey. The kids got to ride some bails up the hay elevator, which they thought was pretty cool.

 Kendra brought some glow sticks for everyone to wear while out in the dark. 

What a day, huh!? Non-stop country bumpkin adventures from morning til night. And to think we would all be up and ready for church the next morning!  It didn't quite happen flawlessly and many of us were quite late, but Jake and I made it in time to hear ShaNae play the piano in sacrament meeting. I got to be her page turner - look at me and my accomplishments :) hahaha.

 She played beautifully and made all the old ladies cry.

We had a really great weekend, and I am so glad my family is able to get together once a year to be quirky.  There are so many of us now, and the kids are so darn cute!     

FOR MORE PHOTOS  

ALBUM #1

ALBUM #2

ALBUM#3

JULY 30th- We found ourselves in Mink Creek once again. We are kind of regulars at the Free Farm if you hadn't noticed.

 We like to help the tough ol' pappy with whatever we can and give him trouble to keep him young. It was also the weekend of the Preston night rodeo! (Are you kind of getting the feeling that we are rednecks?)

It was good times helping to get a few horses ready for the parade. I had never brushed and shampooed a horse before and Jake showed me the ropes. There are usually lots of kids wanting to ride, so Jake normally doesn't worry about it, but this year he got thrown into the mix! I watched with all of his cousins and made fun of them as they passed by ;) 

Once that hurrah was over, and our bag of candy collected,  we were free to wander about the fair grounds. We bought rodeo tickets and saved some seats in the grandstands. I escaped for a minute to grab us a caramel apple, and then dusk was upon us and the show began! 

  The clown was pretty entertaining. He blew up this outhouse with himself inside! Although he sure made a lot of negative wise cracks about wives.... grrrr! I gave Jake a nice glare after each one. hahaha. 

This was the night for all the best riders who had scored highest on previous nights. There were some good times for calf roping, and barrel racing. And some extra great bull rides! I admit that my favorite event is the mutton bustin' --- where the kids try to ride the sheep. Cracks me up! 

I think Jake gets a kick out of watching the broncs and the bulls.... and the crazy people around us :)

 The weather was just perfect and we didn't even have to use our blanket.

One of Jake's friends, Mikey,  met up with us to carnival the night away. Him and Jake had some nasty corndogs (which they found to be disgustingly delicious) and some other heart-stopping fair food. Then we picked out one carni game to play. We saw a few people find success with breaking these beer bottles with a throw of a baseball, so we each gave it a try. Sorry to say, but we were mostly way off. No prize, but it felt kinda good to chuck a ball as hard as you could. :)

And that about does it. Aren't you glad I left out the mundane details? (No seriously, I did.)We have some more little tidbits up our sleeves for the coming weeks.... but for now, you are Free to go.