We started out July with a bang-Fourth of July Fireworks included! Jason, Paige and kids, Shannon, Grandpa and Grandma all came over for dinner and we made our way over to the city park.
Every year Dave asks how early we are going to the park and after our answer, he acts shocked every single time. As if he hasn't spent the last decade doing the same thing...
We love sitting for hours and playing games. But, the heat is not always so bearable, so we enjoyed the umbrella shade!
Celebrating with family always makes it fun!
We love the lazy days of summer!
Not every day was lazy, of course. Grant busily worked on his Eagle Project. He loves working with special needs kids and people with differing abilities. He decided he wanted to benefit the Kauri Sue Hamilton School where he has been volunteering the previous 2 summers. After meeting with the principal, he came up with a plan to construct a set of corn holes for the kids to use during PE and also to spend a couple of days there during the summer bringing activities and youth to help.
Grant's troop earned money by working for an old neighbor sorting nuts and bolts.
It was a hot day and they busted it out! My job was to replenish the beverage supply and bring treats. They did great! One little bolt at a time...it took hours, but they earned all the money Grant would need for the construction.
On to the building...
Grant is lucky to have some handy leaders and they helped him and the fellas build those cornholes like it was no big deal. We aren't skilled in any sort of building so I was impressed.
The volunteer mornings turned out great as well.
One day the kids did a reading day and took books to different classrooms to read to the students. The other day was a sensory activity day.
Katelee enjoyed helping out as well. There was pudding finger paint...which maybe was a little bit of a messy idea! This poor guy had choc pudding for days in his beard.
The other table had sensory objects to play with. Grant definitely has a gift connecting with kids with different abilities. It was neat to see him in his element. Everything turned out great.
Next step...paperwork and interviews. This eagle business is no joke!!
Katelee participated in a theatre camp that did a mini musical-Annie.
Not only did our family particpate on stage in a production, we made our way to view one-
NEWSIES!
Hale Center Theatre did a great job with the show. I was nervous, since it's pretty much my fav, but it was awesome. It was particularly fun to see a familiar face from some Riverton Jr shows.
She got to be Grace and had a fun time with that! I went on Youth Conference to Snow College with the youth in our church and taught them very vital things-how to macarena, electric slide etc I think it will impact their life greatly. Ha!
Shortly after was the 24th of July. We always go to the 24th of July float preview. This year we met up with Paige and Co. We love hanging with her and Porter and Jaylee. Harrison asked me recently,
"Do you know what I am a fan of?" I told him I did not and he replied with "Babies." So, there you go. Our baby fan was able to hang with baby cousins.
This part of the 24th was delightful. The actual 24th of July; however, was not. We hosted a firework show in our neighborhood and there was a huge mishap. A firework flipped over, shot out into the crowd full of kids, families, etc One piece of the firework got stuck in a woman's shirt and she pulled it out with her hand. This caused 3rd degree burns on her hand, shoulder etc and she spent the evening in the emergency room and then follow up visits at the Burn Unit up north. It was a terrible experience and everyone there was pretty shaken up.
A couple days later we were off on Dave's ADP trip, so we had a lot on our minds as we embarked.
While we are so lucky to go on these trips with Dave's work, this one I may have had to force the smiles some of the time...
ADP rented out the entire ship and so some of the entertainment wasn't offered, or wasn't geared towards families. I would accurately describe it as being trapped on a Spring Break Girls Gone Wild boat. Yikes.
But, we did get to enjoy some time at the different ports: St Kitt's, Antigua and St Lucia. St Lucia was my favorite with the gorgeous views of the Pitons. We took a relaxing catamaran ride on that island and enjoyed it a lot. We also did a chocolate making tour.
Pretty sure they just ran up to the local Walmart like store and grabbed some ingredients for us to play with, but hey, we got some fetching hair nets.
We were yelled at and chased by the man with monkeys because we didn't want to pay him when he placed his animals on us
We did pay him a little and then we tried to escape
by going on an island tour of St Kitts with the Bevans.
We were bummed because we had plans to attend the branch on St Kitt's but our boat did not reach the port in time to get there. We were able to find the meetinghouse while we were on our little tour so we jumped out to feel some peace and connection to these island saints.
We just love that we can find our place everywhere in the world!
No matter the trip, whether it is an incredible European experience or an MTV shocker... it's always such a huge accomplishment for Dave. He has done so well in his career and it is great to see him recognized at these events.
While the kids didn't get to join us on the boat, they had plenty of activites going on here at home:
Their first ever sleepover at a friends (I guess Grant had one last year),
Airborne:
Leatherby's
a bike parade
and the zoo...so you can't feel too bad for them! Summer lovin had them a blast indeed!
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