Cub Scout Day Camp - Cubstruction

Master Archer, Cannon Kerr

The fire department discussed fire safety, and proceeded to spray the boys with their hose.

Hard to see, but this is Cannon's edible fire. Marshmallows were the fire ring, pretzels for wood, candy and fruit snacks for coals and noodles for tinder.

Cannon has been at Cub Scout Day Camp all week. (Well, except for Monday because that was the first day of the golf lessons he and Addysen are taking this summer.)
Tuesday, I was lucky enough to get to be the parent volunteer.
I actually don't mind going down -- and I truly admire the parents who take their vacation time from work to be the den leaders for the entire week. Spending 8 hours a day, for 5 days, with 250 scouts takes a lot out of person. (Of course, I wouldn't know for sure because I have never been there more than 2 or 3 days.)
I think the scouting program is awesome though and I am truly grateful to all of the leaders who have helped, and continue to help, Cannon with his scouting pursuits. He has just earned his Arrow of Light and will be moving on to the next level (don't ask me what that level is) when he turns 11 next month.
As for day camp, Cannon has had a fun, but exhausting week. The weather has alternated between breezy, sunny, muggy and hot, with a few downpours mixed in. (That was all just on Tuesday when I was there.)
Cannon is a master "archer" and loves learning about how to build fires. He also loves the variety of sports they play. I thought the cement handprint was a cool project -- although had I known I would be mixing cement for 4 hours on Tuesday, I would have worn different clothes.
All-in-all, a good week and a good learning experience.

Tacie, Tacie, How does your garden grow? (Family Goals Part 2)

A second part of our family goal-setting session included the plan to plant a garden. We've been taught to be self-reliant (just a head's up to those of you who have not yet done your VT for the month of June -- this is the topic....but no, I didn't plan it that way.) We've talked about planting a garden ever since we moved into this house -- 3 YEARS AGO. Yes, that is about the pace at which we operate with most projects.
When we lived in Utah, we built a beautiful garden plot -- complete with darling little fence all around the edges. (Had to keep the dog out.) And then we moved -- before ever getting around to the actual planting.
When we lived in Cleveland Heights, we did plant a garden -- once, out of about 7 summers that we lived there. The garden did well for the most part. Granted, birds ate all the strawberries -- but our carrots grew (although they didn't taste good) and our tomato plants WENT CRAZY. We had so many tomatoes we didn't know what to do. We gave them away to anyone and everyone who wanted tomatoes...and made spaghetti sauce...the hard way. It was awesome -- nothing beats fresh tomatoes from the garden.
And so here we are again...having lived here for 3 years and FINALLY planting the garden. We talked about it the first summer...started tilling the ground last summer...and finally got around to planting it this summer.

It isn't pretty...but it is in.
For those of you who don't live in these parts...you might not know that we were thinking about building an ark in the month of May. Yes, it rained that much...or more. Even real farmers had trouble getting their gardens in due to the inclement conditions. So, when we finally had a nice day -- and a day off our many other activities - -it was do or die. Greg tilled the ground one more time while I ran to the garden store to get some seeds and plants. Afterall - it was scheduled to rain again the very next day.

Of course, the day we planted it was the hottest day of the year so far. And humid. Which made for a lovely combination of sweat in my eyes and dirt across my face as I attempted to dig out some rows. (Apparently, we lost our hoe in one of our moves.) I clearly had no idea what I was doing, (although I did have flashbacks to planting gardens for FHE as a kid. We LOVED to put the corn and pea seeds in my dad's perfectly laid out little mounds of dirt. In fact, I thought of my dad's garden a lot as I planted...and wondered how embarrassed I would be if my dad actually saw my pathetic attempt at planting. Then, if only to make myself feel better, I decided that my dad would be proud of my efforts, even as lame as they may be....cause that is just the kind of dad I have.)

I (along with my 'helpers') worked outside for several hours -- finally making Cambrie go inside when I feared she would pass out and die from some heat-related (or possibly dirt-related) illness. We made a lot of progress, but unfortunately, as most projects go around here, we had to stop about half-way through - -in order to attend Cannon's baseball game.
When we got home from the game and got kids in bed....I returned to the garden. It was nearly dark, still extremely hot and muggy and the mosquitoes were out in full force. Cannon decided to join me and we finished planting the garden. He held the flashlight down towards the ground as I dug holes with the shovel. (Not the way I would recommend doing it...especially in flip-flops.) We alternately swatted at mosquitoes and wiped the sweat from our eyes as we slapped those seeds into the ground.
Like I said, it isn't pretty...but it is in.
Amazingly, it's two weeks later and we have things growing. We are calling this our experiment year -- hoping to get some tomatoes, green peppers, celery, zucchini, cucumbers, peas, beans, cauliflower and broccoli.
I'm hoping we will have to figure out what to do with all of our bounty.

+++++
Sidenote:
Remember how I said our tomatoes in Cleveland Heights took off like crazy? Yeah, well, I think we planted 8-12 plants that year. Hmmm...funny story. When I was at the garden store getting plants, I had no idea as to the dimension of our garden space -- or any concept of how many tomato plants I wanted. So...I opted for 36! And I planted all of them. Yeah...and about 1 dozen pepper plants (and since I really only use them for spaghetti sauce...that is a lot!)
Greg questioned why I even bought zucchini -- given that I have NEVER purchased one in the store. I looked at him incredulously and simply stated, "because the lady said they were easy to grow." Duh. 
Ha ha...if they do grow, I guess we'll be baking lots of bread. (Truth be told, I like zucchini - -especially on the grill. If, I mean, WHEN, they DO grow...my family will have lots of opportunities to learn to like it as well.)

Family Goals Part 1

In Family Home Evening a few months ago, we talked about goal-setting. We each set some individual goals -- as well as some family goals. One of our family goals was to FINALLY have a garage sale. We have accumulated way too much stuff. (What, you mean everyone doesn't store refrigerators, stoves and dishwashers in their garage? Thank you rental properties.)

Anyway - - this week we are participating in the city-wide garage sale days. Given that we don't actually have room in the garage to set anything up (thank you large appliances for taking up space!), I couldn't really set anything out to get ready yesterday.

 And, given that it was supposed to rain....and we didn't get home from Cannon's baseball game until nearly midnight (yes - midnight!), I wasn't up and at 'em at the crack of dawn. It all worked out though. We had a good day -- despite the storm that moved in about 3:30.  No longer will I be storing appliances in my garage!

What our driveway looked like about 10 minutes before a massive thunderstorm.

 We'll see what tomorrow - -and Saturday brings (hopefully people who are looking for lots and lots of clothing items - -starting at .25!)

Safetyville

One week of summer down...Safetyville...CHECK. Kenzie is more than ready to head off to kindergarten - or so she tells me.

The Warrior movie trailer

A fun night at the ballpark...GO TRIBE!

After spinning the prize wheel -- Two Sizemore Bobbleheads, one voucher for "buy one get one free tickets," a coupon for iced coffee, an umbrella and a coupon for a polar pop.

Cambrie's first Major League Baseball game. And quite possibly her last for awhile. She was worn out before the game started. She did love the treats though.

The only thing that would have made the night better was if the Indians had pulled off a WIN.

Showing off Grady Sizemore's signature. One of the Twins players singled Brynnley out during batting practice and gave her the ball. She really wants him to sign as well...and determined that we need to go back to EVERY Indians vs. Twins game in order to track him down.

Our favorite Indians pitcher - Mitch Talbot. Also a member of our ward. We've been dog-sitting his dog Ace this summer when the team is on the road and when Mitch's wife, Julie, goes with them. The kids are in HEAVEN having a dog around again. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Ace looks just like Kerrdog...a yellow-lab. (Although, Ace is a lot thinner!) Mitch is from Cedar City, UT and as it turns out, his mom was my boss at State Bank of Southern Utah many years ago. Small world!

Warriors are we

Rachel crawling through the mud pit.

The worst part was getting cleaned off at the end. The water was FREEZING.

Modeling our cool new hats.

Jennie leaping over fire like it was NOTHING.

AFTER

Going through the mud and under the barbed-wire.

Greg still trying to take video with the waterproof camera.

Ok, so the pictures pretty much explain it all. Mud. Water. Rocks. Trail Run. Laughs, more laughs and SO. MUCH. FUN. I would definitely do the Warrior Dash again.