Movin Pipe

For years we have heard the pipe moving stories, of a young boy in Shelley Idaho who had to get up at 4am and move 15 lines of pipe, with 25 pipe in each line!  TWICE a day.  He moved pipe with his older brothers and they made him RUN to every pipe.

Finally this young boy; now a grown 41 year old man, could show his son how to move pipe.

There is a field by our garden that is always empty, but this year a farmer rented the land and planted wheat.   The farmer had a couple lines of pipe that he moved, but got sick of it, so our friends who live across from the field started moving it.  Ryan is Caden's age and his Dad helped him.  They had to go out of town and asked Caden to move it for them with Joel.  Caden went a few times to learn how. 

Joel got back into town Friday evening and he put his irrigating boots on and we headed for the field.  I had to tag along for the photo op.  Joel was so excited.  Of course an hour of pipe moving turned into 2, due to some pip movie "problems".  It's a complicated operation. 

I loved seeing these two working together, doing what Joel used to do as a kid. 

There was a canal near by, so I went and sat on the bridge and dunked my feet in .  I turned around to see the girls staring at me.  I told them to come over and sit by me.  They said, "but mom, canals are dangerous, every year hundreds of children drown in canals."  Wow, they had just repeated a commercial that they air during the summer on the TV.  Poor kids can't have any fun anymore.  I assured them it was fine, so they cautiously came over to sit. 

Weekend at Cascade Lake

We can't take our trailer AND the boat when we go places.   We usually take the trailer and go camping.  We decided we wanted to take the boat and just go boating for a weekend.  We were excited rent some of our friends' cabin in Donnely.  There was a short path to follow to the lake where they had a private dock and boat slip.  We put the boat there and just walked to the lake each morning and spent the day on the boat! 

Caden invited his friend Nick.  He was a lot of fun, and made us all laugh a lot. He also got along great with the girls.  Coelton had to work, with hopes of being able to come up on Saturday. 
We arrived Friday afternoon and got settled in and headed for the lake.  We all took a turn on the water skies.  Chloe actually stood up for a few seconds. Nick also was able to get up for the first time.   By the time we all had a turn it was time to head back to eat some dinner and call it a night.  We played scum and had fun watching a movie. 

                                                                        Chloe

Hailey

Nick - now you see him

Now you don't

Caden

Natalie

Joel

Headed back to the cabin

On Saturday we drove to McCall and had breakfast at the pancake house.  We ordered a couple of giant cinnamon rolls that were very yummy.  After breakfast we went back to the cabin and walked to the lake for a day on the boat. 

Caden has a pet sitting business and watches dogs during the summer months.  I will post a seperate post all about this.  But he was watching Pepper,  a Shnouzer.  He is a great dog, we like him a lot.   He stayed at our house for a week and came with us to Cascade. 

We took the tube for a whirl and Nick loved the tube.  However, Joel has scared all the kids of the tube and they refuse to go on it.  We have to coax and beg for them to get on.  We finally got Caden on once and the girls got on with me and rode with Nick.  Nick is in almost all the tube pictures because he just wanted to ride with anyone who would!  The kids have all taken a few rough spills on the tube, and don't trust it anymore.  Joel did get Caden and Nick in the water once, and Caden never got back on the tube : )

We also strapped on the skis and wakeboard for more skiing time.  Chloe got up again and this time lasted several seconds!  Hailey got up on the big skis without the bar and crossed the wake. All too soon we found it was time once again to head back to the cabin for dinner.  The kids went on a few 4-wheeler rides.

Nick insisted that slolom skiing must be easier than tandom sking.  So he gave it a try...no pictures of him above the water : )

Resorting back to tandom skiis and here he is above water.  Strong work Nick!!

 Coelton was able to drive up Saturday evening and he brought his friend Kelli.  They arrived at 8pm so Joel and I hurried with them to the lake for some boating.  We got there and found the water to be glass!  Coelton quickly strapped on the charger (our slolom ski) and ripped it up.  He had a great time in such awesome water.  Kelli doesn't ski so we took her and coelton on a tube ride.  Joel had strict instructions to be extra careful.  Kelli is a Varsity XC captain for Mountain View this year.  She has colleges looking at her allready.  She recieved a call from University of Iowa last week.
They both ended up in the water, but no harm done : )  When it got too dark to see we headed back to the cabin, and played more scum.
This isn't a good picture of coelton, he's rubbing his eyes making sure his contacts made the ascent.  I think he is just trying to impress us by holding the rope in his arm and flexing his muscles.

On Sunday we drove to McCall again and went to sacrament meeting.  It was Kelli's first time attending church. She seemed to like it, and said it wasn't too boring.  We had a nice lunch and the kids rode the 4-wheelers around; while singing primary songs of course ; )  We cleaned the cabin and packed up.  We drove the boat around the lake.  It was a nice "sunday activity"  no one got in the water, and we saw the wonders of the earth and how beautiful Heanly Fathers creations are. ; )  We then loaded it on the trailer and headed home. We decided we needed to name our boat.  We came up with Helga,Starla and Iron Maiden.  If anyone has a great name for our boat please comment.   We arrived back in Meridian at 9:30pm.

 

It was a great weekend!!!  We loved every second.  Great freinds and famiy making precious memories. 


 

Drivers Ed

The rule at our house is you have to get your "wings" before you get your "wheels".  It's a right of passage actually.  The boys have loved scouting and I can't think of a better thing for them to be engaged in and working on in their free time. 
I have never had to nag or get upset at them about scouting.  It has always been their choice.  I am so happy they earned all merit badges at clinics and camps, we did a few on our own during summer months.  By the time they were 14, they were ready to complete an eagle project.  We knew that we had a "window of opportunity" at this age and stage in their lives.  They still were excited about it and wanted to be eagle scouts.  When they get older, they really don't want to do scouting anymore and it becomes a chore. 
In Idaho you have to be 14 and a half to take drivers ed.  We have our kids wait until they are 15 and by the time they are done with drives ed, and the driving time with parents, they get their drivers lisence by their 16th birthday, which is perfect. 
Caden completed his eagle project last Fall and was able to take drivers ed this summer.  He rode his bike to the high school every morning and also to his "driving lesson", which was at the high school too.  After 6 weeks of class every day and several hours of driving time, he passed the test and recieved his drivers permit. 
Congratulations Caden!!

Caden is now 5' 6.5" !!

 

Cousin Campout

Joel's parents take the grandkids ages 8-12 on a campout each summer.  They take the girls and then the boys.   The boys group is much larger. 
Hailey, Alyssa, Maiya and McKenna get to go together and this year were really spoiled. 

Maiya and Hailey flew to SLC with Joel on Monday morning.  He was going to work, and they both used frequent flyer miles, so it was cheaper to fly them then to drive them to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa.
They stayed with McKenna in Tooele for a night and then the next day Grandma, Grandpa and the girls went to temple square and the Beehive house, the Joseph Smith building and they also saw a "doll house" replica of the SLC temple.  Hailey really liked that.  They went to the top of the church office building and on their way back to Tooele they stopped at the Great Salt Lake  They stayed another night together in Tooele with Jeff , Mel and McKenna.  Joel was able to drive out in a convertable mustang and have dinner with them and of course gave rides in the car.   The next day they drove to Manti to see the Manti Pageant.
 They stopped at Snow College and the girls went swimming.  They stayed in a little cabin in Manti and had a great time there. 

The next day after the pageant they drove back to Shelley.  We drove to Shelley and met up with Hailey the next day.  We were running in the Bone and Back race and their was also a "extended" Hammer Reunion that weekend, so it worked out well. 

My kids love the cousin campouts and how Grandma and Grandpa play games with them at night around the campfire.  Their favorite is "mathew, mark, luke and John".  Grandma often reads to them at night while they are all in the trailer going to sleep.  What awesome memories they will always have.

Finally Boating!!

It has been a very chilly summer so far.  We haven't been able to take out our boat until July 6!  Our boat is now 19 years old.  We have had 9 fun filled seasons with it.  Talk about wholesome recreational activties...this is our favorite! 

I remember when I was young and my Grandpa Judy would let us take his boat to black tail.  We all learned how to water ski and had so many happy times on the boat.  I remember sitting on the bough of the boat with my feet dangling in the water, my Dad would go fast and the boat would raise up...I thought Iwas on top of the world!

When the opportunity came to buy the boat from our bishop,when we lived in Columbia Village,  I was so thrilled.  We had been boating with his family many times in the boat and knew they really wanted to "up grade".  We would tell them to let us know when they were ready to sell it.  Joel wasn't sure he wanted it, he didn't grow up with a boat and was a little worried of the cost and up keep.  We made the plunge and have never looked back.  Joel does a great job in taking care of it and knows how to winterize it etc.  The gages don't work, so we never know how fast we are going or how much gas there is, and it's interior is showing it's age, it's not very fancy or powerful, but we sure love our boat and the time we spend together as a family.

The kids have learned how to tube, waterski, slolom and wake board.  Chloe will learn to ski this year and Hailey has now graduated to the big skis and can cross the wake.  We have been able to take the boat to some beautiful lakes, reservoirs and rivers. 

It was pretty cold.  I think in the 70's.  The kids didn't want to get in the water.  Finally Joel said he would give $5 to who ever got in first.  Chloe marched to the end of the boat and jumped in.  She came out crying because it was so cold.  She got the $5.

Coelton was the next brave one.  He realizes that this is his last boat season for the next 2 years.  He will probably be on his mission by April.

He has grown so much he had to wear my wet suit and life jacket.  And of course, won't give me a good picture.

Hailey was next to be brave and get in the freezing water.

Then Caden remembered how to get up on one ski.

I was content to sit and soak it up.