We met up with a large crew from our stake at Manresa Beach for the 4th of July. The kids had a great day since there were so many friends there.
There was a sandcastle contest going on down the beach that was impressive to check out. People made seriously impressive entries! A car, an octopus, and an otter were my favorites.
The main draw that brought us out was that there was a nearby fireworks show. It is so sad how few cities near us are putting on fireworks anymore. We miss our downtown Livermore show!!! While we waited for it to get dark, the kids enjoyed blowups and played hacky sack.
The fireworks themselves were ... okay. They started before it was actually dark to try to beat out the incoming coastal fog, so they were hard to see because of both the light and the fog. It was better than nothing, but we were underwhelmed and totally wishing we could make our way to Utah for a real show.
We had the Dix family over the next day for dinner. The kids played a prank on Hazel's friend Alex with a stuffed duck care package. Hazel also convinced the crew to make a spoof video of "The Click" from America's Got Talent.
Alex got Hazel back by posting our house and van for sale the next day. It was such a funny surprise!
Jack took his permit test and has been driving me all over town ever since. I had to document his first attempt to park in a parking lot. Don't worry; he's gotten much better as he's practiced.
The kids had a swimming night for their youth activity.
We enjoyed a trip out to Sitka, with Noah, his brother Henry, and his parents, Rebecca and Levi, as our guests. It was a senior year gift to Hazel. Day one was travel, Mean Queen, groceries, and touring the little island the cabin is on.
Day two we went to Salmon Lake for our favorite hike. The boat ride out was so pretty. I thought we were scoring so big with the sunshine and blue sky, but we ended up incredibly lucky with the weather and barely got any rain all week. I couldn't stop gushing about it.
We took the awkward dingy ride from the anchored boat to the shore, and then enjoyed the pleasant 1.5 mile walk through the woods to Salmon Lake, the dock, and the row boat.
We squished all nine of us into the rowboat and enjoyed a trundle around the lake. We parked at a marsh for Jack and Gemma to explore the bog for a bit. We nibbled on our picnic lunch in the meantime.
The kids enjoyed the adventure of riding in the boat. They took turns sitting up front and on top.
We did have an unfortunate learning experience at the end. We stopped at the gas station to fill up the tanks because Tom and his fishing buddies had left the tanks near empty and we didn't want to return the favor. Unfortunately, Tom had upgraded the engines on the boat with ones that use unleaded gas but did not replace the gas tank covers, which said "diesel." We purchased $1,500 worth of unleaded gas and made it almost all the way back to the cabin before the tanks started to smoke. Turning the engines off, we called for help and ferried people home with the dingy. Luckily, the tanks were able to be drained of the diesel gas without being permanently damaged, but we lost a lot of money and we had to downgrade to the little skiff for the rest of the trip, making us drop the hot pots from our list of destinations for the week. What a lot of hassle that could have been avoided if the gas tank covers had been replaced, or at least relabeled.
Day three Todd, Levi, Hazel, Noah, Henry, and Jack went on a fishing charter trip. They had huge success finding king salmon and rock fish. Everyone caught something and had a great time. Jack suffered from some sea sickness, but had enough fun catching fish that he felt like the trip was worthwhile.
Meanwhile, Rebecca, Gemma, and I went out for breakfast and then went on the Indian River Falls hike. It was a long but easy hike. Most of the seven miles were flat and alongside a gurgly river. The last mile was more moderately challenging as we gained elevation before ending at a 70 foot waterfall.
We did have to cross a condemned bridge to get there, but we sent Gemma first and went one person at a time, and we were all glad we did. That bridge has been marked closed for all the years my family has been coming to Sitka. It was high time we ignored the warnings and saw what was beyond it.
Also, of course I slipped and fell, coming away with some gnarly bruises on my arm and my knee, but a trip to Sitka wouldn't be complete if I didn't fall on a hike.
Seriously, the weather was so nice, we were sunbathing (albeit fully clothed) on the deck.
Day four we went to church, peeked at the bear preserve over the fence, foraged for berries for an exorbitant amount of time, explored the Totem Pole park, kayaked around the island, and had Andy and his family over for a BBQ dinner.
Day five. Todd took Hazel, Noah, Levi, Jack, and Henry back out halibut fishing early in the morning. Without the help of their fishing charter friend, they were less successful, but they caught two halibut and saw a whale, too!
After breakfast, we all went out to hike Beaver Lake. Todd was exhausted and fell asleep during our picnic lunch.
We ended our last night all hanging out on a rocky outcrop on the island, reflecting on our favorite parts of the trip. It was a good group for us to bring out. Everyone got along well and was up for the adventure.
We brought home a ton of fish, most of which we sent home with the Lloyds.
Jack and Rebecca Nelson have started a dinner business. They call it Jabecca's. They created a website and passed out business cards to their friends and many of the adults from church. They're hosting themed dinners in our backyard. So far, they have had an Italian night, a Thai night, and a Japanese night. French is next up. They've worked together to create menus, shop for ingredients, cook multi-course meals, and create a beautiful ambiance with tablecloths, candles, greenery, and live cello performances. It has been a lot of work, and a huge mess to clean up afterward, but I love seeing Jack find a way to make money trying beautiful recipes, which has always been something he has enjoyed.
I have a new calling, as an advisor to the 14-15-year-old girls at church. I am so excited about it! These girls are tons of fun to talk with and I feel like I have a lot to give the young women as they learn about the gospel and develop their testimonies.
I read a book about menopause to educate myself on what I can expect and came away fired up that I really need to prioritize strength training to maintain muscle mass and bone density. I joined a gym and asked Hazel to show me how to use the machines so I won't be so intimidated to use them. I brought the girls with me and Gemma read her book on the stationary bike for an hour while Hazel and I worked out.
My favorite part about Fitness 19 is that they have hydromassage chairs that I can use every single time I go. They have been a huge motivator for me! What a reward to work hard and then spend ten minutes in meditative bliss before going home!
Hazel was commissioned to make the Senior Night t-shirts for her volleyball team. She had the darling idea to cut out the letters "S-E-N-I-O-R" with fabric and embroider them onto the shirts, adding stitching on the "O" to make it look like a volleyball. This project is right up her alley.
Todd and I ate at Jabecca's Thai. The food was delicious, and we got to share a table with Joleen and Kelly Mills, so that was fun. Hazel had several friends who wanted to participate but didn't want to pay for dinner, so they volunteered to wash dishes for food. The house was full of teenagers and Todd and I were in the backyard, helpless to assist the chaos. It was a little wild, but it all turned out well.
Hazel and Noah made a wind chime out of abalone shells from Sitka and a piece of driftwood. I love how they always make projects to work on together.
Jack went on a backpacking overnighter trip to Sword Lake with the young men. It was the one youth activity of the summer that Todd did not attend; he has missed so much work! Jack had a great time, but I don't have any pictures! They did cliff jumping and Jack slept well in a little tent solo.
Todd, Hazel, and Gemma went on a big adventure trip with the young women to Channel Islands. They backpacked in and did a lot of kayaking and snorkeling.
In the meantime, Jack and I went up to the cabin for a night and an afternoon on the lake. We proudly assembled a 750 piece puzzle together. I wanted to quit so many times, but Jack never wavered in his determination to finish it!
When we came back home and were still on our own, I let Jack have reign of the kitchen. He practiced his French menu (salmon, ratatouille, and lemon custard) and we watched Disney's Ratatouille together.
When the crew came back from Channel Islands, it was a chaotic turnaround. The girls did laundry and packed late at night, and the kids and I took off for Utah the next morning. Lucky for me, I had help driving from both Hazel and Jack!
We dropped Jack off at BYU tennis camp, dropped Gemma off at the BYU library, and then Hazel and I took an official tour of BYU. It was a hot day, but the air conditioning inside the buildings was on point. We saw most of campus and got several questions answered, but sadly, Hazel came away wanting to attend BYU even less than before the tour.
The girls and I spent a couple nights at Chris and Jodi's house. We did baptisms at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and did a little shopping. We had books and breakfast at Kneader's. Unfortunately, I was feeling quite sick, so part of our visit included a stop at urgent care to get checked out. I came away with a cough syrup prescription that was pretty helpful, but I'm going through tissues like I own stock in Kleenex, and I'm pretty tired of it.
We met up with Kathryn for pedicures, and it was quite nice to see her on her own before the reunion. I feel like it helped us connect.
We walked around Temple Square. I had two pieces of art I really wanted to see: the new five virgins statue that's in front of the Relief Society building, and Caitlyn Connolly's wall-size "In Their Image" painting that's been in the Church History Museum.
Sadly for me, the Church History Museum was in the middle of a massive art rotation and had taken a lot of their art down temporarally, including the piece I came to see. Gladly, though, they sell prints of it at their museum store, so I at least was able to purchase a smaller version for our home. I've been on the hunt for one, but hadn't had any luck finding one for sale online, so I left happy enough.
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Thursday morning, we took an official tour of Utah State University, and that one was a big win. Our guide did a fantastic job selling the school to Hazel. He pointed out so many student life pieces that really lit her up, including a courtyard where there's student-led jazz improv performances every Thursday night, a sand volleyball court, and an outdoor gear rental shop where "everything you see in here [kayaks, paddle boards, rock climbing gear, sleeping bags] can be used within a ten minute drive of campus." We also found out that with Todd's veteran status, Hazel can get in-state tuition without having to live in Utah during the summer. That was a big win, too.
We started our Bingham reunion Thursday afternoon at the Logan Temple baptistry. Then we went to the cabin in North Logan that we used two years ago when Chris was in charge and got settled into our rooms. Scott's family and my parents slept at their own houses in Smithfield, but by using the cabin, we had a large gathering space for everyone.
Peter is walking now! Time passes too fast when we don't live close by.
We went out for a walk after dinner and stopped for a photo shoot by this port-a-potty just beyond our boundaries. There were landscapers working on the street the whole time we were there. Very unfortunately, within two minutes of taking this picture, Gemma cut her foot on the piece of rebar you can see sticking out of the corner of the portable, from her toes to the spot where her foot bends into her leg. It was pretty wide and deep near her toes, and I could tell right away she was going to need stitches.
Hazel was a rock star big sister. She stayed by Gemma's side, distracting and comforting her, keeping her laughing and thinking about other things, letting Gemma text Noah, carrying her to the car, and keeping her distracted while I drove and filled out paperwork at the emergency room. Gemma and I were both so grateful for her help. Gemma got eight stitches on the deep half of the gash, and glue on the more shallow end of it. That put a damper on her activities for the rest of the reunion, but Gemma took it like a champ. I know it was disappointing to have to move so little and not participate in everything, but she kept up such a positive outlook on the whole thing. I was really proud of her.
Friday morning we did service projects at Nana's' and at Scott's house. Gemma was put in charge of babysitting the younger kids. Hazel and I washed Nana's windows.
Todd flew into Utah Friday morning and arrived at BYU in time to pick Jack up, but too late to watch him play any tennis. Bummer! Thankfully, they arrived in Smithfield in time to join us for a pickleball tournament. I think Hazel was pretty amazed to see that I might be the most athletic person in my family.
There was a lot of downtime scheduled at the reunion, but we filled it well with knitting hats for donations, writing memories of grandparents, and helping prepare and clean up meals. The whole reunion had a Princess Bride theme, and it was awesome hearing lines from the movie quoted (and even acted out!) continuously.
We spent Saturday morning at Hull Valley scout camp, where we got to try tomahawk throwing, rock climbing, and archery, as well as swimming and canoeing in Lake Josephine. Everyone was so excited to end in the lake since it was so dang hot outside, but Gemma really wasn't missing much staying out of the water. The lake was definitely more of a pond, and it was murky and smelled a little bit like cow urine.
Ethan and Isaac definitely took home the prize for Princess Bride scene reenactments; they ran the whole gammut from the Cliffs of Insanity, through the sword fight, and finishing up with the Battle of Wits. Ethan has Scott's memory and his volume. It was wild!
I will say, though, that Todd and my girls, with Scott, did a mighty good second place job with the Miracle Max scene. (Scott was Valerie!)
There was a lot of balloon volleyball, and lots of happy feelings. We missed Xiao, but loved that we had everyone else there. The drive home was long and yucky, but that's just the way it goes. It's always easier to travel to an adventure than it is to come home from one.
