RODEO!!!!!!

Tradition.  It is awesome!  It is fun!  It is so cool!!!!!

We went to the Lehi rodeo this year.  The bucking broncos were fun to watch.  The Barrel Racers were amazing, and fast, and are always one of the best!!!!  The bull riders were ok, 2 made it to the 8 second buzzer and they were great rides.  The scoring of the riders was a little off, but we still cheered loud for the rider that we thought did the best. The monkeys dressed as cowboys that rode dogs were subpar.  Not nearly as cool.  But when you combine the excitement of the rodeo and motocross......

It is so AWESOME!!!!!!!  Not kidding, late at night; after you have been cheering on all these cowboys and animals and had so much fun....then you get to watch these freaking brave and crazy dirt bike riders flip and do tricks and be awesome!  It is exciting and fun and super cool.

Plus, Haley was lucky enough to have three of the rodeo queens sign an autograph for her as we were leaving and that just made her night.  Such a fun time as a family!

Scout Camp

All three boys when to scout camp this year.

I have already talked about Caleb's experience.  But here is the triumphant Archery merit badge being worked on and finally attained.

Peter went to camp and enjoyed pretty much every moment.  He got to swim, do archery, was a sweet brother and brought back a pink sling shot for Haley, and got really dirty.

Not as dirty as William. He came back really dirty and tired.  But he had a ton of fun too.

And Haley had a fun opportunity to go to a Utah Glory mini soccer camp and learn some kicking skills.  She was the youngest out there.  But she definitely had a lot of fun and felt important.

The week with no photos

So, Caleb went off to scout camp at the beginning of last week.  Just got home.  He came home exhausted, drained emotionally, and hurt.  His feet got really beaten up over the week, so much so that he took a trip to the camp medic to get some relief.  But he also came home victorious!  He earned his archery merit badge, which according to him was "so hard."  Even his scout master said that he could tell Caleb was so discouraged.  Caleb told me that he took a break, went and built a little mountain out of tiny rocks, kind of time to regroup.  After that, he went back and shot a few more arrows and got the score he needed.  Goes to show, with determination, hard work and sometimes taking a step back to recharge, you can do anything.  He also had a lot of fun on the waterfront and did the polar bear plunge 3 times.  He is a cool kid.
The rest of us had a good week at the cabin.  It was really windy for the most part. So, it was tough to get out and have fun without being cold or blown away.  But we did our best.  The boys took some trips on their kayaks.  They played in the mud and Peter made a cool mud castle.  We went out for a small hike and saw a deer on the trail.  Peter and William enjoyed a few games of street hockey, where the equipment was sticks and rocks they had found.  We even saw bald eagle sitting on some rocks them swoop through the air.  Pretty cool!

The Best Place On Earth

Some may argue with that.  Some may say Disney-themed locations, or a cruise or on and on.  But for this little family....Scofield is our Happy Place.  A place that cannot compare.  It is perfect!

I know, I know.  You are saying, Diedre.  Every summer we get bombarded with pictures from Scofield.  Give it a break!  NO WAY!  This place is magical.  Going out to see wildlife is amazing.  Sure, my kids act quite wild in the truck sometimes while we are out looking for deer or foxes or "mystery" birds, but it is all in the memories and fun.  Plus, this week's cool moment was when we stopped off to get a closer look at the blue heron's nesting site, up in the tippy tops of the trees.  Funny moment, when William spotted a herd of deer, way up on the mountain.  It was not until we saw hundreds of said "deer" then heard the calls of "maaaa, maaaa" - yeah, we found a herd of sheep.

 Look at that!  Tell me, anything more fun on a hot summer day than jumping in the lake?  And surrounded by that beauty!

 Each of the boys received a youth kayak from Grandpa Terry.  They love them!  And Haley loves her little pink tube!

 They took those kayaks everywhere in just a few days.  Across the lake a few times, over to the ranger station, even turned them into paddle boards and had so much fun together.

That is one reason I LOVE the cabin.  They are together.  No screen time trying to distract them from exploring and playing together.  Using their imagination and being happy together.  Here they are, coming up with one of their plant games.  Just up the road from our cabin, having fun with each other.

And the COOLEST, most AWESOME moment happened this morning.  I am not kidding!  This was like the coolest thing the whole campsite saw this morning.  So, I walked out of the cabin at 7:30am, strolled down to the dock and saw a deer walking along the rocks.  I ran in to tell the boys that were awake to come look.  All of a sudden when we got back down there, THE DEER WAS SWIMMING ACROSS THE LAKE!!!!!  Seriously, how many of us have seen that?  I think it got spooked by some fishermen that were on the rocks and the deer just got out of there.  Well, this was not something to be missed by the sleeping kids still in the cabin.  I ran in, woke them from their deep slumber, and we all watched as this deer paddled across the lake.  Yeah, terrible photo, but that little, tiny dot in the middle of the lake is that deer.  Man, you could tell she got tired halfway through and wondered if her decision was wise.  But she made it across.  One more reason I love Scofield.  This place has provided us so many chances to see the beauty around us and do it together.  Happy Summer!

What a Beautiful Day

4 June 2016

William Benjamin Gray was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

by his father Rob Gray

Witnesses: Ed Gray and Terry Rachel

He is such a sweet boy!

We were surrounded by family and several friends as we gathered for this special time. The weather was perfect!  William's friends, Milo, Ben and Carter came to the baptism.  Along with our family in Utah.  Uncle Jon and Heidi were able to come to the luncheon afterwards.  It was such a special day.  As we waited for the other children to be baptized we were able to watch some church videos in the chapel.  They helped us feel the spirit so strongly!  I can say the spirit touched me in a special way as I looked at William sitting there next to Rob.  He still seems so young to me.  Is he really old enough to make these special promises with Father in Heaven?  Are we really at this point in life?  Rob did a great job on the baptism and confirmation.  One part that especially sticks out to me that I will share is that he blessed William to "hold to truth....and run from evil."  

After the baptism we gathered at our house for a spread of RAINBOW food.From the fruit to the desserts, it was all yummy and fun to look at.  William has always loved rainbows, what better way to celebrate this boy and his good choices than with beautiful colors and happy times.  He is my Sweet William!

Welcoming Summer

There is no better way to bring in summer than....

 To have fun with your friends.....

And dance in your school's dance festival.....

And gathering around a box of very tasty pizza and a delicious, gooey, and perfect pot of caramel corn.  Yup, hello summer!  We are glad you are here.

Soccer, soccer, end of school, soccer, sew, soccer, end of school, clean, clean, clean, soccer.....

Yeah, so instead of the "thought for the week" idea....I am just randomly putting my thoughts out there right now.  Crazy, it is so time for me to be in bed, I have a million things to do.  But here are the thoughts of the week.  Soccer tryouts started this week.  Caleb has done well.  He tried out for 2 different teams, Glory and USA.  He did so well, giving it his all and went for it.  Tonight, coach (from Glory) offered him a position on the team.  He will do well.  It will be a HARD year.  We are playing up a year, not sure if that is the best decision but we are going with the team and coach.  Caleb has A LOT of work ahead of him, and we have a lot of cheering to do.
End of school is this week and we are ready.  The house may not be ready for everyone to be home, together.... but we are ready for no homework, no "having" to get up, no rushing out the door.  The boys have had some great teachers.  We are saying goodbye to Señora Moya, tomorrow night she flies off for the Galapagos Islands, to her next teaching position.  What great opportunities by children have had to learn from her and Mrs. Gruer!
Sewing, in an effort to help Caleb raise some much needed soccer funds I am making some projects for people who have so generously and kindly purchased them.  But, boy am I ready to just go to bed.  However, there is more stitching to do and more cleaning to do.....We have a baptism on Saturday!!!! And a soccer meeting at the exact same time.  Rah, rah, rah..GOOOOO Us.!