We had a very low key 4th of July. We had Drew, Karen, and Katie Miller come in for lunch. They were down for the weekend to work on the house some more. Karen had hoped to get this house on the market by May, June at the latest, but it is a big house and a huge yard so it is going to take much longer than she had hoped. We enjoyed our lunch then went to Twin Falls to visit with Larry and Blanca. The fireworks didn't keep us awake. They are so much quieter here than in Central America.
Tuesday morning the Temple was freezing. Even President Hobbs apologized that the temperature was very cold. I got so chilled that it took me the rest of the day to get warm. By night, I was starting to cough. Now is not a good time to get sick with our reunion only a week away!
We went to the Miller's place and picked some pie cherries and spent the evening getting them pitted and put into the freezer for future pies.
By Wednesday night, I was really feeling rough. We had Ashton, Chandler, and Eisley on Thursday so I took them with me to shop for gag gifts for our un-birthday- birthday party at the reunion. We have almost everything prepared for the reunion. Just have to shop on Monday for the last minute items that are perishable.
Saturday morning, the 9th, I am so sick that we are wondering if I am going to make it to the reunion or not. Lon took me to the Urgent Care center here and I have bronchitis. The doctor gave me three different medicines. Lon picked up his brother Larry and they went to Rupert to attend a Thompson Reunion. He enjoyed visiting with his cousins that he hadn't seen for years.
I woke up sicker than ever on Sunday. I quit taking two of the medications as they were causing me to throw up. I kept taking the antibiotics and had Lon give me a blessing so we haven't given up on me getting to the reunion yet.
Monday morning Sarah and Lon went shopping for the last of the reunion groceries. Tuesday morning I am feeling so much better. I am not over the bronchitis and still cough a lot day and night, but with the antibiotics I am no longer contagious so we loaded up and headed to Cascade for our family reunion. Tracy picked up Riley in Kimberly and we stopped in Boise to get Ryanne and Gideon.
This is the cabin that we rented for the 4 nights. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths and a game room that the kids loved. The ten of us arrived about 5pm and unloaded and roasted hot dogs and smor's while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive. The others got there around 8:30.
Ginger, Debbie, Sarah, Mindi, Shayla, Tracy and Justin P. (Justin E. didn't arrive until Wednesday afternoon.) The adults enjoyed visiting while the kids were busy downstairs in the game room.
The kids had their very own room and each child had their own bed.
Eisley, Jaikka, on top: Gideon, Isaac, Chandler, Ashton, below: Riley, Ryanne, Hannah and Nathan.
We had 10 out of 14 in attendance. We missed Kyleigh, Mason, Aydan, and Dillon.
Shayla, Riley and Ryanne on cleanup duty after breakfast
Each evening, the kids drew jobs for the next day. This is our clean-up crew for the first morning.
Two kids were on prep am, two on cleanup am, one on lunch prep and one on lunch cleanup with 2 on dinner prep and two on dinner cleanup. They really seemed to enjoy being part of the helping hands to make our meals go smoothly and were always anxious to draw their new assignments each evening. We are so proud of our grandchildren and the way they help and encourage each other and us.
After breakfast we loaded up and headed to Lake Cascade, which was about a half mile from the cabin. We rented 2 kayaks and a paddle board.
It wasn't super hot until the sun came out from behind some clouds, then it was beautiful.
Debbie and Lon watching the kids.
Debbie, Tracy, Shayla, Sarah and Eisley, Mindi, Nancy and Lon
Lon, Tracy, Shayla and Ginger soon left for a quick golf round.
Isaac, Chandler, Ashton and Gideon
Mindi was very good on the paddle board.
Justin and Mindi
Eisley, Isaac, Gideon and Ashton
Chandler, Hannah and Jaikka
Riley and Ryanne
Ryanne, Hannah and Jaikka
Gideon, Sarah and Eisley
Eisley, Riley and Ryanne and Isaac
Ryanne on the body board with Justin and Mindi in the kayak
Ashton and Gideon
Fun with cousins
Bottom row: Chandler, Jaikka and Hannah
Middle row: Isaac and Ryanne
Top row: Ashton
The kids took turns and had a wonderful time playing in the water all morning. We returned to the cabin for lunch and the golfers came home to regroup
Tracy and Lon took Ashton, Chandler and Gideon golfing.
The rest of the bunch hung out at the cabin playing card games and the arcade games.
Our first day was wonderful and everyone had a great time. Justin E. arrived just in time to help cook hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner.
The morning of the 14th, after a great breakfast, everyone except Lon, Tracy, Justin E and I went on a hike to Blue Lake. I was exhausted and stayed at the cabin to rest up for the afternoon's activities. While there I saw a deer walk through the neighborhood.
We saw some deer each day that we were there.
Lon and Tracy took the 4-wheelers out and enjoyed a nice ride. Justin E. took the morning to unwind from a hectic week at work.
The hike to Blue Lake:
The hike was a bit more difficult than they had expected but it was worth it because it was beautiful!
Eisley and Nathan
Sisters: Shayla, Ginger and Mindi
Ginger, Debbie and Jaikka
The snow still on the ground, the hike was up hill
Hannah, Ryanne and Jaikka
Blue Lake
Only the very brave, or the crazy?, took a dip in the COLD water.
Gideon and Ashton
Gideon jumping in
Isaac and Nathan
Chandler jumping in
Chandler
The hiking group got home just as my movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" ended and we fixed a nice lunch. The 4-wheelers arrived in time to eat too. At about 3:00 the golfers headed to Jug Mountain to play 18 holes. Lon, Tracy, Ginger, Shayla and Justin E. played this course which is described as a ball hog and a very slow course. They were wishing that they had only played 9 holes by the time they got home about 9.
The rest of us loaded up and headed to Kelly's White Water Park for some river rafting on the Payette River. It was not exactly what we had thought that it was, and it took about an hour to discover the right channel to float and the last hour was fun.
The rocks between the two channels of the river
Everyone started to float down the right side that we were told to float and we soon had scratches and bruises from trying to get out of the river and onto the bank to return upstream
We decided to try the other side and found out that it was much easier to get out of the water and return to float again. Mindi and Eisley.
You did have to be careful and not get into the wrong currant and be swept downstream. It was a longer walk back but the fun really began on this side.
You can see the two sides of the River. We were told to stay to the right when the safer and funner runs were to the left. On the last run down, poor Gideon got pushed into the swift currant and ended up down stream and on the wrong side of the river and had a hike to get back to the top and float down again to get to the right side so he could get out of the water. It was scary and very hard for him but he has the courage and determination to handle tough situations. We were very proud of him for the way that he handled this situation. We left the river about 5:30 and headed to the cabin. Everyone was ready for ice cream.
We had a taco bar for dinner that night and everyone enjoyed it.
We loved the table. The cabin was so great!
The kids decided to show off their talents with a pyramid.
Eisley was just getting on when the base collapsed.
Our two Justin's
The kids loved playing card games together
Each morning we got up a little later, letting the kids sleep in a bit.
The first morning, Lon wore his Broncos shirt and fried bacon, getting it all over the shirt. Each morning there after, the shirt was worn by who ever was frying the bacon. Of course, Shayla had fried the bacon all morning til this time when Ginger took over to finish it up so Shayla could shower. Ginger got the credit cause as Sister Petersen always told us, it didn't happen if you didn't get a picture! Nathan was also on KP duty.
Chandler was on KP duty as well and started making Micky Mouse pancakes.
PICTURE TIME!!!!!!!
The grandkids who were able to attend.
Back Row: Jaikka, Hannah, Eisley, Ryanne, Riley
Front Row: Nathan, Chandler, Gideon, Ashton, Isaac
Shayla, Ryanne, Justin
Gideon, Riley
Ginger, Jaikka, Debbie
Sarah, Tracy, Chandler
Eisley, Ashton
Nathan, Isaac
Hannah, Mindi, Justin
Lon and Nancy
Our children, Shayla, Ginger, Tracy, Mindi
Tracy and Lon
Mindi, Shayla, Nancy, Ginger
Not a bad photo with 20 people actually looking good!
Sarah, Tracy, Debbie, Ginger, Jaikka, Hannah, Ryanne, Riley, Justin E
Justin P, Mindi, Nancy, Lon, Shayla
Chandler, Nathan, Eisley, Ashton, Gideon, Isaac
The Photo shoot took quite a while but once it was over it was time to head into McCall for some ice skating. We hurried and made a picnic lunch and headed to town.
Mindi, Sarah and Eisley
Mindi hadn't skated before so she hung to the wall for a while. Sarah and Eisley following behind
Riley took to skating very fast and Jaikka had taken lessons before. Ryanne quickly gained confidence.
Eisley liked Mom to push or pull her
Mindi, Isaac, Nathan and Hannah
Ashton just got tired
Isaac got confidence soon and Mindi trying to help Hannah
Isaac, Ashton, Gideon, Chandler
The girls were soon putting on performances for us.
Jaikka and Hannah
Riley, Ryanne, Hannah, Jaikka
Nathan had never skated before and needed more time than we had to get any confidence.
We went across the street to eat our picnic and watch the boats then people went their ways to do some shopping at the little shops in McCall.
We got home around 5 and sent the boys who wanted to fish off with instructions to be home no later than 6:30 so we could have our Italian Birthday Dinner and program. We played the left and right gift game and everyone opened an un-birthday present and enjoyed playing with the gag gifts.
Birthday cake and ice cream topped off our evening.
Saturday morning we got up and had a light breakfast and started getting ready to leave. Everyone helped to clean the cabin and get everything loaded. The time went by so fast. The reunion was a complete success and everyone had a wonderful time and will look forward to our next one in 2 years. Justin and Mindi headed to Kooskia, Idaho to visit with Justin's parents for a couple of days. Justin will fly home on Tuesday and Mindi and the kids will come to our house and then to Utah and then back to our house. Ginger and her family headed to Shayla's and Debbie will fly home on Monday and Ginger will head to our house then. We traveled with Tracy and Sarah and stopped at the flee market in Cascade before heading to Boise. We ended up on 2 different detours in Boise but finally headed for home. Tracy ended up with a flat tire on the trailer just as he entered Jerome so we stopped to help change the tire and then headed to Twin to help him unload. We got home about 6 and started to get things put away.
Gene and Norma VanWagoner have been staying at our house while we were at the reunion. Gene is the master of ceremonies at his class reunion. They came home around 9 and we visited til about 11 and finally crawled in bed.
Sunday morning we got up and made Gene and Norma a lunch to take with them. They headed to their class brunch about 9 and then headed for home. We didn't get to spend much time with them this trip but are glad that we could give them a bed while they were in town.
Monday morning we had Tracy's kids with us. I had to take Mom to the doctor so after the boys got done with their golf clinic, Lon took them to the garden to help him weed. They did a great job. Ginger and Jaikka and Ryanne and Gideon arrived around 3. Tuesday morning we served on our shift and then met Ginger, Jaikka and Ryanne and went to have lunch with Grandma Flor.
Ginger and Flor have always had a very special relationship. She fixed arepas for us.
Flor lives with Nene and Dennis and their two children.
Jaikka, Ginger, Flor, Amaya (Nene's daughter) and Nene
We had a wonderful visit. When we arrived home, Mindi and her family had arrived. That evening the girls and the kids all went out to visit with Grandma Reid.
Mindi, Grandma Reid, Ginger
Isaac, Gideon, Grandma Reid, Ryanne
Nathan, Jaikka, Hannah
Lon and I stayed home to get dinner started. We made creamed potatoes and peas with barbequed chicken and pork. We were just finishing our dinner when Tracy and Sarah and the family arrived. The only day that Lon has to take the boys fishing is on Wednesday morning before our afternoon shift so the boys all had to spend the night at our house so they could leave by 6am. We had 13 in the house for the night. We watched a movie "Miracles from Heaven" which was excellent and then put everyone to bed. The boys slept? in the little house and the girls all over the floor in the house. It was amazing how quiet the boys were when they got up to go fishing. Nathan chose to stay home as he would have to buy a license for the day and everyone else was young enough not to have to. George and Cooper went with them.
Gideon, Isaac, Ashton, Grandpa, Chandler
The fishing trip was a success
These three were very serious fishermen and helped Grandpa fillet the fish and get them into the freezer. They all had a great time together and even stopped for an ice cream in Shoshone on their way home. The ice cream cones in Shoshone are huge!!!! Grandpa was a little tired that evening on our shift.
Ginger headed back to Boise to spend her last nights with Shayla and Justin and flew home Friday. Mindi and her kids headed to Utah to visit for 3 days with Justin's family. They came back on Sunday so we celebrated Hannah's 15th birthday with homemade pizza, cookie salad, and brownies. They headed to Boise on Monday to have lunch with Shayla and then headed for Georgia.
We spent the last week of the month regrouping after having family here for 2 weeks. We got the garden weeded again,
picked peas, canned 14 quarts of apple pie filling, did laundry, and went to our Ward Summer Outing. We only went over to Murtaugh Boy Scout Camp for the evening meal and program. It is just too hot to camp where there are no trees or hook-ups for the camper. A lot of the families with young children spent the night and played in the lake.
July has been a full month with family here. We sure enjoy having our children and grandchildren come to visit. We are so thankful for each of them. We are thankful for the sacrifices that each of them made to come and be with us at our reunion. We are thankful for the Plan of Happiness and that Families Can Be Together Forever!
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