More Lake Fun

Kirt and Garret went out to the lake on Friday afternoon and went 4 wheeling and jet skiing.  Then they helped Jon with the deck. I had to work day shift on Friday and wasn't done until 8pm so I decided to just go home and sleep and go out in the morning.  (Katie had left for EFY). Saturday I rode out with Jon and we worked on the deck.  Kirt and Garret went on a bike ride and then came and helped us with the deck. Then in the late afternoon we went wake surfing. (Jon didn't want to come because he hurt his shoulder.)

Kirt and Garret had to move this tree out of the way so they could 4 wheel

 Riding the jet ski

 It got cold Friday night

 Mountain Biking.  Kirt crashed and cut up his knee pretty badly.

 Wake surfing!

 The water was cold even with a wet suit.  I may have made a really funny face when I got in.  Too bad they didn't get a picture of it.

 Garret was crazy.  He was body surfing with no board.  He could never catch the wave, but he still loved it.

Kirt's Basketball Camp

The kids are riding their bikes over to Kirt's office a few mornings a week and Kirt is helping them to improve their basketball skills.  Kirt is an awesome coach!

Baptisms for the Dead

Katie and Garret did baptisms for the dead at the temple today.  Our ward is trying to make a "Ward in Heaven" and do all the temple work for 200 people by the end of the year.  People in our ward turned in names that need the work done for them and then everyone in the ward is supposed to help get those ordinances done for them.  

New Deck at the Lake

Jon is helping us to build a new deck at the lake.  The wood on the old one was rotting and people were starting to break through it. 

Here's the old deck. Monday June 24th, Jon and I met at Home Depot and bought all the stuff for the new deck and took it out to the lake.  Then we destroyed that old deck and I took it to the dump on Tuesday.  Jon went out Tuesday and Wednesday and started setting the blocks.  This is the hard part, getting them in the right place and making sure they are all the same height.

Saturday we worked on getting the rest of the blocks set and the boards cut and in place.  It was so much work.  We were all so sore and exhausted by the time we were done.

We finished the deck on the 4th of July.  Here is Garret putting the last tile on the deck.

 It turned out so good! We are going to love it.

Lake Fun

We went out to the lake. We did the yard work.  We finally got the jet ski fixed and brought it out with us so Kirt and I went a long ride around the lake and went up Brickel Creek.  Garret brought his friend Jaden Thompson and they had lots of fun on the water mat.  Katie took both of them over to the rope swing.  It was too cold for me to get in the water. The boys had to wear wet suits (Garret actually wore two.)

Garret's Adventure While We Were on Trek

Garret stayed with Jon and Michelle while we were on the trek.  He went to the U-High basketball camp each day.  He won the hot shot competition.  He had lots of fun.  Nixon went with him. On Monday, they came swimming at our house. Tuesday they floated down the Spokane River in tubes, got Dairy Queen, and played at the Pyper's house.  Wednesday they played badminton and went to Avengers Endgame. Thursday they went to Flying Squirrel a trampoline park.  Garret is going to want to stay with them all summer.

Basketball camp

Floating the Spokane River

Badmitton

 Avengers Movie

 Flying Squirrel

Trek 2019

We had a chance to go on a pioneer trek with the kids in our stake.  It gives them a chance to appreciate what their ancestor sacrificed for them and helps them appreciate all of the modern conviences that we have.  We went to Bing Canyon.  It is a church owned farm.  We went from Monday-Thursday.  We got the the church Monday morning at 6:30am, had a short devotional, met our trek family (Kirt and I were ma and pa to 8 kids) and got on the bus and rode 4 hours to the site.  We hiked 5 miles.  At the end of the 5 miles was a really steep hill that is supposed to represent Rocky Ridge.  We had to pull each wagon up individually will ropes.  When we got the top of the rope pull, we set up camp.  We played pioneer games and visited.  In the evening we had a family devotional.  This was one of my favorite parts.  The theme for the trek was "On the Covenant Path" and we talked with the kids each night about making and keeping covenants.  Tuesday we hiked about 7 miles.  Monday and Tuesday were really hot, but thankfully there was a breeze.  Wednesday we hiked 5 miles.  We had the women's pull this day.  The women pull the carts up a big hill by themselves while the men stand by and watch.  This helps to teach the youth that women can do hard things, and that men should never be in a place where they are unworthy or unable to help the women in their lives.  It was really hard.  I didn't think we were going to make it up the hill, but then a girl named Marie Ford who had already pushed her wagon to the top came back and helped us.  She truly was a angel sent to help us.  When we got to the top we sang the EFY Medley which was my favorite part of the whole trek.  Then we hiked a bit more.  We got to do the Sweet Water crossing (through the irriagtion ditch).  Then we got to Zion, a beautiful camp ground with grass and trees.  The kids had the afternoon to play lots of games and dance and visit.  Wednesday evening we had a testimony meeting.  Thursday we got up and packed up and came home and were home by 1pm.  It was a great experience and I am glad that I got a chance to go.

Kirt and I's trek family.  We were in the green company.  Wes Mortensen was our company captain. Our trek kids left to right: Baili Elber, Madi Duarte (big sister), Taylor Norman, Jarom Jorgensen, Brandon Zimmerman, Isaac Woolley (big brother), Kirt, me, Asher Dalton, Nicole Vernon

 We just got our handcart loaded and are ready to go

 Rocky Ridge rope pull

 We did our morning devotionals in companies led by our company captain Wes Mortensen

 Liam Carothers came home from his mission in Santiago Chile on Tuesday and wanted to see his sister who was on trek and get released so he came up to the trek (all of the members of the stake presidency were on the trek).  He talked to the youth for a few minutes about his mission

 Liam was in our trek family 4 years ago, now he's a returned missionary

 It was super windy on Wednesday morning

 Our stake president President Byers

 Katie's family on pushing the cart on the women's pull

 My family on the women's pull

 They had these vignette (still scenes) to help us think about things in relation to the trek. This one represented the women who had to pull the handcarts alone and even sometimes pull their husbands in the carts.  (This was our stake president and his wife.)

 Isaac Woolley our big brother, was walking around without shoes and kicked a tent stake and gashed up his foot.  He had to have stitches.  Thankfully we had a podiatrist on trek, Brent Clark, who could fix him up.  Isaac was getting the numbing medicine put in his foot and he passed out for a second.  

Sleeping on the bus ride home. Everyone was exhausted.