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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Oh say can you see...




We escaped the normal routine around here and went to Franklin for the holiday. We haven't left town on a weekend for seven months. It was great to see everyone and enjoy the beautiful summer weather. For anyone who doesn't know, Franklin is just north of Logan in the beautiful cache valley mountains.

We went up to Franklin Basin to spend the day with Jotham and Jamie and their family.


Dallin and Landon built a giant fort complete with fortifications and a stash of every pine cone that could be confiscated within twenty yards.




Benson thought it was awesome, however, his brothers' fortifications did not protect him from the swarms of mosquitoes. We stopped counting at around forty on his head.


Altogether we were well over 200 bites between all of us. Jenna had a swollen eye too. And I sprayed everyone several times. I have been looking for an excuse to have a sick day--maybe a little West Nile Virus? :)


We rode the 4-wheelers and ate tons of marshmallows, (Hannah is sure Benson got so many mosquito bites because he 'ate four marshmallows at a time'--is that possible?) we played hide and seek and sardines and had pine cone fights (thus the fort...).


Dallin and Landon started their horsemanship merit badge with Darren (who is a Silver Beaver Scout). Here's a bit of Dallin (and a few seconds of Landon) on one of Darren's beautiful Arabian horses---



We had our own fireworks display with no burns or other injuries of note. The favorite was the "flash dance" fountains. Dallin and Landon quickly had everyone acting out battle scenes in slow motion with the strobe effect. Very fun.

Of course the fun ended quickly when we came home Sunday night to find three rooms flooded in the basement. This is the fourth flood and I have to admit it brought me completely to tears. Sometimes it feels like I am on my own during the week. It seems like just about every night brings something that takes Rustin's time either at the church, on the phone or at home. It hasn't been as busy the last few weeks or so but I am still trying to figure out how to cope with everything.

The missionaries had tried to move the carpet out. (this time the sprinklers were the culprit--watering for 120 minutes total instead of 10 minutes total--courtesy of the lawn guys that laid the new sod. woops...) We called in some great friends and our awesome boys, and once again drug all the carpet out and vacuumed out the floors. We discovered the root of the problem in the window wells this time; a cut through the walls (from when the windows were put in) and no gravel for drainage. So the boys will get to do some digging this next week.

The kids are still busy with swimming everyday and I have more projects than time or money. We are happy and healthy though. And growing more and more everyday.

3 comments:

jlohran said...

Your trip looks like fun! Sorry to hear about your flood that is the worst! Did you ever come up with star wars week? If so please share because I would love to steal it-- like that you do all the work and I use it! BTW great job on all your projects-- WOW! You are amazing!

VicandNanc said...

I must have missed your last post (your projects), but it was much more fun to see in person first :) I just can't believe all the mosquito bites!!! I am SO glad that I wasn't there as they seem to love my scent or something & itchy bumps make even sitting on the beach miserable for me. You guys are troopers!

Katie E. said...

It looks like so much fun! I wish I could go camping any time soon, too busy!