July 9-21st
Mom and I went to Rigby HS production of Footloose. My niece Shae was SO GOOD. It was fun to have some quality time with Mom and Trisha.
You might be a redneck if piles of dirt make you excited. Dad hauled some dirt for us to fill in the borrowpit so it's not so steep from the road to our grass. It will really help when we mow the weeds there. He had helped us so much with projects around the house and his loader has been indespensable!
We have way more lettuce that we can eat and I forgot to give bags away to my siblings when they came to visit - dang!
We're playing in a summer volleyball league and I jammed my thumb BAD last week. I couldn't use it for about a full 24 hrs. It should be okay for this coming week but is still quite colorful and a bit painful.
I prepared for our 10 year reunion all week - one thing I wanted to do was make a welcome sign so I painted this one afternoon.
Trisha and Keaton came Thursday for our Beal gathering and Justin and I decided to build a 9-square "court" for the occasion. It was a low-key game to have around when 9 people felt like having some fun.
Friday Alex, Gabe, Mitzi, and Lance showed up. The afternoon wind was pretty bad but that night we were laughing around the campfire until our faces hurt.
Saturday morning we hiked to Hidden Mouth Cave with everyone. That hike was STEEP and Justin and I took turns hauling our children up the mountain. Phew!
Class reunion time! Nine of our 24 classmates came with their families. I made BBQ pork and everyone helped by bringing sides. We opened our time capsule - Keaton definitely had the most impressive things in his. He had an original newspaper from the day after 9/11, and a ton of his drawings from doodling during seminary/government. They were quite impressive. We got a kick out of revealing everyone's entries. I left a letter to myself which, upon reading it, felt exactly like a sermon from Mom about living the gospel and marrying the right person - I was apparently quite sanctimonious at 17. I also left a perfume my first boyfriend had given me, and a CD case full of my frequent tunes. Oh my....
Nine-square was a total hit! Everyone loved it. I finally made us stop so we could get a picture before the light was gone.
From left to right: Levi Northrup, Cameron King, Shayna Quick, Amanda McCurdy, Kelsey and Keaton Beal, Wyatt Traughber, Kelly Stevensen, Dallas Taylor, Jesika Haralson.
Everyone left Sunday except Keaton, so we got some bonus time with him Sunday night and Monday. We played the Farming Game for as much as our rambunctious offspring would allow and went for a bike ride. Monday we went to the swinging tree in the morning. Logan did it a couple of times but I couldn't talk Emmett into trying it.
Monday evening we went to Crater's for a picnic and to walk around Devil's Orchard. Indian Tunnel is still closed because of the stupid bats so rather than stay and explore with Keaton, we opted to go home and I weeded my garden.
Tuesday morning Keaton and Amanda headed to Preston to spend time with her parents before they head back to Illinois. I went over to Mom's with the boys so the kids could play together before they left. It was fun to have Keaton and Amanda to ourselves for a couple of days. I loved watching the kids play together.
The boys riding their balance bikes while Granny takes Violet for a drive.
This pictures makes me laugh...my kids are like..."wut...."
I think this is the best one we could get
Buh-bye cousins! Until next time.
