Libby's Giveaway

A blog that I follow, and love is giving away a picnic basket and Libby's vegetables to one lucky winner. All you have to do is post a comment and you are entered to win. Be sure to check out this offer and all the other cool things on The Thrify Home.

Cool Boredom Buster

While waiting at the doctor's office for over an hour, I got to study the two issues of "Family Fun" magazine that they had. One of the ideas that I read about actually came in handy this afternoon when the kids were complaining of being bored and it being too hot outside. These bubble snakes are incredibly easy to do and kids of any age can manage it quite well.

What you need:
Empty plastic water bottle
Washcloth ("Family Fun" said to cut a circle out of a towel, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice a towel)
Rubber bands
Dish soap

What you do:
Cut the bottom off of the plastic water bottle. Secure the washcloth over the bottom of the bottle with rubberbands. Dip the bottle with washcloth into water and then into a shallow dish of soap. Blow from the top of the bottle and make nice foamy snakes. The slower and more evenly you blow, the more compact the snake will be. If using a washcloth, just be sure to hold the excess out of the way of the bubbles. This was such an easy thing to do (an adult should cut the bottle) and the kids could do it all on their own.

Just thought I'd pass this on. Here's the link to "Family Fun" and their "Foamerator".

Lake Almanor

Our road trip to California got off to a rough start. We were all loaded up, buckled in, cartop carrier strapped on top, and the van wouldn't start. We pushed it out of the garage and tried to jump it, but no go. After wiggling battery connections, cleaning battery connections, and another jump start, the van finally started up. Not wanting to deal with battery issues across Nevada, we decided to just buy a whole new battery. Once on the road we had no other issues - thank goodness. Here are a few (well, more than a few) pictures from the fun we had at Lake Almanor:


On the 4th of July we played games on the lawn and had a great barbecue (hence the smoke in the background). That night we watched fireworks from the dock out on the lake - not bad.

This is the view right from the lounge chair on the deck. Not a bad way to spend a vacation - eh? The water was literally 90 steps from the back deck (yes, I counted).

There was a fair amount of this going on:

A deer came to visit, reminding us that we were "out in the wild".

What would a home in the mountains be without a hammock?

Oh, and we did manage to have some active fun, too. (Leon & Steph holding on for dear life.)

The boys could have spent the whole time on the Jet Ski. I think the big boys did, at least.

The women did a whole lot of this - snacking and sun catching on the "beach".

Dallin wanted to learn to water ski and even got up on his second try - way to go!

Dallin also learned how to knee board!

Every trip to California ends with the traditional "couch picture." (Landon was asleep and had no clue this even happened.)

Lake Almanor is truly a beautiful place and we are vey grateful for the Bonino family and thier willingness to share the week with us. We couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the 4th of July.

The first video is a panaramic view from the edge of the dock. The second video is Dallin's second attempt at waterskiing. I think we were all shocked to see him actually get out of the water.

What We Did at Lake Almanor

Relaxed on the beach
Played in the water
Went Jet Skiing
Ate a lot of good food
Went to church at a Branch among the pine trees
Played card games
Kids played the Wii
Adults played the Wii until late
Kids did crafts
Marisa showed her Henna skills
Geocaching - found 2 fun ones
Geocaching on the boat - never found it - water too rough
One person got seasick from the rough water
Went running in the cool mornings - lots of hills - shwew
Walked to "The Point" and back with the ladies
Scooter rides to the park
Dallin learned how to knee board
Dallin got up on two skis
Steph went skiing twice
Leon tried knee boarding - not as easy as it looks
Everyone got towed on the tube behind the boat
A few people got the "Goat Bloat" as Russ put it - not fun
Stayed up late and talked
Slept late - relatively
Played relay races on the 4th of July
Watched fireworks from the dock
Launched a 7 foot water rocket

Went into "town" for a short shopping trip
Played "Jail Keeper" outside at night
Played in the sand - red lava sand
Watched "Mama Mia" - good music
Had a great time hanging out and visiting with friends and family

June Catch Up

Get ready for a VERY random post:

Cameron's First Loose Tooth:

First of all, Cameron lost his FIRST tooth at the age of 7 - later than most of his friends and cousins. After being loose for a couple of days, he finally couldn't take it anymore and asked Dad to pull it out. That's also a FIRST for us since usually it's Dad holding the kid down, not being asked to pull the tooth. Cameron is a trooper. (Sorry for the blood, those of you who are squeemish.)

Dallin's 12th Birthday:

The 12th of June was Dallin's 12th birthday! We had the pleaure of having Uncle Bruce come stay with us for a couple of days after a business trip. We met him in Salt Lake and took the family to "The Mayan" for dinner. Dallin said, "I can't believe we are at the Mayan for my birthday!" We did have a good time.

We came home and celebrated with cake and presents.

Cabela's:

The next day we all went to Cabela's to look around . We got there just in time for the feeding of the bass tank. Little did we know that they would be feeding the bass goldfish. Those poor little fishies.

The boys got to "shoot" at the arcade.

Orem Summerfest:
That night was Orem Summerfest, so we met the Knowltons at the parade (Gavan and Andy were very charitable and generous to share their parade spot with us - I felt like a big-time moocher showing up right as the parade was to start and just plunking ourselves down.) We enjoyed a rain-free parade, endured an hour-long downpour, then enjoyed the rain-free fireworks that were amazing, as usual. The kids entertained themselves and all the passerbys with glow sticks and their own version of the coolio Hula. Hmm.

Video of the kids' glow stick "Hula".