Cameron's Baptism

Cameron had been counting down the days to his baptism. It was a good day full of joy, family and friends. Cameron is such a sweet boy, the peacemaker in our home, and has a lot of love to give. (Sorry, kinda' sounds like a "Wednesday's Child", but Cameron IS a sweet kid - most of the time.) It's always touching for me to see Leon exercise his Priesthood to bless our family. I love the way the Gospel is centered around families and allows fathers and other family members to have a direct hand in ordinances like these.

After the baptism we had a backyard family barbecue - what fun!
Grandma and Grandpa came down again the next day for his confirmation. Cameron loved being the center of attention for two whole days - something a middle child doesn't get all that much.
Okay, so this picture just cracks me up! Uncle Jeff was so great to treck it all the way down from Logan, traffic and all. This picture was taken in the middle of a Nerf ambush - can you see the ammo flying?

Thanks, everyone, for helping make this a special day for Cameron.

Antelope Island

Our second day trip of Memorial Day weekend was to Antelope Island. Or, should I say 'Biting Gnat Island'? An electric sign at the entrance warned us "bugs bad on island." And, we were even a bit cocky as we ate our lunch with only a few bugs now and again.

We enjoyed checking out the ranch - roping kids,

walking through the oldest "Anglo-built" home in Utah still on its original foundation,
being stared down by "Causeway" the bison,
rummaging through an old workshop with tools Grandpa claims to have in HIS garage, too,
Uncle Jeff trying to convice the kids to touch the tail of the bison skin - ew,

and tromping around just for kicks. All without ANY bugs. But, little did we know...

The worst was yet to come. We stopped to hunt down a Geocache, which was quite a challenge without a GPS and only the satellite map. There are hundreds of rock formations and they all pretty much look alike. It wasn't until another Geocacher walked up with a GPS that we were able to find it. As we headed back to the cars, we noticed that our shirts were covered with tiny, black gnats, and that's where the itching began.

Our next stop was Buffalo Point - a short, but steep hike to the top of the point with many more rocks to climb. I made the mistake of telling my brother-in-law, Dave, that there was another Geocache somewhere on Buffalo Point. Now, Dave is one of those never-give-up kind of people, and he was off on a mission to find it. The men and older boys disappeared, and having enough of watching the younger boys climb rocks that made my stomach weak, I decided to head back down. My mom and sister, Natalie (who is 8 months pregnant) were waiting down by the cars - swatting gnats, and completely miserable. They were so happy to see me thinking that someone could let them into a car and get out of the gnats - no dice. I had no keys and no idea where the men and older boys went.

After who knows how long I, too, got fed up with the bugs and decided to hike it back up to the point to see if I could find the men with the keys. I plowed up the hill a second time and found Jeff on his own at the top. The rest of the men were off bush-wacking still trying to find the Geocache. By the time the men got back they were hot, tired, thirsty, and we were ALL bug bitten and SUPER itchy. Jayden was looking forward to playing in the salty water, but the bugs were just too much for everyone and we called it a day.

In fact, some of us are STILL itchy and it has been over a week since our adventure to "The Island." But, the way I look at it is - it will be a day they won't soon forget.

Goblin Valley

Goblin Valley is one of the neatest places in Utah. Well, within driving distance, anyway. The kids kept asking us why it was called "Goblin Valley" all the way there. Leon kept telling them just to wait and see. I think Landon somewhat believed that there were going to be actual goblins. We did a lot of climbing.
Jayden was set on finding a cave.
And, of course, Leon just had to be King of the Mountain.
What an interesting place to explore. Can't you just see all of the little "goblins" down there?

Let the Fun Begin

Since the boys only had to go to school for an hour and a half the last day, Leon took the day off of work and we made some fun. First, we went to an early showing of the new "Shrek" movie - kids liked it - Leon, not so much. Then, we got some lunch and went to a park for a picnic and a bit of playin' around.

The original park was a bit too croweded for kite flying, so we took our kites out to the soccer fields and had a blast flyin' 'em high. I got quite the workout running from kite to kite, keeping them all up in the air.

Jayden's kite was pretty much low-maintenance. Can ya' tell?

Last Day of School = Freedom!

I think the picture and video just about say it all:

School Dance Festival

Just about every school has a dance festival this time of year. This was our school's first year doing one, so I found it quite fun and entertaining. I'm sure I'll have another opinion 5 years from now when I've "been there, done that" many times over. But for now it was fun to watch the boys "shake their groove thing."

Jayden's grade did "The Hustle" from the 70's.

Cameron's grade did "The Twist" from the 50's.

I've been trying to upload video of the dances, but for some reason Jayden's "Hustle" won't upload. So, here's Cameron's "Twist" (too bad he was clear in the back row behind the girl in the green shirt). You'll just have to hum the music to "The Hustle" yourself (c'mon, I know you know it). It has only been stuck in my head for the last month. :)

Cam-Man's Birthday

Cameron turned the big '8' this month and celebrated in style at "Pirate Island" with his cousins.

Happy Birthday, Cam-Man!