Ordinary Day

Today is July 20th, an ordinary summer day. I've had days where the kids are bored or fight or scheduled too much but today I captured the magic of summer. There was no holiday, vacation, or big excursion planned. I had lots of little to-do’s but I wanted it to be a good day. So I decided that it would indeed be … a good day. And it was.

Walker Blueberry Farm

Today, we splendidly enjoyed ourselves over at Walker Farms in Ravenna, TX. It took us about 45 minutes to drive there but definitely worth the drive. It was sweltering hot but we all wanted to pick our own blueberries. The kids started off so excited with a bucket in hand. Rachel had a bucket too. Nathan was extremely picky and looked for the sweetest, plump berries.

The farm is gorgeous and they make it very easy for the pickers. All of the people were friendly. We picked 1 1/2 gallons of small but sweet blueberries and couldn't have been more pleased!

Allan and Joshua went strong to the end and picked the most berries. One of the highlights of the trip for the kids was seeing a vulture eating a dead armadillo at the roadside.

After the hard work, we headed to QT for slurpees. Now it is time to start cooking. I can't wait to eat a blueberry pie and muffins.

Freedom Festival Parade

Jacob's extended family always gets together to watch the parade together. Every year we try to negoiate, bribe, find someone to take a turn, or pay someone to reserve prime spots. This year, Charlie, Allison, and Bonnie arrived at 5:30 Monday morning and found an empty spot at the entrance on the bank on the east side of the street. It was perfect! Thanks guys for sacrificing some sleep. We had some trees that provided shade and a spot big enough for all of the family.

It was great to hear all of the high school marching bands, see huge balloons, and many different floats. The excitement to see the Provo missionaries was contagious.

All of my kids loved every minute that they spent with their cousins. We miss them!

This year surprisingly only Hyrum ran in the race. Every other family took a year off, but I think next year will be huge. On another note, Allan is dangerous with snaps. He has a good arm and I deprived him this year. He still found a few in the streets to throw at people who pass by. After the fun parade, we left beautiful Utah for home. The drive is difficult but the kids do not complain much. It will be good to get back to normal life.

Rock Climbing

Kevin started rock climbing while in high school and we planned a time to have him teach the kids. Allan and Nathan were especially excited for this activity.

After a short hike up Rock Canyon, we stopped at a point by the green gate. Kevin gave some basic instruction and all of the kids had a turn to try.

This was Nathan's first time rock climbing and he did great! No fear and he maneuvered himself up quite high, almost to the top.

Allan also did amazing and made it to the top.

Joshua is cautious by nature but was excited for his turn to climb.

He used tight spot to advantage to get some height.

He was able to make to the ledge.

Emily, Eliza, and Norah had fun exploring together.

Rachel enjoyed it as well. She spent some time with Jacob throwing rocks in the river.

Thanks Uncle Kevin! The Rock Climbing was one of the best parts of our vacation. Allan, Nathan, and Joshua loved it and want to do it every year.

4th of July

Independence Day is big time stuff in the Keith Family. My kids always look forward to the annual tradition of Grandpa's party with homemade ice cream. This year the Thompsons grilled hot dogs, sausage, hamburgers, steak and salmon. The steak and salmon were delicious. I also love all of the tasty side dishes brought by everyone. The ice cream flavors were root beer, chocolate and my favorite, mango. This year I bought a waffle cone maker and improved the recipe with the help of Hyrum. We dipped them in chocolate. Nathan and Joshua helped Hyrum make a ton of cones while Allan loved making the bowls. We even made a few blue ones that were actually more turquoise but a favorite by the kids.

We had a great time visiting and eating and watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks. Kevin was surrounded by boys for a couple hours while they lit fireworks for the family.

BYU

With some free time, we headed to BYU to see Grandpa Keith at his office at BYU. The kids loved looking at all the fun things he had in his office that he had from his travels.

BYU is a beautiful campus. I have fun memories going to school here. After visiting the campus, all of my kids want to go here.

With Maddie in town for the month, it was fun to have her accompany us on a lot of adventures during our vacation. We missed you Mark, Katie, and Ellie.

Thanks to Allison who came along and met me at the Eyring building to see many different experiments. We also visited the BYU bookstore and ended at the BYU creamery. BYU has some of the best ice cream in Utah.

Uintas

With all of the family, we planned a visit up to the Uintas to see Grandpa's calcite mine. We've been told it is a beautiful area that started with a small hole but it is much larger now that they have excavated portions of rock. To get to the mine, it requires some off road adventure up a dirt road. It started to rain right before we reached our destination and the dirt road we were driving on became muddy and slippery. It was too dangerous to continue and we didn't want to risk someone getting stuck.

On the way back, we stopped at a campsite to let the kids play and explore and to cook. A large portion of the group explored a mountain and hiked to the top. The kids had a small snowball fight.

We had some delicious dutch oven cooking by Melissa. It was chicken, potatoes, bell peppers, bacon, and cheese and a peach cobbler.

The drive was beautiful. The mountain slopes were covered with varieties of pine trees and aspen. It was peaceful. From our off roading adventure, we woke up to a flat tire that prevented our attendance at the hot air balloons the next morning. Thanks to Andrea and Allison who brought Allan, Nathan, and Emily. And thanks also to Charlie who helped Jacob change our flat tire to a spare. From that experience, Jacob gave an older brother approval of Bonnie's boyfriend.