Fun At The Lake

Alexa enjoyed some time just relaxing in the sun while at the lake. We went out with our neighbors on Saturday. We initially decided to not go because of rain and lightning. But by 11:30 or so, Sam called to say the weather looked much better. So we headed out and the day turned out great.


Derek proudly learned to waterski the last time we went out to the lake. Now he deems himself a "master" after sucessfully crossing the wake.


Conner loves to wakeboard. He was so proud the first time he got up last summer, now we can't get him to quit. When he gets up, he keeps going, and going, and going.


Cam loves to ride in the boat and swim, but just wasn't in the mood to try skiing this time. He did eat his fare amount though (Cookies, chips, sodas...all the healthy stuff). The last time we went to the lake, he actually got up for a bit on the skis and rode the tube. But when he's not in the mood, there is no changing his mind.


Sydney didn't get in the water too much on this trip. She just stayed in the boat, mostly riding up in the open bow, with her friend Savanna, letting the water splash up on them.


Steve actually witnessed Sandy waterski back in 1996. However, she has never attempted it since then. When she saw Marquessa wakeboarding, Sandy thought she'd give it a shot. She got up her very first try and check her out!


Steve hadn't even attempted wake surfing since he was about 16 or 17, so he gave it a shot and this is the result. He never could get quite enough balance to drop the rope all together. But he had fun nonetheless.

Summer Happenings

Our neighbors, the Aikele's, spent much of this month out of town. They hired Conner and Derek to mow the lawn and take care of the garden. It's good to see the kids learn some responsibility. Dad didn't even have to remind them to do it. He just went over and helped them get the mower started, then they did all the work.

We left the camera at home while we went up to the cabin in Pine Valley. However, the kids had fun fishing, hiking, and selling lemonade. Yep, the Terry Grandkids all decided that they wanted to save up for an X Box to keep at the cabin. Last year they had saved a chunk of change, so they added to it last Saturday. Briley and the boys made lemonade signs and Grandma baked cookies. They stood on the main road flagging cars down and selling their goods. All in all, they ended up earning over $40.00 in about an hour and a half. With the total cash bank, Grandma and Grandpa Terry drove Briley and Kaden to St. George and made the purchase. They picked up a refurbished X Box and a few games with their earnings. The new game system keeps the kids well entertained up there. The kids have even devised their own "play schedule."

Recovering From The Road

For the time being, we will not be loaded down in the ever shrinking mini-van. As a matter of fact, we may just stay home for a bit. Prior to coming home however, we decided to stay another night in Salt Lake with Steve's Uncle John and Aunt Gayle. We enjoyed dinner at Hire's with the Becker's, Tall's, Mom and Dad Reese, and of course John and Gayle. We also received the news that John has been called to serve as president of the Bismarck North Dakota Temple. We are excited for them as they venture back to the Dakota's for another 3 years.
After the constant "family time," we decided it was Sandy and Steve time. We farmed the kids out to family on Friday night and went on an actual date. For folks married with children, a date is when you go somewhere without the kids, but typically end up talking about them the whole time. The original plan was a nice dinner prior to seeing Phantom of the Opera at The Venetian. However, based on time restraints and traffic in Vegas, we scarfed down a roast beef sandwich (good nonetheless) at Quizno's. The show was very good, not to mention the alone time. Steve even managed to slip into Godiva Chocolates and spoil himself just prior to the show.
Sandy is working on food storage. She ordered another 3 month supply and is deciding on how to organize what we have and what it coming. She's also trying to figure out how to plan meals in case of an emergency. It's a never ending chore.
Alexa finally started rolling from her back to her stomach. She also mumbles a bit...mainly "dadda dadda dadda." She's also learned to sit up in the past week or two.
Derek and Conner are learning that the summer might be a long one when they fight and argue. The dicipline...pulling weeds for 30 minutes. In some cases though, a minor cat fight can be punished by sending them to their rooms to read for a half hour. "Wha wha wha...reading is boring..." Well, then quit fighting!!!
Sydney is getting much better at swimming. She's gone from no confidence in the water to over confidence. Steve has had to jump in and pull her to the side a few times when she realizes the exhaustion caused by extended episodes of treading water. She loves the water. Part of her daily routine is picking out which bathing suit she is in the mood to wear. "I want my pink Dora...no, I want my orange Dora...maybe I want Camo 'swimmin' suit."
Cam is done with the nasty anti-biotic, yeah! The swelling on the left side of the face has gone away, and he's a much happier boy without the twice a day fight of swallowing the "gross white stuff." He is certainly glad to be back to his bike and toys.

On The Go

After being home for just one day, we took off again on the 4th of July. We basically drove all day and arrived in Pocatello around 6:30 or so. What we thought was a minor ear ache for Cameron had swollen the side of his face by the time we got there. We were kind of worried, so decided to get him to a doctor. Luckily for us, we actually found a quick care open on a holiday in Pocatello. We walked in with Cameron about five minutes before closing time. As we suspected, Cam had a double ear infection. Doc couldn't exactly explain the swelling tho... So with an anti-biotic and a priesthood blessing, Cam is back in the full swing of things...just a bit of an attitude when it comes to medicine time.
When we got back to the hotel, the Howell family was hosting a barbeque prior to the fireworks. So many rarely seen family members were there and it was nice to catch up on life with many of them.
The city of Pocatello put on a surprisingly good fireworks show. We stayed up late watching them and by the time we got back to the room, the kids were out.
Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to McCammon to attend funeral services for Grandma Betty L. Howell. Grandma Howell was born August 2, 1924, and passed away June 24, 2008. She lived a very good life. It was during the eulogy by Renae Terry that we learned much about Grandma that we didn't know before. Old friends also described aspects of her life in the younger years. We are blessed to know that Grandma Howell is now enjoying the company of her beloved husband and daughter that preceded her in death. After the funeral and burial service, The McCammon Ward Relief Society provided friends and family a delicious luncheon.
We then took of and drove about another 90 miles to Rigby where Steve's sister Shauna lives with her family. It just so happened to be the same weekend that Sheri and Mike, Janice and Bill, Suzanne and her boys were also at Shauna's. We all found room to sleep and attended church with the Parkes.
Suzanne went home on Sunday night but the rest of us stayed and continued our fun with a trip down to Park City, Utah. We spoiled the kids with rides on the Alpine Slide, the Alpine Coaster, and the Zipline. That quickly drained the wallet, but everyone had a blast nonetheless. We also swam and enjoyed visiting with the Reese side of the family.

Summer Fun

Hopefully I will actually get around to adding pictures to the blog. However, since we don't do much "blogging," I've decided to write about what we have been up to for the past couple of weeks. Back on Saturday June 28th, we took off for Newport Beach where we stayed in a 7 bedroom beach house just two houses away from the sand. The kids had a great time with their cousins on the Terry side. Unfortunately, cousins Kaden and Preston, along with Uncle Jeremy, were not with us because they stayed home to play All Star Little League Baseball. They were missed, but Conner, Derek, Cameron, Sydney, and Alexa had a great time playing on the beach for 5 days strait with the rest of the Terry Cousins. Some of the highlights of the trip were eating ice cream, burring each other in the sand, catching crabs with Grandpa and Uncles Justin, playing Golf on the PlayStation, and going to watch an Angels baseball game.
As far as the baseball game goes, the only score by the Angels was a fifth inning single run homer by Mike Napoli. When the ball landed over the fence, fireworks erupted and our boys cheered for joy. What a treat! However, The Angels went on to lose 6 -1 against the Oakland A's. Derek was obviously ticked off but eventually regained composure when Mom told him to snap out of it. Furthermore, mom and dad were being cheap and made the family sit on the very top row on the right field side. Conner did get an Angels ball cap found by Grandpa Terry in the parking lot which coincidentally was labeled "Reese" on the inside (hopefully the other Reese boy didn't have lice...ahahah).
Overall, we loved our trip down to the beach. The weather was warm and sunny. Sandy had the opportunity to begin a summer novel and visit with her sisters, while dad zoned out listening to the Ipod. He did however, find time to get into the water and do some boogie boarding with the boys.
Sydney dazzled her family audience by performing several songs nightly including: Itzy Bitzy Spider, Popcorn Popping, The Turtle Song, 5 Little Speckled Frogs, I Am A Child of God, and Snap Fingers in a Z Formation (That's one you just have to see).
Alexa was good as ever, spending much of the time observing everyone else from her Bumbo Chair. She wore a tankini that caught the eye of other infants on the beach....haahha. Alexa was the 4th of the small babies occupying the beach house, along with cousins, Sophia, Abby, Coral, and Joshua.
Cameron was such a tease at the beach, he and cousin Talon were often caught tossing sand on everyone. We were surprised however, to see how quickly Cam became a boogie boarding junkie. Cam spends a lot of time trying to perfect certain skills. He also recently learned to "Ripstick."
Derek and Conner actually left for the beach house a day early to ride with Grandpa and Grandma. While en route to Newport, freeway traffic suddenly came to a stand still. Grandpa wasn't able to get to the brakes on time and rear ended a vehicle. The only injury was a minor one to Conner's lip. He hit the seat in front of him causing a fat, bloody lip. He quickly bounced back in time to have fun at the beach. The actual amount of damage to Grandpa's Suburban is still pending. Grandpa had to rent a car to complete the trip.
Our original plan was to head home on July 3rd, However, Grandma Terry still had much to do to plan for Grandmother Howell's funeral to be held in McCammon, Idaho on the 5th. So, we all agreed that it would be easiest on everyone to vacate the house on Wednesday evening (7/2) so that we could all get home and have a day in between our journey to Idaho. After leaving Newport shortly after 8pm Wednesday night, we arrived home in Logandale at about 2am Thursday morning and did chores all day long in preparation for the trip to Idaho Friday morning.