Extreme Blue Thunder

Grammy, Papa, Mark, Bailey and I spent the 24th of July at the Extreme Blue Thunder Air Show. It was absolutely AMAZING! We got there at 9:30 in the morning, and walked around to see all the planes, and other things they had on display. At 11:00 they had a fly by from a B-2 Stealth. Then at 12:00 the show got started. We sang the National Anthem as a guy jumped from a plane with the American Flag. The whole show was great. We saw some really cool things, but the best part by far was the Blue Angels. They practiced on Thur. and Fri., so we got to see them fly over our house, which made us super excited to see the show. They did not disappoint!

A Blue Angel jet.

Mark and Bailey in front of an Air Force plane.

Mark and Bailey in a helicopter.

Mark, Papa, and Bailey

The B-2 fly by. It seemed so thin, and so quiet.

Bailey was in the cockpit of a big Fed Ex plane.

The gunner's spot in the helicopter.

There were a lot of stunt fliers. They did some crazy things. Lots of times, it looked like they were going to crash. They would flip end over end toward the ground. It was kind of scary to watch.

This was the F-16. It was one of our favorites to watch. So fast, and so loud!

This was a husband and wife team. He flew the plane, and she was a wing walker. Crazy stuff! She was strapped to that pole coming off the top of the plane, and the plane would flip and spin and dive bomb. Then she would lay between the wings. Craziness!

This is Fat Albert. It's a huge plane that's part of the Blue Angel's team.

This is when the real fun began! The Blue Angels were AMAZING! They flew so close together, that you thought for sure they would touch. They could even spin around and stay in this formation. So cool to watch!

In this picture, two of the planes are flying upside down, and two are right side up. Remember that this is at hundreds of miles an hour.

They were flying so that their wings were overlapping!

They would fly in from opposite directions, and just when you thought they would hit each other, they would turn their wings and barely miss. It was crazy to watch...I kept covering my eyes! Then toward the end of the show, all six of them did this at the same time. So scary!

All six Blue Angels flying in formation.

Rigby Lake With the Dogs

We have never taken the dogs swimming in a lake, and we've wanted to for a long time. They have gone in the canal, and in little streams, but they've never had the chance to REALLY swim. We decided to take them up to Rigby Lake to see how they would do. They LOVED it!

Reeces would go after the sticks that we threw, and Oreo would just go after Reeces.

Reeces got the stick, but Oreo was in her way. She kept smacking Oreo in the back of the head with the stick. It was so funny!

Mark would throw the stick off the end of the dock, and Reeces would bound in after it. Oreo had no idea what to do. She would stand at the end of the dock, and then dive in the water head first, like a person would do. I didn't get a picture of it, but it was hilarious. She is so stupid!

Even with all the damage they've caused, and all the headaches they've given us, they are so much fun, and we love them a ton!

Boating

Mark, Sawyer, Ethan, Jeremiah, Keith, and cute Emmersyn took the Hughes' boat out for a day of fun. They went wake boarding and tubing at Blacktail Reservoir. Mark ended up with bruised ribs, they both got the wind knocked out of them, and they were both really sunburned, but they had TONS of fun! Mark and Sawyer haven't laughed that hard in a long time. They were cracking up when they were telling me about the tube rides. They caught some serious air a few times, and wiped out pretty good.

Sawyer can do a sideways flip on the tramp, so he wanted to try it going into the water. Ready...set....

Go! Hahaha, what a nut!

Sawyer, Mark, and Ethan in the tube.

Holding on for dear life.

Keith, Sawyer, Ethan, and Emmersyn taking a dip.

Ethan and Emmersyn. My whole family thinks Emmersyn is the cutest little thing EVER! She was the only girl there, but had tons of fun hanging out with all the boys.

Sawyer and Ethan

Thanks Hughes for such a great time! The boys can't wait to do it again!

Pine Basin Summer Camp

Bailey spent 5 days at Pine Basin Summer Camp. It's a camp for kids between 4th and 6th grades, and it's only offered to our school district. She had so much fun, and is already talking about going again next year.

They got divided into groups, and rotated between classes during the days. The classes were: water hike, nature hike, campfire cooking/fire education, wilderness survival/shelters, first aid, and Indians. She learned a ton, and made lots of new friends. They also had lots of free time to play in the creek, go exploring, and play games. They spent a day in Jackson Hole, where they watched a shoot out, and then went to the play, "Annie Get Your Gun." One night the counselors told scary stories in the lodge, and then took the kids on a night hike. They scared the heebie jeebies out of the kids. They had cans falling out of trees and everything. Then they taught them all about fear, and the effect it can have on a person. They taught them how to cope with fear, and by the end, the kids walked back to the lodge with all the flashlights off.

Bailey and Marlee with one of their favorite counselors, Camilla.

Bailey on the rope swing.

This is the Underwear Tree. If the campers leave stuff laying around, it gets hung in the Underwear Tree. If they want it back, they have to do a crazy squirrel dance. Bailey and Marlee were showing us that there was a leopard bra and pink underwear in the tree. It's a good way to get the kids to pick up after themselves. There was NO WAY Bailey was going to let any of her stuff get hung in the tree.

If you look closely at the top of the rock ridge in this picture, you'll see a red flag. The campers hiked up the mountain at the beginning of camp, and posted the flag. That's where it stayed all week long.

Thursday was parent's night. We learned what the kids had been doing all week. They did skits, and sang songs for us, and then showed us around camp.

This was Bailey's bunk. She shared with Marlee, and they had tons of fun together.

Girl's Camp: It's a Choice

I spent 4 days at Darby for Girl's Camp in July. Like always, it was tons of fun! The stake leaders picked super heroes for our theme this year. Our ward used Spider Man, and our motto was, "It's a Choice." We did a lot of really neat things based around that.

Katie, Payton, Makenna, Hailee

Gabby, Chloe, Madi, Reagyn, McKenzie, Katie

Sarah, Ali, McKenzie, Laura, Morgan, Katie

Madi, Katie, Emily, Lauryn

Katie was only up there for the first day, so she made sure she was in all the tent pictures.

We had a giant spider web in our camp with Spider Man hanging from it. We used the web for a cool unity activity. The girls had to get everyone from one side of the web to the other by going through the holes. They could not touch the sides, or they would be given a penalty (like being blind folded), and they could only use each hole twice. They had a lot of fun, and did a great job. There were a few scary moments, but luckily no one got dropped on their heads.

The girls getting McKenzie through the top.

They did it!

The Monument hike getting ready to leave. It was bright and early!

The Aspen Ridge hike getting ready to leave. This was a new hike we had to do, because there was too much snow to do the normal hikes.

We made a really cool human web with all the girls in the stake, and then sang to the stake leaders as a surprise. It was awesome!

The slide and teeter toters are a fun hang out place...especially for all these cute beehives.

First year girls

Second year girls

Third year girls

Fourth year girls

Brandy and Sammy were our fifth year girls, and our AWESOME youth leaders.

Chloe was our only sixth year girl.

I love my calling with the young women. They are all so fun to be around. Camp is such a great place to see all their personalities come out. Every year I leave camp, and I love them even more than I already did!

Freshman Track

My intention was to do this track post when the season ended at the end of the school year. But, right when school got out, we left for vacation, and then I forgot. So, better late than never.

Sawyer had a fun freshman track season. It was a little frustrating for us as parents, because most of their meets were far away, or they got rained out. I felt like the coaching was more serious in Jr. High, so that was frustrating too. Sawyer sprinted for Bonneville. He tried the 400 this year and did great at it. He only ran it a handful of times, but each time he did it, he improved a ton. I think that will be a great race for him next year. I also think he might try moving up to mid distance, which would be AWESOME! I didn't get very many pictures, because it was always to dang cold or windy. That's the joy of track in Idaho!

The 400

The 200

The 100

Sawyer ran the 100, 200, and 400. He also ran the sprint relays with the Freshman boys. Most of that team carried over from last year, and they were awesome. In the 4X200, no one was even close to them. That will make a great varsity relay team for Bonneville in a couple years. Way to go Sawyer!