Washington Again

We were lucky enough to be invited by my parents to go with them back up to Washington after our family reunion.  We had a day to clean up after camping, get some laundry done and repack our clothes before taking off again with them.  The kids were very excited to hear that we weren't making the trip in one day this time like we normally do.  We stopped at a hotel early enough that the kids were able to play for awhile in the pool.  We checked in and the kids ran immediately to the balcony to check things out.

This is our amazing view and the kids couldn't wait to get in.

I wasn't feeling very well, so Bump took them out while I watched from our room.

They were a little tired by the time they were finished and had no problem going to sleep.  Especially since after they swam Bump found a little pond out by our car and helped the kids to catch a frog.  What an adventure!

We got to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Friday night and spent the day on Saturday packing up and getting ready to leave for a week in Eastern Washington after church on Sunday.  We all helped around the yard and any way we could to get Grandma and Grandpa Dickson ready to go.

 I helped Grandpa Wright mow the yard.  Boy that's a job!  Big yards are beautiful, but it sure takes awhile to mow all that lawn!

Sunday morning we attended the other ward at 9:00 and then headed out the door for Lake Palmer.  The drive through the North Cascades was beautiful.  We stopped for lunch at these beautiful falls.  The pictures don't show how far these falls go down below where we were standing.  That was a really deep gorge we were standing over!

 Bump, the kids and Uncle Lynn

Grandma and Grandpa Dickson 

 Grandpa Wright

These following pictures were taken on our drive through the orchards in Eastern Washington.  We kept seeing these orchards covered with something and couldn't tell what we were looking at at first.  As we got closer we realized that they were huge nets covering cherry orchards that were just about ready for picking.  Obviously they were to keep the birds from stealing the cherries.  What a huge job to cover orchard after orchard with nets!!

Our first view of Lake Palmer.  It was bigger than I thought it would be and absolutely beautiful!

 Sitting on the dock ready for our vacation to really begin. . .

Manti Pageant and Family Reunion

At the end of June we decided to have a Wright family reunion.  Tracy booked a camp ground up Ephraim canyon and we planned to invite everyone to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti.  When she booked it we just decided that whoever wanted to come could come and we wouldn't pressure anyone to be there.

We had a great time.  My parents came down from Washington, Jamie and her whole family came, Lee and his family came on Sunday night (they just got back from Trek), Tracy and Conner came (Steve came part of the time) and Jared and his family came.  Dave was planning on coming with his family but had some work stuff come up.  Thad and Tera were a bit too far to make it this time.

My brother-in-law, Marty, took advantage of being in Utah and invited a few of his siblings to come as well and spend time together.  We wondered at first where we were going to park everyone's vehicles, etc.  But it all worked out perfectly and we had a great time together.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon to set up camp and then left to go see the pageant.  We took a lot of pictures and had fun just catching up and enjoying the view of the temple as we waited for it to get dark.

My family

Sage and Zack's baby Evelyn

Sage and Zack 

(I tried to get him to take off that nasty hat, but he wouldn't)

Conner and Tracy (with Grandpa behind them)

Grandma and Grandpa Wright

Corban and Quincy with some cast members

Gabby with more cast members

Me, Jamie and Tracy

Grandma taking pictures

Me and Bump

Tracy, Me, Jamie and Grandma

The pageant was exactly as I remembered it from when I went growing up.  The kids were wide eyed and loved every second of it.  I am really glad that we got to take them.

The campout was really fun.  I didn't take a lot of pictures.  But at least I got a few.  The kids explored and played by the little lake.  It was beautiful even if it was a bit smelly on one end.  There was a bit of winter kill and some dead fish and mud made things a little stinky.  We didn't have a lot of scheduled activities like we had initially talked about it.  Mostly everyone just did their own thing and enjoyed each other's company.

Zack and Marcus throwing axes into logs

Quincy taking a nap

Casi, Jared and Tracy

Conner and Bump with technology, of course

Grandpa brought up his painting supplies and did some beautiful paintings and drawings

Monday it finally rained and got a bit chilly just in time for our talent show.  We gathered under the pine trees and had a great time!

Quincy sang as Grandpa played his harmonica

Corb had a great view of the show

I stole the last 2 pictures from Marty's facebook.  We had so much fun together just doing nothing and being with each other.  Our family is great and any excuse we have to get together we are going to do it.  I think that we started a fun tradition.  Where will we camp next year?  :)

Working Even When You're Not

 Bump lost his job at the end of May so everyone has been trying to keep him busy with projects.  First we were able to fix up our mess of a sprinkler system.  It took a few tries and lots of youtube videos until we were able to figure the whole thing out.  We now have a fully automatic sprinkler system and for the parts and everything we needed it only cost us about $200.  What a nice thing that's been!

We raved so much about our sprinklers that Bump's dad decided that he needs an automatic sprinkler system for Father's Day.  So, we got to work and put in a new sprinkler system for him.  I planned it out and Bump did the grunt work.  Thank heavens for a trencher!  I couldn't believe how many bricks and roots that think cut through and dug up!  It saved us so much time and energy.

Once we had the pipes all put together and the sprinkler heads in place the rest of the troops arrived (Tyler, Wes, Parley, JT, Jen, Conner and Keaton).  We blew out the system and adjusted sprinkler heads then everyone helped to bury the pipes and clean up the big mess we made.  The system works perfectly and their yard looks so good this summer!  No more pulling around hoses and worrying about turning on and off the system.  The lawn now takes care of itself, well the watering of it at least.

During that same period of time we helped Jared finish up a project for Lee.  One Saturday we helped pour a cement slab out by their barn.  Then another weekend we helped build the roof over the patio and shingle it to match the barn shingles.  I forgot to get an after picture, but it sure looked good when it was all finished.  What a hot job shingling is!  Conner and Dallin were awesome helpers!  Jared does good work!!

The big projects are done!  Now it's time to find a job!!