July 26- August 3

Another hot week in Newton.  There are fires in the valley so the sky is hazy, the wind is very dry, and our eyes are itchy.   Last Sunday, we drove to Coalville to welcome cousin Matt home from Kansas.  It was fun to see him, and he said the Mexicans fed him well-- they said because he was a big guy he needed bigger portions. 

 Here are the boys with their Beck cousins that live in Taiwan during the school year.  Stephen, Tanner, Luke, Andrew, and Spencer all together. Spencer must be hoarding candy and trying to keep his pants up at the same time in this picture.

 This is the barley on my run one morning.  It smelled so sweet-- I couldn't get enough of it.  The picture doesn't do it justice, of course, but it was stunning.  I wanted to jump into it and roll all over-- but then I would have barley heads stuck in my underwear, and that would hurt.

 Time to get the steers used to a bath every day.  Laura Lee is combing her favorite part of the steer first, the rump roast.

 Luke and I went to Webelos Day camp this week.  We drove through Ogden Canyon to Camp Kiesel.  We all met at the church, where one of the dads noticed that my tire on the suburban was really low.  I hurried home and switched cars.  Rich said the tire went completely flat not long after we left.  I don't know what popped my tired between my house and the church-- but thankfully we had the truck. We had to leave at 6 am sharp.  The boys were great, and I had lots of fun.  My assistant is a 76 year old spunky lady aptly named "Joy".  She was hilarious to be with.  She didn't put up with any crap, but she loved laughing at the boys antics.  She is the perfect partner to have.  One of the dads came along to help-- because well, when you are a 76 year old lady it is hard to jump in a boat with 8 little boys.  (It's hard when you are 42 as well!!!)

We decided to take a short cut over the Avon pass.  I ran over that pass during Ragnar one year, so I know it is a pretty primitive road.  We thought that it would cut off some time because it heads straight into Cache Valley instead of going the long way around through Ogden.  We started up the pass, and unfortunately it was very rugged, much more than before because of the water that washed out the roads so much this spring.  It was so bouncy that about halfway up the mountain the boys in both trucks were screaming to get out to pee.  We stopped and they all got out to do their business.  Of course, there is always "one of those kids" and he happened to be in our truck.  He was taking forever to pee.  I think that he just gets so distracted he forgets what he is supposed to be doing.  He was standing....it looked like he was relieving himself, but he was looking off into the clouds.  Finally, the dad driving the other truck hollered at him, "Get a move on!! We are all waiting for you!" It surprised the kid so much he lost control of his hose and peed all over his hands.  Luke and Landon were freaking out in the back of the truck when they saw that.  The kid wiped his hands all over his shirt.  I got Luke and Landon calmed down, the kid back in the truck, and we headed back over the pass.  It took forever, and the boys started to lose faith we would make it.  They didn't believe us anymore that it was a "short cut".  The "one kid" started to pray out loud in a very loud voice "Heavenly Father-- please get us back home safely.  Please help us not be lost!!"  Landon was getting carsick, and Luke was extremely displeased with his mother's driving.  Joy told them all to buck up, and we'd be there soon enough.  We finally made it into Avon then headed home.  It ended up being 30 minutes longer than if we had gone the other way.  Not bad, I say.

 Luke and his buddy Landon.  

 Luke learning a little archery. 

 Yesterday, I took the kids and we headed to Bear Lake once again, this time to see Juanito Bandito at Pickleville Playhouse.  He's started a craze up here in Cache Valley with his new type of melodrama-- a rapping Mexican Bandit with two dumb sidekicks.  The kids got a kick out of the whole thing.  My favorite joke was at the very end when he reminded the audience in his Mexican accent to go and see the other play "Chrek" (Shrek).  (Say this with a Mexican accent) He said, "Be sure to see the other musical we have, 'Chrek'.  Now don't be confused, this is not a musical about sending your kids to Wyoming in pioneer clothes to pull handcarts...."  Funny because I imagined the whole Trek experience being made into a musical, and well... that just wouldn't work.  Musicals are supposed to be happy and fun, with some trivial trials about romance thrown in.  And as we all know, that is not Trek.

Sammy with her teacher, Slater, again.  He was the handsome local sheriff this time instead of the cross-dressing wolf.

 Some more of the characters in the play-- they were all fabulous. 

As soon as we returned, more steer washing. 

 More steer walking. 

Steer standing. 

 And back to moving pipe.  This is LL flopped on the grass waiting for the pipe truck to come and pick her up. 

This coming week is the Cache County Fair.  Wish us luck!