Saturday, July 25, 2009

Our week at Camp Elkanah

This last week we have had the pleasure to serve as staff at Kiids Camp 2009 at Camp Elkanah. We had a BLAST! Levi got to sneak in as a camper and Ben and Sam were there with us also. I was privilaged to serve as kitchen help in charge of the salad bar. It sounds easy, I know, but you have to understand we were serving roughly 300 people! And boy could those kids eat!! Norman got to be a cabin inspector. The kids were rewarded each day if their cabins were clean and up to par. He also helped out in a lot of other areas. God was so amazing and did some awesome things in kids' lives this week. We were able to grow relationships with several of the kids and leaders and Pastors. It was so neat getting to know more people. Highlights of our trip were the trips to the LaGrande swimming pool, the red hooded sweatshirt song that I now get to hear my boys sing at random during the day (Ben loves to sing it in the bathroom!) thanks to Pastor Dan!, the giant slip-n-slide! (Sam actually went down by himself several times!), and the many new games and songs we learned. Even though we returned home exausted, it was well worth it. Sam met a girl at camp. I know what you're thinking, he's only 2, right?? Well, you can't stop love at first sight! Sam met McKayla and loved her instantly. Now when he see's her picture on Facebook his face lights up and he says "My Tayla" Well, as it stands Sam is McKayla's main squeeze right now. Although she does not promise that she won't meet someone else and get married. But she has promised that Sam will always be her main squeeze. I love it! She is an awesome young lady and we are glad to call her part of our family. You can never have too much family, right? So I will have to post pictures of camp later because I didn't have my camera with me and will have to bum pictures from a friend. The pictures of Sam below are the only pictures I have of camp and these were taken by McKayla while she was playing with Sam on the playground. Can you see the love in his eyes??





Sunday, July 12, 2009

Pics from our 4th of July trip

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July weekend. I don't have many pictures of our activities because I didn't want to take my camera by the water. I hope you enjoy the ones I did get!



Somewhere between Omak and Tri-Cities


Between Coullee City and Soap Lake


The long road home




Sam getting tired of Levi and Ben invading his space!




The three amigos


The Grand Coullee Dam





Sam by The Grand Coullee Dam



Silly Ben by The Grand Coullee Dam


Spiderman Levi by The Grand Coullee Dam



The Soyster Family by The Grand Coullee Dam


Grand Coullee Dam


The Grand Coullee Dam



Why do these thing amaze boys??


The Grand Coullee Dam......again!



The back of my sister-in-law and one of her 5 yorkies

My hubby

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

From State to State

Boy do we have a lot going on!! I guess it kinda makes up for the winters being so slow. Well, first things first...Ben is scheduled for a Tonsilectomy and Adenoidectomy on July 15th. I am trying to reschedule so that Ben, Sam and I can participate in Kid's Camp on July 20th-24. If it can't be rescheduled then we are going to stay at home for his recovery time. That will be a big bummer for Ben, he was looking forward to Kid's Camp.
For the 4th of July weekend we took off for Omak, Wa to spend the holiday with Norman's family. His sister and brother in law has a home there. It's only 45 min from the Canadian border so you can imagine how long of a drive that was for us!! But it was worth it! They have a big pool that we got to swim in whenever we wanted and a big trampoline. We all had a great time. On Friday more of the family showed up so we ended up with 3 of his 4 sisters and their families. His mom and her friend. And his Ex-Stepmom. It was quite a crowd!! On Saturday we got everything loaded up and headed to the lake. Norman waterskiied for the first time in 25 years! He did pretty good! I went tubing for the first time. It was great until the tube decided to dive under water because it didn't have enough air in it. And then, silly me chose to get back on it to bring it in and of course it did the same thing again!! That time was scary because the swirl from the boat engine sucked me under water. But I made it out alive!! And I even went out again after we aired it up!! Levi and Ben went out on the tube with Norman. Benny thought it was a little scary but felt better after Norman put his arm around him. Levi LOVED it! He went out again with a couple of his cousins. He held on really good and wasn't scared at all! We ended the day at the park on the Indian Reservation in town. Washington + Indian Reservation = really cool fireworks!! The boys loved them! Then Sunday we spent relaxing and playing in the pool, resting up for our long trip back the next day. It was so much fun! I don't know why we don't get together more often as a family. It was great.
On the way home we stopped at the Grand Coullee Dam. I guess it is the eighth wonder of the world! It was really BIG!! The boys loved it! I have pictures but they are not on the computer yet.
So, there is still a bunch of stuff planned for this summer. Hopefully I can remember to keep up on my blogging it all!!