"Had a bad day"

Today's adventure was a trip to Sparks Lake. It is a little smoky around here with all the smoke from the fires in California, hence the haze in the background.

The day started out well enough. We hiked around had some lunch and enjoyed being outside.

The kids had a lot of fun catching frogs. Most of them were little ones, but Ethan found this one huge toad. The kids hunted frogs for about 40 minutes before we had to leave to pick up Samantha at the HD museum at 4pm. We hurried the kids into the car so we could get back, grab a Slurpee and pick up Samantha on time.
When we got to 7-11 we all poured out of the van only to realize we forgot something at the lake...
The dog!!

(I took this picture just before we "abandoned" her)

In our haste everyone thought the dog was sitting on the other side of the van and didn't even think about it. We dropped off our friends and headed back up to the lake. When we got back up to the lake (about and hour and a half later) we asked some people who were chilling by the lake if they had seen her. Sure enough, they had seen her running around the area where we had been catching frogs when we had left her. Phew! She came a runnin' to us, and was very excited to see us. I was so glad our search for her lasted all of 2 minutes before we found her. It could have ended very differently. I have to admit, I wasn't that worried about her, as she isn't that adventurous of a dog and likes to be around people, so I thought she would probably still be around where there were people. So, I'm glad there were a lot of people around today and that she kept close.

Then tonight I had to go to the church for a temple recommend interview. I drove the 15-20min. over there, dropped off Samantha for YW, only to realize that in my rush to get out the door (since my trip to the lake had taken a bit longer than planned) I had forgot my temple recommend at home, so I had to go back home andgo back to the church with just enought time to have my interview, pick up Samantha and go back home.

Has anyone seen my brain? It seems to be on vacation!!

Merrily we float along

It's been pretty toasty around here since Friday, so Tuesday we decided to float the river.

Who's the sexy guy in the hat?

Happy Canada Day

What I LOVE about this video is that having lived in Western and Eastern Canada we have been able to see so many of the things on the video. I also love that when I listen to the anthem that the words come as easily to me in French as they do in English. I have been very fortunate to have lived and experienced so much of the country and blessed to have been brought up in a land of freedom that was bought for me by the lives of so many, to which I am especially grateful today.

I found this bit of Canadiana on Youtube. EVERY child in Canada has seen this at one time or another. Just a fun flashback for my Canadian friends :D

Mom! Mooom! Moooooooooom!

Today my kids reminded me of these seagulls in this clip

Except instead of saying "mine" my kids were competing shouting, "Mom! Mom! Mom!" (and I have to admit I felt every bit like the pelican! :D)

Does this happen at any one else's house?

Service, Swim, Supper, Stunning, Striking Saturday

Saturday started with a service project raking pine needles for a lady who has been out of town for a long time. We raked up 3 trailers full by the time I had to leave and came back for more. I couldn't believe how many pine needles there were!

Then we made the 2 hour trip to Eugene to go with our friends the Lewendowski's to "Splash." The kids had a GREAT time together at the wave pool and waterslide.

After swimming was a yummy pizza supper.

We stopped by this stunning waterfall on the way home!

We also got a cool lightning show on the way home.

Thanks to the Lewandowski's for another great day!!