Bennion Creek: Craft time a.k.a. Rocket Man

We all slept pretty well except for poor Rachel who froze and kept waking up all night long.  

I felt bad because the rest of us slept great.  

Saturday the ward fed us breakfast and then there was an activity for all-

Making Rockets!

Each family was supplied with an empty 2 liter bottle.  There was cardboard, duct tape and crayons available to create your wings and make it unique.

The kids all got involved with coloring...

or cutting...

or taping...

Jacob, Carly and Rachel have all made rockets at the junior high so they took over wing design.

It was fun and I was proud of them for all working together

without fighting... (much)

The finished product

was then hooked up to a launcher that Mark had spent hours making.

He scoured the internet for how to videos and then took me shopping to Home Depot for supplies

and then put it together.

I don't know how his poor old knees took it but he was in charge of launching all the families rockets and stayed out there shooting them off so everyone got at least one chance to see their rocket fly.

Ours wasn't the best and it wasn't the worst.  

It was all very exciting to see it fly up in the air!

The rest of the day was spent at the pond, cleaning up and goofing around.

It was a good way to end the summer.

Bennion creek: on the pond a.k.a. "i will if you will"

After the tents were set up and sleeping bags unrolled, it was time for a little fun.  

The kids got their swimming suits on and headed up to the pond.  It was much cleaner looking than last year.  

Carly hadn't brought her swimming suit because she hadn't thought to go but it looked so inviting and cool she reconsidered.  She borrowed shorts from Jacob and they all convened on the little dock.

They started egging each other to jump on the swingy thing..

Jacob went first...

It looked so fun Samantha thought she'd give it  go

"Come on Sammy, it's fun!"

Samantha's having a hard time deciding but Jacob doesn't mind killing a little time trying to recover from his less than impressive Thor impression earlier....

While Samantha thinks about it... Rachel gives it a go...

And off she goes!

The water's not that cold! Come on Samantha!

I Love when they help each other and are nice to each just because they think of it themselves!

Samantha grabs the chain, she's going to do it this time!

ummm.... I'm pretty sure I'm going to jump....

But not right now... cuz' I've got this itch right here....

Uh.. I totally just bent this pole by leaning on it.  I'm just that strong.

You knew that right?

(Samantha still thinking)

While Samantha gathers her courage, Carly steps up to give it a try

whee!!!

and once again, my Jacob acts the gentleman, to help his sister out of the water.

Mason decides to give it a go....

and kind of loses his grip but don't worry, he had many successful leaps later

What the Heck!

Samantha gives up on swinging on the chain and just jumps in

and the fun continues

The water WAS cold but it was sunny and hot out and they had so much fun

Just playing and splashing and swimming and being together

It was a good day.

On the pond.

and to be their mom.

Bennion Creek: Setting up camp a.k.a. Getting our Thor on

So the end of August found us at Bennion creek for the ward campout.  Mark wanted to make it a little more special since it was Carly's last weekend home.  He took Friday off of work and we went up early in the day to spend the day as a family before our ward family arrived.  

Then there's that added bonus of getting to pick the best camp spot.  The kids deliberated for a while, running here and there but it was finally decided upon and time to set up camp.  Last year we were pretty cramped in our tent so this year Jacob brought his new camping tent so we had a parents and girls tent and the boys tent.  By the end of the campout you could smell which was which.

Mark organized the troops into helping him set up the tent.

holding poles, pounding stakes

If you know us at all... 

you know it doesn't take long before someone gets an idea and the posing and silliness starts

First, it was holding the poles.  

at first a boring job unless you're Rachel...

and you become strong and powerful, holding the tent up in a raging windstorm

or planting your flag on the moon...

And then Carly found the hammer.....

and it was on....

Mark thought it only good for pounding tent stakes-

oh dad- How much you miss....

Everyone had to try to best Carly's Thor impression

while creative...

she missed the mark

Mason went for more of a shirtless dwarf pose...

"Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work I go"

Jacob almost got it 

But I think, in the end, Carly started it and Carly finished it! 

We also had a little trouble with the water spigot that only Carly could master...

Her strength 

we miss around here.

(among other things)