19? Adventures

Psssst!! Summer is over. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but there it is.

I know summer is over, because school has started. So, not by the calendar, but by the schedule ... that's how I know. So say so long to the carefree days of freedom, and everyone find their grindstone again.

Actually, I don't mind the scheduling. But when it's still summer weather outside, I feel like it should still be summer vacation. Oh well.

Emma made a list of "Summer Adventures" again. We started this two years ago, with 17 Adventures. Last year, she wanted to add another adventure, and make it "18 Adventures". (I can see where THAT'S going!) This year, she just titled her list, "Summer Adventures for 2019!!!", and then quietly went about, putting 23 items on her list. The stinker!

We didn't complete all the adventures, and I think we'll try for another one tomorrow, anyway. But we did get a lot of them done, and had some additional adventures, that weren't on the list. So I feel like we balanced it out. Here are a few shots to summarize our summer:

Not an "adventure" but she liked feeding Aunt Penny's horses. When she wasn't afraid of them nibbling her fingers.

We signed up Emma for softball camp at BYU, and she had a great time there:

Then Darcie took us on a campus tour. These turtles live at the duck pond.

Also while we were there, her newest niece (and Grandbaby #4) made her arrival. Miss Emma was very patient about waiting her turn to hold Baby Harlee.

And from two different occasions, Emma loved playing with Giselle - the oldest niece:

So, Darcie showed me the hiking trails at Hells Gate State Park, and we added that to our list of adventures. Does it count for more points if we did this adventure more than once?

Emma and I decided that we like this hike to Charlie's Peak the best. We thought that the Gunpowder Ridge trail should be re-named, "Powder Ridge" for the dustiness. And the Winchester Trail should be called, Wear-Long-Sleeves-And-Watch-Out-For-The-Thistles-That-Are-Taller-Than-Adults.

Darcie wasn't around for our hikes there, but Alyssa and her pups came along for one of them. It's way easier going uphill when the dog is half-dragging you.

(P.S. I don't wear makeup for early-morning hikes. The End.)

We wove the Huffaker Family Reunion in to the Summer Adventures List, because ... well, because we can. There were so many fun moments. This pool shot happened there. And then, we went four-wheeling:

We had planned to go back to the same fire tower as we had visited when camping here last year, but the road there was closed. So we did a little investigating, and went up some other trails. One was a super-fun, over-the-humps, narrow kind of trail. The other one (the next day) took us to a different fire tower:

132 steps to the top -- we came, we climbed, we saw amazing views (including the other fire tower!)

And we floated the river in the afternoons, to rinse clean of trail dust, and to cool off:

Emma loved it. We drove up to the falls (21 miles, winding along the river), climbed on the huge rocks, and took pictures with the family there.

Loved seeing our far-flung family!

Cousins:

Not an "adventure", per se, but jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler is always fun:

Some of Emma's chosen adventures clearly came from her recent experiences in 4th Grade. With the Rendezvous activity, she had made some homemade butter. So, the Adventures because Making Homemade Bread, and Making Homemade Butter. We were in a cook-things-one-the-grill-mode, so the bread was baked there:

And butter in the blender.

I wasn't up to doing that completely by hand!

While were were in Utah [again] in August, Brandon arranged for us to do an Escape Room, as a family group. This one was a Harry Potter-themed room, and we had fun puzzling out the clues:

(When I took that selfie, I had no idea that we were being photobombed by a skull, until I looked at the pictures later on my computer!)

Playing with the nieces and nephew.

Actually, dogpiling on Darcie:

Also not on the list ... Alyssa and I took Miss Em to Roaring Springs water park, while we were in Boise. The weather was perfect and we had a blast. This video is Alys and Emma going down one of the water slides. The pool at the bottom is 10' deep!

Back at home, water play is a little more tame, when we go visit Aunt Penny's house (and pool!)

Some of her other adventures included Geocaching (with Kids College), making raspberry jam with mom, our annual Shooting Star Sleepout (for the Perseids Meteor Shower), cooking lessons with mom, and more.

Some of the ones that we just didn't get to were making magnetic slime, sewing lessons with mom, an outdoor movie night, making paper, and making candles.

As I look back over it, and think about it, it was a good summer, and a busy summer. Did we go to amazing, faraway places? Well, no.
But it was a ton of fun, and she enjoyed it! I count it as a "win" in my book.

2019 Softball Camp and Grandbaby #4!

So, as I mentioned, Miss Harlee Alice Huffaker made her debut while Emma and I were in Utah for BYU Softball Camp this summer. I think it was really nice of Cecilia and Harlee to time that out for while I was in town!! Sure made it easy to see her while she was still brand new!

Softball camp was a lot of fun, and I think Emma learned a lot. I learned to not be too anxious to check in. Otherwise you just have to leave and come back when it's time for the camp to actually start. Ha!

That's Emma with Taylee, who coached Emma's group of girls. Back when Alys and Darcie used to go to this camp, it was only for older girls. This camp was set up for younger girls like Emma, as well as older girls.

I didn't watch the camp a lot during the day -- I was splitting my time to be with that new grandbaby. But I did come a little early for pick-up in the afternoons, to check out what was going on.

Emma felt she could have done better on the field, but she pushed herself and tried hard, (and got bonked on the head with a softball from a young catcher who wasn't paying attention!) ... and when it was all over, she said she wants to go again next year. 

So, the night before Harlee was born, we had a family trip to the nearby playground:

The call came in the wee hours of the morning, and Darcie stayed with the other kiddos while Brandon and Cecilia were at the hospital. I took the kids to the hospital to see their mom and new sister after I'd dropped Emma at softball camp for the day:

She's so pretty!!

It was challenging to get these excited kids to all smile and look at the camera at the same time:

Grandma and Emma with all of the littles:

And Aunt Darcie really rocks! Fortunately, it wasn't too hot, so she took them outside to do sidewalk chalk:

We also played "What Time is it, Mr. Fox?" and "Duck, Duck, Goose!"

They really love their Aunt Darcie!

Emma loves babies to no end, and she was really patient for her turn to hold this newest niece of hers:

Darcie had the lowdown on a new water splash pad, so on our last night there, we all went to check it out. It was still hot enough in the evening when we went .... almost. The kids got a little cold at the end. That's a good cue to know when it's time to leave!

Since Grandpa Todd didn't come for the softball camp trip, he missed seeing baby Harlee when she was this new. But we all came back 6 weeks later for her blessing day!

More Summer news to come. I'm all over it. Like white on rice.

We Need an Update Here. AKA, Summer Summary, 2019

You'd think that the lazy days of summer would be prime time for writing clever, funny, catchy, heartwarming, photo-filled blog posts. Especially when one is behind on the life and times of these Huffakers. Well, apparently not! I admit, I've sometimes taken the almost-lazy way out, and simply made blog posts out of recipes. That doesn't really tell our story, though.

So, let's just agree to pick up and take off from where we are, hm? Ok!!

Actually, how about a quick Summer Summary? I can do that, based on what kinds of things I've taken pictures of, and my calendar notes! Here we go, starting in June:

• Our regular softball season was over, but we still worked on softball every day with Emma, because she went to BYU Softball Camp! She and I did that trip with just the two of us, and stayed with Darcie, and visited with Brandon and Cecilia and the kiddos.
• While we were there, our beautiful grandchild #4 was born -- Brandon and Cecilia are a pair of very busy parents now, with 4 kids aged 5 and under! (And ain't no more room in that minivan for any more bodies!)
• The following week, we were back home for Kids' College. Emma's favorite classes were Kano Kit Coding (computer coding), and Geocaching.
• After the Fourth of July, we headed for the mountains and a wonderful week-long Huffaker Family Reunion camping trip. Being out of cell service can be an awesome thing. I'll have to give that event a blog post of its own.
• It was a quick turnaround from that trip to another day-trip to Portland, Oregon for continued doctor appointments for Cameron's eye. That's another blog post, I think!
• After that, Marilyn (that's me!) did a 3-day stint as an assistant cook at our church Girl's Camp. Proof that sometimes fun things are also super-exhausting!
• Emma had another session of Kids College (favorites being Messy Art and Nature Weaving), and during that same week, Todd and Marilyn went for three days to a hearth dealer meeting in --- Portland. Seems like I've made a lot of trips there this year. And huge thanks to Todd's parents for taking Emma during our trip.
• A few days' cushion gave us some breathing room before heading out again to Utah, this time with all of us, as we went for new baby Harlee's blessing weekend. Family is the best!
• Which brings us to this week! Another short breather, and we'll have a week with Alyssa and Andrew, splitting our time between our house and theirs. We'd originally planned a camping trip, but it turns out this will be a working vacation.

And the next thing you know --- it's the school Ice Cream Social and First Day of School follows that. Where did our summer go? Well, it's all right here!! Whew!!

(A familiar view to us this summer: Road construction!! ... plus a whole lotta bugs who gave their lives, splattered on the windshield!)

I'll get right on those other blog posts. Yep. Right on it.