Everyday Adventures

 Tessa was so excited to go to Classic for Alyssa's birthday party.

She loved rollerblading, which reminded Rockwell and me that we love rollerblading too. :) So I took the kids rollerblading on the Murdock Canal trail the next day. We had to go down a little hill to get from our car to the trail, and I thought it was so sweet that Rockwell offered Tessa his hand since she was nervous about going too fast.

We stopped for a little rest at the Lindon Temple site.

Rockwell enjoyed showing us some of the places he runs with the cross country team. It was a really fun afternoon.

Brian Moncur took our young women class rappelling in Rock Canyon. It was quite a hike and climb to get up to the Cougar Den, but the girls rocked it.

The views were gorgeous!

I went down first so I could hold the ropes as the girls came down, and then belay when they climbed back up. It made me nervous to not have anyone holding the ropes for me, but after the initial step off I felt fine after that. The girls absolutely loved this activity! It was fun to watch them having so much fun.

We stayed until it was raining and too dark to see anymore. :) The deacons had gone kayaking at Deer Creek that night and Brother Brittner sent us this cool picture he took at the reservoir.

Paul and I went to Jonah's football game at Provo High. He's the kicker this year, and he's doing awesome! It was fun to watch him.

Our kids loved getting to hang out with Hallee and Wyatt while we went to the game.

Damon has been wanting to get a job for a while now. He was hired for a couple little jobs over the summer like weeding and watering for the Martial's while they were out of town, but he really wants to keep working and making money. One day while we were eating breakfast he said, "Mom, can I take that class at church?" I asked what class he was talking about and he said, "You know, the one they talked about in Sacrament meeting. Where you can learn how to get a job." It clicked that he was talking about the Self Reliance classes that our church sponsors. I thought that was the cutest thing!! I love that he wants to work. It's hard to find jobs for an 8-year-old though. :) Roxanne texted a few days later asking if Rockwell would have interest in being hired to stain her swingset. Rockwell is very busy with school, cross country, mowing lawns, and church responsibilities and activities right now so he wasn't interested. I asked Roxanne how she would feel about hiring Damon if I did it with him and taught him how to stain it. She was great with that, and Damon was thrilled to get a job! :)

I was so impressed with Damon the whole 4 hours it took to stain all the wood. He didn't complain, and he stuck with it until everything was finished.

We put on some music and worked hard in the heat all afternoon.

It looked great when it was finished, and Damon loved getting his paycheck. :) Way to work hard Damon!! We're very proud of you!

Tessa went to Clear Creek this week. It's a day camp that the 5th graders get to go to. She was gone for over 12 hours, and absolutely loved it. They got to hike, dissect owl pellets, play games, do team-building activities, roast hot dogs and s'mores, and all sorts of things. Hillary went to help and sent me this cute picture of Tess, Opal, and Evie.