Hunting camp

The Grovers have a long tradition of hauling half of what we own up to the wilderness of Island Park for several days of smoky fires, golden marshmallows, pretend four-wheeler rides, real four-wheeler rides, treasure hunting and an occasional sighting of a wild beastie. Our usual schedule and accommodations had to be adjusted this year for the benefit of some old, fat lady (that would be me ... the almost-30-year-old pregnant woman).

I slept at Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin for three nights with the kids and drove back and forth to camp so the girls could play with cousins, eat too much junk food and get filthy and so I could sit in a chair and watch it all happen. It was extremely relaxing and satisfying.

Behold the images!

Rebekah and Analee on the aforementioned pretend four-wheeler rides. Those kids played on those four-wheelers for about half the time we spent at camp. And they conserved fossil fuels by not even turning the key (which had been taken out of the four-wheelers to prevent any tampering).

Miriam got in on the fun too.

Perhaps you can't see it ('cause the camouflage), but Grandpa Dennis is actually holding a small child. Emma made her debut at hunting camp this year, as did her camo duds.

Seth playing guitar at camp. Between the morning and evening hunts, there's a lot of down time, which allows for such fun activities as music-making and ...

... game playing. Grandpa Dennis' friend Bill (sometimes referred to as "Uncle Bill" by our girls) and Rebekah watch Uncle Kent and Uncle Jason play Magic.

Analee giving her cousin some attention. Emma was a huge hit with our girls. I think Bekah, Ana and Miri are ready for a baby sister. They loved the opportunity to give their cousin loves.

Miriam "helping" Aunt Melissa feed Emma.

There was Grandma Susan quietly reading books to Analee, Calvin, Lily and Rebekah when all of a sudden a tickle monster showed up and wreaked havoc on the whole calm situation.

Miriam gets the whole camera thing. That girl knows how to say "Cheese!" and ham it up whenever a lens is in sight.

On a family four-wheeler trip to the quarry, the girls did some exploring,

some pretending (she's a puppy dog),

and some discovering. (There's a cool-looking caterpillar among the rocks there somewhere, if you look hard enough.)

To see more, click here and scroll down.

Bekah's new room

More than a year ago, we knew that our basement bedroom (formerly known as Andrea's sewing/computer/dumpingstuff room) would need a makeover. The previous owner's teenage son occupied the room, and he apparently liked wood and fishing lures, as evidenced by the decor.

As we started this laborious and long-awaited remodel, we discovered several things:

• The little electric baseboard heater that was in the room wasn't adequate. We never knew when it was on or off, and it took forever to heat the room. We replaced it with a wall-mounted thermostat and a heater with a fan to push the heat into the room.
• None of the room had been textured or primed. The wallpaper and wood had been installed directly on top of the Sheetrock. I was worried that we'd have to replace all the Sheetrock in the room, but an employee at Lowe's told us what to do: prime the wallpaper, spray texture on top of it, prime it again and paint. It worked like a charm. 
• There were about a dozen little pieces of Sheetrock put together like a puzzle below the ledge on the west side (the side with the window). They must have been trying to use up all their odds and ends. We (Seth) ripped it down and (Dad) replaced it with one solid sheet.
• Almost nothing in the room is level or square. With some planing of trim, caulking of corners and some extra finishing touches, we were able to get by with what we were given.
• The wood they used as wainscoting, chair rail, molding and baseboard was there to hide all the finishing work they didn't do. Seams weren't taped or mudded. The wallpaper wasn't cut square.
• The light fixture wasn't pretty. The wood wasn't pretty. The wallpaper wasn't pretty. The extremely heavy doors (for the closet and the room) weren't pretty. This room was not decorated with a 7-year-old girl in mind.

Bekah's room isn't completely finished: I've still got to finish (read: "start") her new bedspread, and we've got some adjusting to do on the bedroom door (turns out the doorway's not square either). But she spent her first night in the room last night, and came upstairs smiling this morning, so I'll take that as a good sign.

Here's the before and after:

All the wallpaper and wood in its glory.

Post-remodel. Bekah picked out the colors herself.

I can't post this without acknowledging all the help we got from my dad. He spent countless hours cutting and installing Sheetrock, taping and mudding the seams, spraying texture, installing the heater, moving outlets and doing everything that Seth and I weren't able to do by ourselves. He also lent me tools and materials to do what work I could manage on my own. (Nothing makes you feel like a she-woman like cutting baseboard with a fancy saw and fixing it to the wall with a nail gun when you're in your third trimester.)

I'll admit it--I heaved a huge sigh of relief as we cleared out the paint cans and moved the last of her shoes into the room. With a baby on the way, this game of musical bedrooms is a must so we can have a nursery and crib available.

Brigham City Temple open house

I love taking my girls to temple open houses. They love seeing the lights, furniture, paintings, etc. I love the peace that comes with going. So we try to go to as many as we can.

Rebekah oustide the Rexburg Temple following our open house tour in January 2008. Analee was still very young, so we left her with a sitter when we went.

Grandma Scott, Rebekah, Andrea and Analee outside the Oquirrh Mountain Temple following our open house tour in July 2009. We had gone to Utah for a vacation/post-op check-up (hence Andrea's puffy cheeks).

I heard that the Boise Temple would have an open house preceding its rededication and thought, "Hey! We should go to that one!" But then I realized that, having had a baby just a few weeks prior, I probably wouldn't be in a traveling state. So when I heard about the Brigham City Temple Open House this month, I decided to go no matter what.

Seth couldn't take time off to come with us (something to do with taking off so much time for a bunch of reunions or something). (Wink, wink.) But my parents were eager to come. So we drove on down to Utah on August 22 to stay at a hotel for the night and go to our reserved 7:30 a.m. tour the next day.

Bekah made sure to pick out her white dress for the temple. Analee had to have her fingers and toenails painted so she could be extra-pretty for the temple. Miriam had to drag her extremely colorful teddy bear and blankie all through the temple. (The inside of the temple will never see such loud colors again.) Afterward, we took some pictures on the grounds.

Miriam with her blankie and teddy bear named Rainbow on the outside windowsill of the Brigham City Temple.

Rebekah, Miriam and Analee together outside the temple.

The requisite "silly picture" after all the nice, smiley ones.

Picture of all of us (Analee, Andrea, Rebekah, Grandma Scott, Miriam, Grandpa Scott) taken by the nice lady.

We'll have to see which other open houses we can make it to (my current hopeful list includes these possibilities: Meridian, Idaho; Ogden, Utah; Payson, Utah; Provo, Utah; Star Valley, Wyoming).

A weekend of reunions

The week following the Grow reunion (August 2-4), we had a slew of reunions for the other side of the family. It started out with a rafting trip for the Scotts.

The first time we've all been together since Tyson and McKall were married four years ago. In case you figured much hasn't changed since then, here's a comparison:

We've added 3.75 grandchildren to the family since then.

The trip turned out to be a little more perilous than I had imagined; we got our raft stuck on several rocks, and one time we T-boned a fallen tree in the middle of the river. It took three crafts to get us down the river. The other raft's occupants spotted moose. Our raft's occupants saw a snake. Good times were had by all.

The next day (August 3), the Wirkus clan gathered at a local park to catch up and celebrate Grandpa Wirkus' 90th birthday (his birthday isn't actually until October, but we figured it would be easiest to get everybody out during the summer break).

All the kids/grandkids/great-grandkids who could attend. We had an excellent turnout, but missed those who weren't able to come.

The day of eating, playing, jumping in the bounce house and having our own Olympics was marred by only two things:

The sprinklers, which were supposed to be turned off throughout the park for the whole day, suddenly came on and doused a fair number of Wirkuses who had set up camp with their canopies and lunches on the lawn. This picture is hilarious to me for many reasons: you've got running people, you've got water being sprayed everywhere, and you've got a photographer who decided to capture the moment rather than help the poor soggy sandwiches. (Shout out to my father, the man behind the camera. :-))

While we were eating, a gust of wind blew through our reunion, which quickly became more than just your ordinary gust. A mini-tornado of sorts picked up several paper plates, cups, streamers and a camp chair bag and lifted them hundreds of feet into the air. Most of those items you see in the picture never came down. My guess is that they blew miles away before reentry. One poor canopy was broken. The "Wirkus Olympics" sign my aunt made got ripped off its stakes and taken away. Analee's giant orange ball she won in the Ucon Easter egg hunt blew into a distant neighbor's yard.

I kept expecting gremlins to pop out of the ground next and start eating the young ones. Gratefully, the rest of the day turned out to be quite un-freaky.

My mom, siblings, cousin, nephews, and cousins' children visiting at the reunion.

As my aunt was handing out name tags for the great-grandchildren to wear, I joked that I should get one for Gwendolen. Susan dared me to do it. I couldn't back down.

The day after that (August 4), we drove to Tetonia for the Egbert reunion. I love the Egbert reunion because we get to visit with family and see beautiful country, but the best part of all is the food. We get to have the BEST Dutch oven chicken, ham and potatoes in the world at this reunion. That alone is worth the trip.

Andrea blowing bubbles to entertain Miriam and distant cousins.

Seth singing/playing "Dead Man's Will" and "Falling Slowly" at the reunion. They put out a request for people to participate in a talent show, so Seth brought his amp, guitar and mic.

It was quite the gamut of reunions for us. Seth probably spent most of the time thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?!" Maybe he'll forget before next year's reunions roll around.

Grow reunion

The day following our trip to Lagoon, we got to take part in a family reunion of epic proportions. More than 2,000 distant cousins gathered to Temple Square to learn about our common ancestor, Henry Grow. He's my great, great, great, great-grandfather on my dad's side.

Friday (July 27) night, we had dinner in the Conference Center. The original venue was the 26th floor of the Church Office Building, but once the RSVPs started rolling in, the organizers realized that we wouldn't all fit there. So we sat in the foyer of the Conference Center and ate our chicken enchiladas. Aunt Susan was kind enough to baby-sit/feed/put to bed our wee ones so we didn't keep them up past their bedtime.

Following the dinner, we had a family meeting in the Tabernacle. Henry Grow, a bridge builder by trade, designed and helped build the domed roof on the Tabernacle, hence the reunion being held at Temple Square. There we had a kind of introduction and welcome to the reunion.

Jessica, McKall, Tyson, Andrea and Seth waiting for the family meeting in the Tabernacle Friday night. Everyone had name tags--the colored dot represents the wife through which we descend.

How were we able to have a huge reunion on Temple Square, you might ask? When you're related to C. Scott Grow (of the First Quorum of the Seventy) and Marlin K. Jensen (Church Historian), these things happen.

Saturday morning, Seth stayed with the girls to help them get dressed, eat breakfast, etc. at Aunt Susan's while I got up early and went back into downtown Salt Lake to attend some morning discussions. We learned about the 2005-2007 renovation of the Tabernacle and more about the life of Henry Grow and his wives. Then I met up with Seth and the girls so our family could go on a special tour of the Tabernacle. 

Seth points out some of the Tabernacle organ pipes to Analee, Rebekah, Seth and Miriam at the start of our tour.

They had trapdoors open along the top of the balcony so we could see the roof's trusses. A mirror helped us see the arched trusses. 

Then we looked at the displays to learn more about the Grow family. 

Every descendent present at the reunion was asked to place a blue dot on the child through which they descend. Mine is one of many next to Josephine Streeper Grow.

We also spent a little time enjoying the grounds and getting lunch at the new City Creek Mall before loading back up to go home. 

Rebekah walking along the reflection pond next to the temple.

Analee and Miriam at the pond.

Rebekah, Analee and Miriam check out the live fish in the mall's creek.

I wish I could claim some of the genius that Henry Grow had, but my experience in architecture is limited to cutting and installing baseboard. In case you weren't impressed enough by my heritage, here's a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright about the Tabernacle dome: "[The Tabernacle is] one of the architectural masterpieces of the country and perhaps the world."

Lagoon

As part of a family trip to Utah for a family reunion (post to follow), we headed south a day early so we could take the girls to Lagoon on Thursday, July 26. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera (What the ... ?!?), so I have no pictures of terrified/thrilled girls on the roller coaster/carousel. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to give a quick recap.

Rebekah, our cautious first-born, went on one coaster (you know, the old, rickety white one) at the start of our trip, and that ruined her for all other thrill rides. Even though she's tall enough to ride almost all the rides, after that experience she stuck with the safe and easy ones.

Analee, our little daredevil, rode almost everything she could as her current stature. In fact, she rode one roller coaster, Bombora, no fewer than three times because she loved it so much.

Miriam started out terrified on the carousel and refusing to go on anything until I forced her on Puff the Magic Dragon, but after a few rides in Kiddieland, she warmed up to the idea of rides. She rode Bulgey the Whale at least five times while Seth took the girls on other rides.

Seth reports that Wicked is the best roller coaster there is. Bekah wouldn't go, Ana and Miriam couldn't go, and being in my current pregnant state, I had to pass that one up this time. I can't wait to try it on our next trip.

We rounded out the day with lots of drinks (it was at least 97 degrees the day we went), playing in the fountains, a picnic lunch, and crashing at a hotel that night.

Our only photographic evidence of going to Lagoon this summer is from one of the $3 photo booths. Seth and I have a tradition of getting pictures taken in one every time we go to Lagoon together; it's fun to see how we've changed.

(1) Seth and Andrea at Lagoon during our senior trip in May 2000. Our bus's air conditioning broke down on the return trip, and a wreck on the freeway caused us to be stalled in traffic for an hour while Andrea had a crazy bout of heat exhaustion. (2) Seth and Andrea at Lagoon while on a double date the summer before we left for his mission in 2001. We rode down with Adam Butikofer and Amy Barnard to the park. Andrea had another slight bout of heat exhaustion before we left. (3) Seth and Andrea at Lagoon in August 2004. We had gone to Utah to go to Seth's mission friend's reception, and we made a trip to the park to commemorate our 1-year anniversary. (4) Seth, Andrea, Analee, Rebekah and Miriam at Lagoon in July 2012. Obviously it had been a while since our last trip since our numbers have multiplied. And apparently the quality of the photo booths has gone down. 

First day of school

Yesterday Rebekah started 2nd grade.

(Hence the 2.)

She's in Mrs. Comish's class. Mrs. Comish inherited Mrs. O'Donnell's blue-tongued skink when the 5th grade teacher retired at the end of last year, so Bekah is really excited to have it in her class.

She's pretending to feed the skink, which apparently eats lettuce and hamburger.

Analee started kindergarten with Mrs. Schuster the same afternoon.

 

(Hence the K.)

Holding her Olivia backpack (which is funny, because her best friend in kindergarten is named Olivia) and wearing the Tinkerbell shoes (they light up!) and shirt she picked out. She specifically wanted her hair done that way because Bekah had worn it the same way to church the day before. Ana's hair was BARELY long enough to get the two braids together.

Seth took Bekah to the bus stop in the morning, but since Ana doesn't go to school until later and since parents are in charge of getting their kindergarteners to and from school the first week, Miriam and I dropped her off after lunch.

It reminds me so much of this picture of Bekah on her first day of kindergarten.

Miriam is at a bit of a loss with her big sisters gone. After Bekah left on the first day, she kept asking, "Where's Bekah?" And then after we dropped Ana off, it turned into, "Where's Ana?"

After I took the picture of Ana outside the school, I heard Miriam saying, "Cheese!" So I had to get a shot of her too.

Analee and her classmates outside the school. The teacher handed out name tag necklaces and led them in after they had all gathered. Miriam tried getting one as well--she's been telling everyone she's in kindergarten too--but strangely the teacher didn't have one with her name on it.

Both girls came home über-excited about their classes, friends and teachers. Miriam was excited too. I don't think she quite gets the whole, "You get to go to kindergarten when you're a big 5-year-old. How old are you now? That's right, 2. You've got three more years to go" thing. Give her another week of not getting on the bus, and I think she'll catch on.

Lone Star Geyser

As mentioned, I had a 5-miler in Yellowstone planned for last month (July 25). This would be Rebekah's second "real" hike (the first one is chronicled here), and although she dragged her feet on the way there ("It's hot!" "How much farther, Grandpa?" "I'm tired!"), she found a sudden burst of energy when she realized that she had made it to the geyser and lasted all the way back to the van.

We (meaning Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott, Rebekah and I) drove to Yellowstone that morning, made it through the construction-congested drive to the parking lot and set off for Lone Star Geyser. It's 2.5 miles in on a flat road (it was actually paved a while ago, so they allow bikes as well as hikers on it), so my hips didn't cry as much on this hike as on the last one.

 Andrea (at 29.5 weeks, hence the beer gut) and Rebekah on the way to the geyser. 

The geyser erupts every 3ish hours, so we had to wait around for a while before it would go off again. We took time to eat lunch, and Rebekah did plenty of exploring.

Rebekah performing "experiments" with the geyser run-off. She borrowed empty Ziploc bags from us, gathered the water in them, and dumped them on various plants to see if the water would kill them. 

When it finally went off, we got to enjoy 15 minutes of eruption and a fair amount of chilly geyser rain when the wind changed directions and blew it on us.

Rebekah playing in the mist.

Bekah booked it on the way out (she says the root beer in her hand gave her the energy she needed), but we stopped a few places along the way to identify some wildflowers (fireweed, aster) and learn some new ones (Lewis monkey flower, harebells).

Andrea pointing out wildflowers to Rebekah.

After a quick visit to Old Faithful to see it and Beehive geyser erupt, to buy a Lone Star Geyser patch at the gift shop and to get some ice cream, we drove back out and headed home.

We saw this guy between Madison Junction and West Yellowstone. At first, I thought it was a wolf. Turns out it was just a really big coyote.

 Ana can't wait until she gets to join the annual Yellowstone hike (apparently 6 years old is the magical age for hiking in our family) next year. To see more pictures, click here and scroll down.