Leadership Academy

Our school district does a Leadership Academy for Junior High students. This was the first year I had ever heard of it! Fifty students from Carter's school were nominated, but only 8 from each Junior High in the district were selected to participate. It was 4 days long from 8am to 4pm, no cost, and they got to do a few field trips each day. Some of the field trips included touring the hospital, a courthouse, a dam, an administration building, a high school, a community college, and on the last day they got to play at a party venue with bowling, laser tag, and arcade games. There were some activities he enjoyed more than others, but overall it was a great experience for him!

Refugees

A woman in our area took it upon herself to get involved with the refugee needs in our city. She has a network of sisters in our stake that she reaches out to for donations and deliveries. We had the opportunity to help with an Ukrainian family who spoke little English. Through Google translate, we learned that he fought in the Ukraine/Russia war, got injured and was released. He knew he wanted to get his family out immediately and fled to America. They picked the south because his wife loves horses. They were so humbled and grateful for all the furniture and household supplies we delivered. All the items were donated from people that live in our area. Kari's and my car were packed to the brim!

Nauvoo

Caleb had the opportunity to travel to Nauvoo with the youth in the Stake. He had a wonderful experience and lucked out to have his aunt and uncle as his Ma and Pa! He said his favorite part was the Nauvoo temple and Carthage Jail.

July 4th

 We went jet-skiing for the 4th of July and also participated in our neighborhood parade.

Tennessee Part 2

Kara was very kind to take some family pictures.

My parents were very generous in gifting us lunch at a day show. We saw Hatfield and McCoy.

The activity I was looking forward to the most is Dollywood! We had so much fun there 6 years ago. The rain held off until the evening, so although we got sprinkled on some, we were still able to do everything we wanted.

Riding the mine train.

 Fire Chaser Express

Barnstormer

River Rampage

Rockin' Roadway

 

The downpour at around 6:30pm signaled it was time to head home!

On Friday we went to Splash Country, and the weather turned out beautiful. The water was definitely on the chilly side, but it wasn't enough to keep the kids from having fun!

There was some good gaming, but I was hoping for more. Everyone went hiking Wednesday morning, but we opted to sleep in and enjoy a lazy morning instead. We did an alpine coaster together instead. We didn't regret our decision when everyone came home soaked. Hiking in wet clothes/shoes and mud is not my idea of a good time!

Tennessee Part 1

Family Reunion in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The weather temperature was wonderful, but it was a rainy week, which put a damper on wanting to be outside more.

We started the week by visiting an upside down museum that had a lot of fun science activities, laser tag, and rock climbing.

Tuesday we did some hiking in the morning.

Some family pictures taken on the back patio due to the rain.

Playing ladder golf

Matt and Caleb played a lot of cornhole.

Chicken Farewell

This post makes me a little sad to write. 3 years ago, during Covid, we took on 6 chickens that a church friend was giving away. I was not on board with Matt's idea, but the boys loved it. I loved the idea of fresh eggs, and it didn't take long before I was kind of attached to the chickens. With 6 of us in the family, we each took a chicken and named it. Matt- Buttermilk, me- Dixie, Caleb- Speckled Flogs (I don't have an explanation...), Carter- Nugget, Bryson- Fluffles, Austin- Batman. It was fun to see their little personalities, different egg colors, size of eggs, etc. Batman was the first to die, we think by a raccoon. Austin was so distraught that we replaced her, against our better judgment. We learned a lot about integrating a new chicken into the flock. It was a rough transition for Midnight! Buttermilk was the next to die. She caught some sort of disease. Fluffles caught the same disease months later and passed. Nugget always laid the biggest eggs, and she died randomly in the roosting nest--we think laying an egg! After 3 years, the boys had lost all interest in helping with the chickens. I was tired of chicken poop and flies. We found someone interested in taking them. Speckled Flogs and Dixie held up the longest from our original 6. 

Final farewell. (Speckled is molting)

Past pictures:

The day we got them

Fluffles always was the one that did best with people holding her.

Selling the eggs was a nice little side business for the boys for about a year and a half when we couldn't consume the amount of eggs laid.

A Nugget egg compared to a particularly small one from one of the other white chickens

Carter had a really good relationship with all the chickens.