Lava Hot Springs

We had a great Waite Reunion at Lava Hot Springs July 16th through the 18th. We took David, MaryAnne, Dallin, Joshua and Lydia.  Emma was at band camp.  Matthew, Julia and Bethany stayed home to work.  

It was so great to see all the Waite family and catch up with what is happening in their lives.  We had a great time camping at Lava Hot Springs.  The kids had a great time floating down the river by our camp and they loved swimming together.  The pools were the perfect temperature for my liking.  I like swimming when the water isn't cold.  The wind made it slightly cool to be swimming, but it was still fun.

Joshua and Keaton became great friends and played together really well.  Lydia and Hailee got along and had fun together after they remembered each other.  MaryAnne and Denae had fun playing and proved they could both hula hoop very well.

Neil took the children and floated down the river after swimming on Friday.  It was a longer trip than Joshua and Lydia really wanted to do.  Joshua was tired after swimming and actually feel asleep in his tube.  It was a fun experience for the children and I am grateful that Neil was willing to take them.  Dallin held on tight to his tube the whole trip.  He went around an island on a different side than Neil and the others, but he came out ok.

The kids had fun making Waite Reunion shirts.  It was a great idea that Molly and Candice had to let the kids make shirts using stencils. They turned out great!

 We got rained on the last night, but our tent did ok.  We all had wet shoes because we left them outside. It wasn't a big deal though.

We won't see the Waite family again until we come back from Virginia next year.  We will miss them and I am glad we got this chance to see them.  The food was good, and  the conversation was great.  The only thing I would change was the trains that came by and blew their horns at all hours of the night.

A baseball catch up

Our month of June was totally spent at the baseball park.  Dallin played on the Cubs and played on Tuesday and Thursday.  Joshua was on the Mariners team and played on Monday and Wednesday.  We had the option to let the boys play on the same team, but we felt like Joshua would be so much smaller than the other players.  Looking back on it, we should have had them play on the same team.

Joshua did really well for being the first time he played tee ball.  By the end of the season they were doing coach pitch and he was hitting really well.  His coach asked me if he practiced hitting all day.  He really liked to tell me that he was the best batter on his team.

Dallin was a great player on his team.  He never struck out the whole season.  He helped his team get a double play.  Most importantly, he had a great time and was a great team player.  He had a couple of games in the rain, but the game went on.

I am glad to have our evenings back and be able to sit down and eat dinner without working around baseball games.  I love to watch the boys play, but I am glad Powell's baseball season only lasts a month.

WASMB

Emma loves playing her clarinet.  She didn't start band until 7th grade so she was a year behind the other kids when she started.  She has put a lot of effort into learning the clarinet.  Last year she learned that the Wyoming All State Marching Band was invited to march in the Rose Bowl parade on January 1, 2016.  Emma decided she wanted to be a part of this experience.  The marching band is made up of  about 300 students from all over the state.  The band will only meet together two times for week long camps before they go to California.  Last week the band met for the first time.  They worked on memorizing songs and marching from early morning until nine at night from Monday to Saturday last week.  The camp was here in Powell the first half of the week and the kids stayed at the dorms on campus.  Neil and the boys saw the band marching in town on Tuesday evening.  I really wanted the opportunity to see the band marching so on Wednesday evening we took the kids to town for ice cream and to watch the band march.  We drove all around town but couldn't find the band anywhere.  I had no idea that you could hide a 300 member band in Powell.  We couldn't even hear them anywhere.  Emma sent us a text letting us know that they would be marching downtown Thursday morning. Lydia and I went to town on Thursday morning to have one more chance to see the band marching.  Lydia and I left the van at Blairs so Neil could wash it while we walked to see if we could find the band.  We walked for a few blocks before we could hear the band.  Finally we heard them but we went too far and only saw the end of the band.  We hurried back the other way to get ahead of the band.  Lydia kept saying that we should have brought the stroller because she was tired.  She was  a good sport and kept walking as fast as she could so we could see Emma march.  We finally caught up with the band and walked along with them for  a ways.  Neil came and found us and gave Lydia a break by carrying her.  I loved hearing the band and seeing Emma march.  I have loved having the WASMB come to Powell in the summer for many years.  I remember when just the three older girls and I walked all the way to McDonald's following the band one morning.  It was so exciting to me to see Emma marching in the band.

The band also marched in the parades in Cody on the 3rd and 4th of July.  They sounded amazing and looked so good!  It is really hard to tell which one is Emma when they are all dressed the same with their hair pulled up.  Emma says their uniforms make them look like walking Pepsi Cans.  Pepsi is the major sponsor for the band so I guess that is fair.  Emma said it was a really hard week and a lot of work.  She also said all the hard work will pay off when they get to march in the Rose Bowl Parade.  It was really hot here while they were practicing.  Hopefully they have beautiful weather on
January 1, 2016 in Pasadena, California.