Summer 2010

SUMMER SCHOOL

The summer was an adventure once Josh got back from his Marine Biology trip in Oregon. Just before he came home I finished up an art class and a philosophy class at UVU and taught six weeks of summer school at Provost Elementary. I helped with the kids as they went on neat field trips: miniature golfing and bumper car-ing at Trafalga, bird watching at the Tracy Aviary, and bowling at Fat Cats. At school we would work with pottery and watercolors, build terrariums, draw lots of pictures with sidewalk chalk, cook up some goodies, or go outside to play field games. It added a lot of fun (and a little stress) to the summer.

TRIPLEX CAMPING
One of our summer nights was spent camping with the Triplex+ in the backyard. The Triplex consisted of the Kmetzchs, the Heiners, us and the "plus" meant that the Bergmanns came along too. We set up the projector and watched a movie in front of our tents. Except for the occasional mosquitoes it was really fun. Well, anything is especially fun when you have Pam and Quinn laughing and making funny comments the whole time. In the morning we had an incredible breakfast and then something truly wonderful happened. As we were eating I heard drums, like marching band drums. Like those snare and quads and basses that are so familiar to me from the days when I was 5 0r 6 years old living in Orem and I'd wake up to the sound of early morning sprinklers and Orem High School drumline practicing. Best alarm clock ever. As I listened I realized that the drums were getting louder and all of a sudden the cadence ended and the marching band kicked in. If you don't know, I. LOVE. MARCHING. BANDS. I tore across the backyard, skidded around the corner of the house, and ran to the end of our block where the blessed Provo H.S. marching band was sleepily marching down 300 East. In my hot pink shorts, florescent blue Cookie Monster shirt and disheveled hair I cheered on those poor, grumpy teenagers at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning. "Thank You! THANK YOU!!" I kept yelling and clapping. The kids gave me dirty looks and the adult instructors gave me crooked smiles and half-hearted waves but I was so happy and so thankful to witness a mini parade. Best morning ever.

FREEDOM FESTIVAL

The 4th of July was the best time to go out in the city and enjoy all of the holiday celebrations. With Grant and Jill we walked around Center Street to look at all of the vendors and carnival rides, the reptile show, and the Scouting booth with its different animal track prints and its log sawing competition. Jill and I challenged Grant and Josh to a sawing competition...and barely lost. I'll go ahead and say that we lost by the hair of a saw dust, it was that close. Well, that's how I remember it...
On the glorious morning of the last day of the Freedom Festival, Josh and I drove up to the parking lot of Y mountain to watch the hot air balloons take off. It was "maegical" (as an Aussie might say had he or she been watching with us). Once our tummies started rumblin' we marched down to the Provo Bakery for our traditional box of glazed doughnuts. Life doesn't get much better than eating Provo Bakery doughnuts while watching the Freedom Days parade. To our dismay, they were closed on Mondays (Provo was skipping celebrations on Sunday to have a 5th of July parade). Josh was devastated. My salivating taste buds were upset. So we dejectedly walked over to Smith's grocery store for some "guess these'll have to do" doughnuts. In the end, they satisfied the need.
We watched the parade outside Jarom's apartment on the couches they had pulled onto the lawn. Cousin Whitney came by to watch it with us and then eventually Grant made it too. Despite the blistering heat we had lots of fun. The doughnuts and the marching bands helped.

MORE TIME WITH THE ENSIGNS
As if we hadn't already had enough of Grant and Jill, we continued to squeeze in every last moment with our best friends. Our favorite activity was camping near the base of Mount Timpanagos. We enjoyed laying in the unlit parking lot, talking about the stars and scary noises, roasting banana boats in the rain, and playing Phase 10 in the stuffy, wet-sock-smelling tent. And it was a special treat, that summer, to have Grant and Jill over for dinner with a surprise trombone serenade from both of them after dessert.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
In July we drove out to Sacramento to visit Josh's paternal grandparents. In the beginning we thought it would be the greatest idea if we got ice cream at each gas station we stopped at. By the time we hit Wendover it wasn't such a brilliant idea.
While in California we drove up to Polluck Pines so Josh could show me where he grew up. We went to see his old house and the bowling alley next to Ashley's dance studio where Josh would play arcade games with his friends.
We visited Lake Tahoe where we enjoyed a picnic with a stunning view. I couldn't get over how big and how blue the lake was. It made our Top Ten list of places to live....or just visit until we can afford to live there.

Most of the weekend was spent visiting Josh's family and friends. We went fishing with Josh's best friend Matt. It was hot but fun, even though Matt was the only one who actually hooked and reeled in a fish.
With Pa and Mayma we drove up to Apple Hill and shopped at one of the numerous Farmer's Markets along the road. We devoured carmel apples and apple pies and enjoyed the most delicious corn and watermelon for dinner. Homegrown tastes sooo good! Pa and Mayma also took us to see the Sacramento temple where they were working. It's a beautiful temple with quite a bit of history. It's so neat to me that the Haycocks were a part of that history.
Our evenings with Pa and Mayma were spent exploring the acreage around their house, looking at baby pictures of Josh, listening to their stories of Josh's childhood adventures, and doing Thomas Kinkade puzzles. They were so good to us--cooking incredible food and sharing so much love. We had a great time with them.