CHARMY'S CHARMS

Over the weekend we went to Hagerman,Idaho for a little R&R. (For the kids, that is! If any of you have gone camping with your families, you know what I mean!) We stayed on a little campsite, and I mean little, along the snake river. It was really pretty. It was called the Thousand Springs area, and there were many little waterfalls all along the cliffs on the far side of the river from us. They were pretty cool! The kids had a ball fishing, swimming, and just hanging out! We nearly froze during the night, and got hot and sunburned the next day, but we otherwise survived relatively unscathed. The kids all became avid fishermen and although we had planned to do some hiking and exploring, once they began fishing, we couldn't tear them away! We did however, find some time to cool off (sort of) in the hot springs pool at the campground before calling it a day and heading home! Matthew brought a friend along and when they weren't fishing, they were holed up in their tent playing their very favorite game, Axis and Allies. He didn't get a chance to get out in his float tube and waders as he had hoped, but I am sure he will sometime soon! We all really had a good time and are looking forward to going out again soon! (Hopefully when it is a little warmer!)

Matthew turned 14 yesterday! I can hardly believe that is possible! His birthday this year fell on Fast Sunday, so that was very hard for him but he wanted to fast and he made it! He was awarded his Duty to God certificate for Deacons in Sacrament meeting and then was ordained by his Dad as a Teacher! It was a special day for him and we are very proud of him! He is excited to be a teacher and really likes the leaders he will have. They are gonna make him work hard! With their encouragement he has set a goal to get his Eagle by the time he is 16! Good Luck Matthew!
On that present he is holding is a certificate for his fishing license, because his silly mother didn't know that she had to have his social security number in order to purchase him a fishing license. Inside was a gift card to Cabella's, which he was very pleased with. If it hadn't been Sunday, I think he would have been over there immediately.
What Matthew wanted more than anything for his birthday were flipper he could wear in his fishing float tube. Not being very educated on fishing stuff, I got him regular flippers, but I think he plans to trade them for fishing flippers that you wear with your waders and boots, which he intends to use his birthday money to purchase! He is really looking forward to getting out and trying them out! If the weather cooperates, we plan to go on a camping/fishing trip this weekend, and he is really excited!
Matthew chose the Chocolate Lover's cake for his birthday cake this year (thank you Steph for the recipe! It has become a favorite with the kids! I put a chocolate glaze on the top, because of course it isn't near chocolatey enough because the kids just couldn't fathom a birthday cake with no frosting. It was actually quite good. 14 candles proved to be a bit too much to blow out in one breath, but Matthew tried his best, maybe his wish will come true anyway!

Thursday was the 5th grade science fair for Sterling and Jared's school. They had a good time working on their projects. Jared researched alternative fuel cars and made a water powered car, and Sterling did experiments with pendulums. They did really well and we all enjoyed seeing all the cool science fair exhibits, which were chock full of volcanoes, marble mazes, static electricity experiments, and two of the kids favorites were the bottle rocket exhibit and one on sound vibrations. As fun as it was, we are happy to have it behind us!

Matthew and his scoutmaster did a very funny skit for court of honor. Matthew really has some good acting skills and really enjoys hamming it up, as I am sure you can imagine.

Wednesday was my first experience at a court of honor for scouts. Matthew received his 2nd and 1st Class, as well as some merit badges he earned at scout camp last summer (yes, last summer, that is how long its been since our scouts held a court of honor!) And Sterling, who is in 11 year old scouts, recieved his Tenderfoot. They were both very excited! And I got pins for everything! It was very short and sweet, which we all appreciated, and ended with a huge game of basketball--actually I think that must be a scouting requirement, as every activitiy ends with some sort of basketball game!

Just another Saturday at the Tolley house! It is nice that the boys are getting old enough to help with the yard work. And I think they have a good time most of the time. That is when they aren't worrying about who is doing the most work, or whose turn it is to mow, or why so and so isn't out there working! Mason works just as hard as the other boys, and loves to be out there working with "the brothers". I am not sure where he came up with his little costume but he was out there with the rest of them working hard at "weed wacking" with the hockey stick! (Just couldn't pass that picture up!)

Last week we went to help a friend rake the pine needles under her HUGE pinetree. The boys had a ball and worked really hard. This picture only shows some of the pine needles we raked. I think after we had them all bagged up we had filled somewhere near 30 of those 33 gallon yard bags! We all had little cuts and scratches when we were done. But we topped the evening off with root beer floats, so what more could you ask for?

Well, it's finally here! Meet our new couch! I am so excited! Our old couch has been on the decline for a while. Then it got a little hole in one of the seat cushions, and Wow! It was just a matter of days before that small hole turned into a large, unsightly, gaping HOLE!!! Now, I never saw anyone pick at it, but I suspect that hole "grew" with a little help! Anyway, we had been planning on replacing it soon anyway, the hole just gave us an excuse to get out and get it done!

"Bump" and "Lightning" have become favorite passtimes at our house. Darrell and the boys enjoy getting out to shoot some hoops before bedtime several days a week and they really have a good time! As you can see, even Mason "plays". I have been known to get out there with them as well from time to time, but I have just as much fun watching them. There is something very nostalgic about it for me to hear the boys hooting and balls thumping--I know that sounds corny, but I just love it!!
Although Sterling likes to shoot hoops with the rest, he usually begs off early to get some uninterrupted computer time! He loves to fool around with power point in his spare time, and comes up with some very clever little slide shows!

Well, does this bring back memories of Dad in his shorts and Knee Hi socks? I think that is what Darrell was going for. He gets such a kick out of the stories of Dad in his shorts and knee hi's that he had to try it out for himself!

Also, as you can see, Darrell is the proud owner of his very own AARP card! I just had to get a picture of this for all to see and enjoy! As you know Darrell turns 50 this year and is beginning his journey to old manhood! And unfortunately I think he is beginning to feel it! Nothing good about growing old, except the discounts, and he is a ways from that yet! The card is kind of a running joke between us (it was sent unsolicited courtesy of AARP) but it is a nasty reminder of how old we are getting--at least how old HE is getting! I, of course, am still a spring chick!