Scouts Hike Mount Timpanogos - Aug. 17-18

The Deacons left Friday afternoon around 4 p.m. for Mount Timpanogos.  Byron and John Whitehead were the leaders that went on this fun outing with the boys.  They hiked in and set up camp on Friday.  They hiked around 5 miles that night.  Then on Saturday they hiked up the mountain while leaving their gear behind going another 2-3 miles.

They woke up Saturday morning with mountain goats all over the camp area. 

Brayden Smith, Brother Whitehead, Zac Spier, Matthew Lemon, Johnathan, Tad Jacobs, Tanner, Simon Honeiki, Brett Roberts

Johnathan said it was so nice to not be carrying a 25 lb. pack for this part of the hike.  He also said he got a lot of sand in his shoes.  The trail was very rocky and hard to walk. 

There was a small amount of snow at one part of the hike that the boys had fun throwing snowballs at each other for a short time.

Most people stopped here at the saddle, but they ended up going to the very top.  It was very steep and scary as the boys were having to find their own path going around the rocks.

This is from the very top - Johnathan said it was so scary because he is afraid of heights.  Tanner wasn't scared at all from the top.  Tanner, Brayden, Zac and Simon were way ahead of the group going both up and down the mountain.  It was a very scary hike for Tanner with all of the cliffs all over.  Some of the boys almost fell off the hill when they had their backpacks on.  Tanner hurt his knee really bad on the way down as he tripped  and fell on his knee.  They all stopped to eat lunch at the very top before heading down.  Going down was pretty hard with the steepness.  One guy was going down with walking sticks at a very steep hill.  It looked like he was skiing down and ended up falling and hitting Byron and Tad.  A lot of people coming and going that weren't being very careful as they were going on the hike.  This was the hardest hike Johnathan has ever done.  He was definitely glad when it was over.

August Family time

Another day going out on the kayaks without Byron this time.  We live so close to a great spot that it is hard to justify not going out more often.  It is also a great incentive to get the kids to do their jobs .

We had been talking about going to hike the "Y" in Provo all summer and finally decided to meet Byron after work and go.  Poor Camille's foot had been hurting her so much since the Beck reunion that she chose to not come.  I remember hiking the "Y" many years ago with small kids and didn't realize how hard of a hike it really is.  Some of my kids definitely out hiked Byron & I.  We finally made it to the top and loved the beautiful view. 

Bradley, Tanner, Johnathan, Carter, Byron and Parker

Johnathan, Bradley, Byron & I were the last ones most of the hike.  The other 3 were way ahead of us stopping every once in a while to let us catch up and then running ahead again.

We did it!  Quite a sense of accomplishment.

 

Camille ended up getting x-rays on her foot to find out what was going on.  She pulled something but it didn't show up on the x-ray.  After a month and her foot not healing, she started going to a physical therapist and went about 10 times to help correct her walk.  They helped her tremendously.

John Beck Reunion - part 2

 On the second day we started out by heading to Manilla Park in Pleasant Grove for some water and beach fun.  This park is really a cool place to get some reprieve from the heat and it has a really nice sandy area.  The only down fall was that the previous day a girl had died at this park so I was very nervous most of the time.  We had the younger kids wear life jackets which was a little less stressful.  Bradley really is my only child I was really nervous about as he doesn't know how to swim yet.

Camille had a fun Encore retreat so she was able to stay a couple of hours at the park before heading out to American Fork Canyon.  She had hurt her foot during the night by some how stepping down wrong and her ankle hurt to apply pressure to it.  She had to hobble around and was in quite a bit of pain.  She was a little embarrassed at the retreat as some of the boys would carry her around or they helped her more than she wanted to be helped normally.  She did have a great time at it and was gone until late that night. 

Emily had some fun activities planned during the day which the kids all loved.  We filled balloons with beans and made some really cool balls.  We also learned how to make bracelets out of paracord.  We had a talent show in the evening.  It is always fun to see what the kids come up with for their talents.  Alyssa, Ashlyn and Cadan did chinigans and it was hilarious to watch.

Byron was asked to talk about Stephen Jensen Jacobsen Beck and did a fabulous job coming in and acting like him.  All of the kids were totally listening to every word.  I was really touched - telling it in first person was so much more powerful than 3rd person and Byron is great at telling stories.  I was sad that Camille missed it.  I should have recorded him. 

The wind started to pick up while the games came out.  It got pretty crazy for a short time.

Bradley, Cadan and Britta playing in the sand - above Camille also joined them.

 Johnathan, Jeff, Byron, Eric, Tanner and Ashlyn

 Carter, Bradley, Johnathan and Parker making balls.

 The men playing a game of rook with Tanner and Johnathan watching.

 Parker and Tanner making paracord bracelets with Emily's help.

 The kids having fun playing on this cool kids play area.

 A game of soccer with most of the boys and men.

 Cousins playing games together.

Byron acting out Stephen Jensen Jacobsen Beck's life.

This is the whole crew minus Camille who went to another Encore practice Saturday morning.  It was a great reunion - so glad we started our own immediate reunion every year to spend time together.  With Michael & Genevieve living out of state it makes it even more important to keep this tradition alive. 

John Beck Reunion Aug. 9-11 - part 1

Jeff & Emily were in charge of the Beck Reunion this year.  They decided to have it at some of the property that their ward used for different activities that is in Lehi.  It is called "Hardway Ranch" and is owned by Budd Lott.  I guess he is a relative on the Adamson side of my family.  There was an article that was emailed to my mom right before the reunion that my mom forwarded onto me about this property from Dad's cousin.  Pretty cool place!  The Lott's have served 2 missions in Nauvoo.  They just happened to be there the first time when everything was having a makeover.  They were able to get the original signs from Jonathan Browning's Gunshop and have them brought back to Utah.  He has these signs and a lot of other cool stuff at his property.  

 

We had such a fun time.  There are about 5 different small buildings that we were able to sleep in -no tents - yeah!  In our place there was a bunk bed and then on the top bunk you could go up to another (higher) loft that had another bed.  We could easily fit our whole family in this place.  It also had electricity which was awesome to have lights and fans during the night. 

 

The first night we had fun playing Minute to Win It.  It was hilarious to watch!  Everybody did something to participate.   

 Alyssa, Bradley and Cadan relaxing while we were waiting for others to come.

Johnathan was named after Jonathan Browning and his Grandpa "John."  It was fun for him to see this cool sign that came from Nauvoo.

These two didn't lack in the entertainment department coming up with things to do from morning till night.

 Parker & Carter playing catch with Jeff and others that were playing.

 Jeff took the kids in the back of his truck for quick rides around the property.

Parker & Carter trying to see how fast they can get the gumballs to go from the top to the bottom of the containers.

 Tanner and Johnathan seeing who can stack 6 dice on the quickest.

 Ashlyn and Camille seeing how many ping pong balls they can bounce into the buckets.

 I was blowing ping pong balls across 5 cups of water - I think I got more wet than anybody else who did this challenge.

 Mom Beck and Melissa - this game took tons of concentration and they both did great.

 Bradley with his cool gear on to knock down water bottles.

 Johnathan, Ashlyn, Camille & Melissa trying to get the cookies to fall in their mouth.

They had a cool tire swing that was a hit with the children.

 Sweet Spencer - Camille had fun holding him.

Parker and Carter fast asleep on the top bunk.