June

I have been trying to think about what I have done that has kept me so busy that I forgot to blog ALL SUMMER!!!  Then I looked at my photos from the summer and it all became clear to me.  We have been crazy busy this summer.  But we have had a ton of fun. 

For starters, the kids finished up school.

 It was Brandon's last day of elementary school.  He is off to middle school.

 Brandon earned his Arrow of Light.

 We took the kids camping at Bruneau Sand Dunes.

 Sand Angel

 Ryan wanted to see how high he could jump if he ran down a dune super fast.

 Apparently when you roll all around in sand, you get some in your eyes.

 Roasting Twinkies was a fail, but we had fun anyway.  Gross!

 S'mores.  Now that's more like it.

 We had a fun "school's out" block party.

 Because of our basement project we were left without air conditioning.  Since the project was supposed to be done in April, we didn't think it would be a problem.  But we were wrong.  Mid June we decided to make homemade cooling units.

 Kathleen went to girls camp.

 The boys went to science camp.

 We adventured to the Idaho Museum of Geology.

 Then to the Old Penitentiary.  Brandon is using the bucket to relieve himself.

 Brandon played on a summer baseball team.

 We went to a Hawks game.

 And played a mad game of Twister.

 Apparently you are supposed to sit on your brother.

 Brandon went to a football camp.

 Kathleen played on a summer softball team (that Ryan coached).

 Brandon's team found a barn for shelter from the sun.  But oh man, they looked so cute.

We decorated our bikes for a 4th of July party (well, Brandon decorated his rip stick). 

 And if you want a little laugh, Cody colored this picture at church.  Amazing, right?

 Kathleen playing softball:

Great Plains Storm Chase

The last week of May, I flew into Oklahoma City to go chasing after tornadoes.  I knew it was going to be an adventure when I climbed onto this crazy small propeller airplane and took an hour longer than anticipated to land due to turbulance (we bounced around like a roller coaster for a while with a lady behind me screaming).

 Our first day we segregated with the women in one van and the men in the other.

 We stopped at a different park every day to wait for the storms.  We titled this park "The Creepy Park."  I mean really, who would put their kid on that swing?  I think there is a body buried somewhere at this park.

 I bought a wiffle ball and bat and made everyone play a game.  It was super fun.

 When people ask what it is like to storm chase, I have to admit that it is pretty amazing and awesome.  But honestly, much of the time it looks like this (super bored and hot waiting for something to happen):

 This was my favorite park we went to.  The inside was a huge castle looking park.  And there was a train that went around it and you could ride the train.  There was a zoo right behind the park that was closed.  There was a huge sink hole from all the flooding and the animals had to be moved.

 This is what we looked at most of the time.  

 We were standing waiting for a storm to approach.  I was going to take a selfie with the van.  But just as I was about to push the photo button, instantly and huge hail and rain storm hit.  It was so sudden that this what the photo I got:

 We kept getting warnings on our phones for flooding, lightening, and of course tornadoes.

 Santa was out storm chasing too:

 Here are all the students on the trip:

 I have never seen a Magnolia before.  They are huge.

 As we chased, there was always a laptop, cell phone, and walk-e-talk-e.

 Cool hail:

 Funnel cloud (this one did NOT end up turning into a tornado):

 I could not get enough of the amazing circulation in the clouds everywhere.  It was mesmerizing, kind of like staring into a fire.

 We stayed every night at a different hotel in a different city.  But there were TONS of Holiday Inn Express hotels all around the south.  So we stayed in a different one every night.

 Rainbow:

The flooding was terrible in Texas. 

 I was surprised at how many storm chasers there were.  When people ask me if I was ever scared, I think of this storm.  I never really was too scared (except for some of the driving).  But this storm made me a little nervous as it passed directly over our heads.  But it didn't touch down until after it passed by us.

 I love the green hail core that is visible in this photo:

 The best tornado we saw.  It was an F2.  Unfortunately 3 people were pretty seriously injured in this one.  It hit an oil rig.

 Helicopters fly overhead to see the storm (if there is enough warning):

 There are abandoned homes like this everywhere in the great plains:

 The first town we entered in Kansas had Dorothy statues everywhere.

 Look at these boring long straight roads:

 Palo Duro Canyon, TX (the second largest canyon in the U.S.):

 We had to stop for some cows:

This is the entire group:

 And Kathleen took this photo.  I finally made it home after being rerouted the wrong direction.  What a site: