Logan doing a disappearing act! 

Shooting the rapids! 

Logan going down some rapids on his barely still inflated tube. 

Cory, Elise, Ian, and Kristen almost ready to float to the side at the end of the trip. 

Logan going off the rope into the river at the end of the trip. 

River Trip

We had a great river trip down the Dan River last Saturday. Grandma Jarrell wanted a river trip for her birthday, so that's what we did! About halfway down, we sang Happy Birthday to Grandma J. and Cory, whose b-day was Aug. 2. We took snacks and got to the part of the river that is deep and slow and circled our tubes around for a little picnic as we floated along. Ian was so cute as he slept for about the first 45 minutes to an hour in his tube. He had gone to sleep just before we put on, but he stayed asleep as we put on his life jacket and tied his tube to Kristen's. One of my favorite parts was when we were all tied together and got stuck trying to go between some rocks and dammed up the river! :0 It was all a lot of fun!!

Kristen, Ian and Elise on their way down the hill to the creek. 

Logan enjoying some quiet time on the raft at our creek. 

Ethan 

Adam 

Logan 

Logan making a splash at the creek! 

Logan doing a flip off the diving board. 

Adam at Homeplace Park for the Dobson Branch activity. 

Good Deals?

I found these in the Reader's Digest and thought they might be worth checking out...

RD said that on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Lands' End (which I think is expensive, but what I've seen is good quality) posts new adds to their Overtocks Store - lansend.com/overstocks.

I don't know anything about Home Shopping Network...I thought it was cheap stuff that they were trying to convice you to buy, but I don't know...not sure if I've ever even seen it...maybe at someone's house sometime... Anyway, here's the link: hsn.com They're supposed to have lots of deals, according to RD.

For the boys, RD says you can trade in games or get store credit at EBgames.com and gamecrazy.com. I wonder if game stop is a chain and has a website?

For brain games: nobelprize.org

For cheap garden stuff, try Overstock.com after July 4, RD says.

This sounds interesting... Select an eatery at restautant.com and buy a $25 dining certificate for $10, print it out.

Competitive car prices: bestnewcarprice.com

Invitations: allthebestinvitations.com

travelaxe.com
playitagainsports.com
knitting-warehouse.com
bestfares.com
gasbuddy.com
gaspricewatch.com

They say July is a bad month for travel deals.

For cash back, try ebates.com and fatwallet.com

zappos.com for shoes

gardenweb.com

cheapflowers.com

coupon-code-coupons.com
anycoupons.com
happycoupons.com

thefreesite.com

techbargains.com
cnet.com

So, these are some of the sites mentioned in a spend smart section in Reader's Digest. Some of them sounded like they might be worth checking out. I thought it might be fun to look at some of these as I have time. If you come across anything good, let me know!

Wal-Mart Feud

I was at Wal-Mart yesterday and had been gone from the house most of the afternoon, going to cosmetology at the college to get my hair cut and then grocery shopping at W-M. So, I was trying to hurry, looking for the shortest line when I was finally ready to check out. So...I get in this line that looks pretty good. One woman has checked out and the other has her things on the front of the conveyor belt. I start putting my things out on the back when I realize the lady who has already checked out is questioning something. I hear 30 cents mentioned and realize that this woman wants to be sure she got her bargain. Now I'm a bargain hunter from way back, but I'm thinking, "I hope I'm not going to be standing her for 30 minutes while this woman argues over her, what I think is 30 cents!" Finally, after this lady and the cashier look through the sale paper and whatever and she calls for an associate to come help, the customer is impatient (as well as the lady in front of me who was waiting beside her groceries on the conveyor belt) and marches off to find whatever it is in the store that she has questioned. I ask the Wal-Mart associate how much money was involved (wanting to confirm that I'd heard 30 cents) and she and the lady in front of me say, 30 cents! So I jokingly suggest that maybe we could chip in and give her the 30 cents and be on our way. Well, the lady in front of me starts in and is really giving the other lady a hard time, saying that she had on jewelry store jewelry and could afford the 30 cents and that she shouldn't be holding up the line. At this point, I'm thinking that lady is going to be back any second and perhaps she should lower her voice, but on she goes. Now the lady comes back with a cake mix in her hand and smiles as she goes by, and so do I, and she mumbles something about being wrong. Then she passes the next lady, who starts in with something like, "I'll bet you're surprised about being wrong about anything!" And comments about holding up the line. Then the other lady shouts back something at her like, "Why don't you mind your own @*#$* business!" So they're going back and forth with their insults, the cashier has turned beet red, and I'm hoping I stay out of the crossfire! Well, at least they didn't come to blows and I didn't see a fight in the parking lot, so thank goodness for that!

Is Summer Over?

With the prospect of going back to work on Monday, it seems the end of summer is fast approaching and it makes me sad. Summer has always been that carefree time to get out of the routine and enjoy a little more relaxed family time. Although the summer can be busy, it's a different kind of busy. I know there are good things about structure and being in a routine, but right now it's hard to think of what those things are. :) Time just seems to go by so fast these days! It's been a good summer and I'm thankful to have had the time to set my own schedule and I have good memories of the fun stuff we've done. If it could just be a little longer... Oh, well, I suppose there's always good things to look forward to and so I'll just try to think of that and all the good family times ahead!

Logan in front of his tent at the LDS encampment at Camp Bud Schiele. 

A glimpse of the tent Adam, Logan, and Shaylon are sharing during their week at scout camp. 

Adam and Logan horsing around at scout camp. 

Adam at Camp Bud Schiele for the LDS encampment. 

Logan plays the Canjo that Grandma Delia gave him as he gets ready to leave for scout camp. 

Adam and Adrian visit with everyone in the parking lot before saying our goodbyes. 

Ethan gets cards from Elise, Ian, and Kristen after our family dinner at Red Lobster in Greensboro on Wednesday night before leaving for Utah on Thursday. 

Ethan and Kristen getting the Ian and Elise ready to ride around at Mabry's Mill. 

Good memories from the creek. 

We celebrated Adam's and Logan's birthdays and Father's Day while Kristen was home June 18. Then we celebrated again on Sunday for Father's Day and on the boys' actual birthdays. It's nice when you can get a birth season out it! 

Ethan, Adam, Adrian, Logan, Elise and Kristen getting ready to race! 

Kristen at Jordan Lake. Our family went there a couple of days last week and enjoyed playing in the water and picnicing. 

Fun at the creek! Working on the dam, looking at the fish, skipping rocks, roasting hot dogs over the fire, swinging on the ropes, playing in the water!

Our Weekend

Our weekend was filled with lots of good things...lots of family around, Adam's prom, and his Eagle Court of Honor. Kristen, Cory, Elise and Ian, and Milo were here and that's always fun. Kristen did lots of things to make the weekend go smoothly, including reworking Adam's corsage for the prom and helping with the dinner after the Eagle Court. Adrian and the guys were sure good to help clean on Friday before everyone came in. Then on Sat., we had such a nice day. Some of us went to the park, Logan to soccer practice, Adam went to pick up Kim, Adrian worked in the yard and garden, and later in the day we had fun playing at the creek. We worked on the dinner for Sunday and helped Adam with his prom plans. He and Kim made a cute couple and had a nice evening. On Sunday, we had a special day with Adam as he received his Eagle Scout award. I feel special this morning wearing my two mother's eagle pins! On Sunday afternoon, we went back to the creek and got to spend a little more time together there. It's such a relaxing and fun little place. Someday, I'd like to plant bamboo by the road and have some steps going down the hill, but for now I think it would be fun to have a little bench or porch swing type thing to put on the side. Sounds relaxing to just think about it. Yesterday it was so much fun to sit beside the creek and watch Elise and Ian throw in rocks and watch Ethan and Logan push them around in the little sandbox boat. Good memories.