Rafting Prep & Walkabout

Corey and kids still have a lot to do to be ready for their trip tomorrow. Wes got back last night from rafting in Desolation canyon, and he wasn't planning on going with Corey, since he's already been gone two weeks now with FSY in Weber and then High Adventure... but with rafting fresh on his mind, he was also thinking "There's no way Dad can do this without my help... you guys don't know what you're doing!" 

So Wes helped prep and pack everything and he was texting to try and get all of his work shifts covered... he did that in the nick of time, and then we just had to decide which of the girls would not be able to go now, since we had a 6 person limit.

We were able to get Natalie to agree to stay behind. Katharine made that a little easier to do.... lots of time to kiss and hold Katharine definitely sweetened the deal. And I'll prob throw in a lego set too. 

So, with Corey and MWALS leaving for a rafting trip, it probably wasn't the ideal time for us to say "yes" to hosting a walkabout for the neighborhood... but the guy who asked us had someone cancel on him last min. We wanted to help him out, plus we also say yes to things. So we said yes. That was at 7 tonight and I mostly took care of it. There was a nice turn out and lost of visiting - 

We served up otter pops and fudge-sicles. Wesley brought out hockey stuff and soon neighborhood kids had a game going. 

My little bro Grant is staying with us for the week, and he and his boys joined in the fun. It was nicer to play in the shade - compared to our game in the sun from last year!

Butterfly update: We had one get stuck when he was trying to change into his chrysalis. 

This is the third time something like this has happened - also happened in 2018 and 2019, so I knew that it meant that the life cycle was cut short for this guy. which is so tragic... I mean they get so close! I went out into the backyard to put him out of his misery and the kids were very sad about it. Molting seems to be a risky business. This guy was already living on borrowed time though - this is the caterpillar that fell a few weeks ago and was writhing around and I thought he was a goner for sure, and then he came through because of the kids prayers. They wanted to pray for him again that he's make it out of this mess somehow, but was thinking that his death "was written"... Do you know that part from Lawrence of Arabia? Where he miraculously saved a man's life in the desert, only to have to execute him later, and all the other men were like "Yeah, it was written." So, it was written for this guy. He was also tempting death cause when he was in his j-hook, there was some little larva wormy parasite thingy on him that I was able to get off with tweezers, and it didn't seem to disrupt him at the time, but maybe that ruined his concentration to be able to molt successfully./ So, it was written. Sorry caterpillar. I did a little monarch searching today though, and might "humanely euthanize" any caterpillars that need it by putting them in the freezer rather than squishing them.