The Blanding Bugle

Volume 17 Issue 8

August 2008

For other happenings in the month of July and part of August please see page two

Cub Camp

Matt's last year at cub camp was a blast! Chris also had a ton of fun.  They missed the last day as the Blandings rushed off to Utah for a family reunion, but what they did get to do was so much fun! BB gun shooting, nail pounding, cooking, archery, and even button sewing. Here are a few snap shots.

Chris running the obstacle course.

Matt doing a little knife work.

Matt taking aim

4th of July Fun

Kray started our 4th of July off by playing his guitar at our ward's breakfast. He did such a great job!

We then headed to Ridgefield to spend the weekend with Steve's family. GREAT BBQ! We had a great fireworks display, thanks to pyro Steve and Grandpa. 

The next day we headed off to a Pomroy to tour a working log farm. We traveled back almost a century and watched some old time machines move some timber.  Cool!

Then we saw some fish jump at a falls.  We just had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Blanding. 

F.U.N.

Family united in numbers was the theme for the 2008 Ostler Family Reunion.  It was held in hot, hot, hot, Provo, Utah.  We started at the best water park we have ever been too, Seven Peaks. The kids had a blast riding the tube chutes and playing in the water.  Thankfully our tender skin withstood the beating sun for the most part.

We ended the evening in a park taking family pictures.  It is always fun trying to get six kids to look at the camera and not blink or have a sad face, but try 64! that was impossible. Thank you digital cameras! Take all you want--doesn't cost a thing.  But even better, you don't have to hire a photographer to get all the people in, you just photo shop them in.  Steve did an excellent job in photo-shopping himself into the "big" picture. 

The next day we went to visit Nadine's grave and have a grave side service. Boy was that hard, but it was necessary.  I miss her terribly. 

We spent the afternoon at the Rock Canyon park playing and having a good time.  We ended the day by ice blocking on the hill.  Everyone seemed to have a great old time. 

Thank you Uncle Mike for doing such a fantastic job in putting on one of the best family reunions we have had! Everyone had a GREAT time--just look at the pictures. 

The whole Ostler clan
(minus, Stephanie, LaraLee, Nicholas and Jimmy)

Glenn, Doreen, Duane, Scott, Lee, Dale & Mike
with one cool MOM!
YOU ROCK MOM!

Utah Vacation

It seems that we only get to Utah every five or so years with the whole family.  Since the family reunion was there this year we thought we would stay a few extra days and do some things we never get to do since we don't go to Utah very often. 

Sunday we went to church with Mark's family and then went to Temple Square. We were able to go inside the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall. We also got to visit the Christus again and see the movie "Testaments".

Monday we stopped off at the Humanitarian Center to drop off Jason's Eagle project.  It was so great to get that part of the process done! Then we went to Mt. Timpanogos and go through the caves. WOW! We then took and adventurous trip to Heber City on the back roads.   Thought we would come out with a few chipped teeth, but luckily Uncle/Dr. Lee didn't find any permanent damage when we saw him later in the week. 

Tuesday we hiked to the Y. Boy putting two hikes back to back is sure hard work (and no, we won't admit that we are out of shape, lazy people).  It was hot, hot and more hot and who made that mountain so steep. I don't remember it being quite so "up hill all the way."

Then we went bowling. We love to go as a family and remind ourselves that we are better at Wii bowling than real bowling.  We had a great time walking BYU campus.  We stopped in to talk to admissions for Kray, but they were out for the day.

On the way back to Mark's house we thought we would try to see if our old favorite restaurant was open for dinner. They were and we had a great family dinner at Porter's Place in Lehi, Utah. 

Doreen in front of our old fav eatin' place
Porter's Place

Wednesday was a long day of driving.  In Oregon Kray realized that he had left his wallet at the last rest stop. We went back to see if we could find it, but no such luck. Thankfully it was found by an honest person who mailed it to our home.  We arrived in Richland late that night.  Thankfully my mom and Lee's family were still up and we had a nice chat to end the day.

Thursday was off to dental and orthodontic appointments.  Thankfully we got a clean bill of health from Dr. Lee and Dr. Scott.  We drove the rest of the way home and got home around 7 that night. WHEW! what a trip.

Jason, Jessie, Kray, Matt, Mike & Chris dropping off the bags of wood blocks in Salt Lake City.

Kray & Chris hiking Mt. Timp

Mike, Chris, Jessie, Matt, Kray and Doreen
hiking Mt. Timp.

Matt, Kray, Mike, Jessie, Chris and Jason
on the Y

Explorer Jason, hiking down from the Y.

For other happenings in the month of July and part of August please see page two