Matt's Birthday

Today is Matt's birthday. He brought his three oldest kids up to the cabin so they could go on a boat ride. The boat isn't fast, but it is perfect for pulling the little kids on the tube. Jeff was so brave! He snuck forward so his feet would drag in the water as it was going. At first it was just Jeff and Greg. Soon Anne wanted a turn and all three of them rode. Greg liked standing up. After awhile it was just Anne and Jeff. Welp, they fell off. Jeff was not a fan of the water, but Anne LOVED it! Matt jumped in to get to Jeff. All in all I think they had a blast.

Jeff, Anne, Matt swimming to them

We ended the boat ride after that because Mike thought he broke the motor. We were pretty close to shore and called Jorja to come down on the four wheeler to bring us gas. Mike and I had bought some this morning, but forgot to bring it on the boat. One of the tanks ran out of gas while we were out and Mike wanted to fill up the backup tank. As soon as Jorja left and we were ready to go the boat wouldn't work. I can't remember what we thought the problem was. I think we thought we forgot to put up the ladder up. Anyway, Mike couldn't figure it out and we were near shore. Mike wanted to try jump starting it, but would need to be in deeper water. We decided the best plan was for the rest of us to get off the boat in case Mike couldn't figure it out. We called Jorja and asked her to bring the van. Jorja and Maysen came to pick us up. Anne and I got our feet STUCK in mud. It was funny. Mike wasn't able to find the problem for quite awhile. He called me when I was in Idaho Falls. Hahahahaha - it was so funny! He had forgotten to put the boat in neutral! Hahahahaha I'm glad that was the problem and not an expensive repair job.

Why was I in Idaho Falls? Well, we have this super awesome lawnmower at the cabin. It has taken a lot of the sagebrush out. Matt has a lot of tall weeks in his backyard. Once those are down his yard will be so much bigger. I drove the van with the lawnmower down to Matt's house. Then I drove to Lowes to get paint for the cabin. I ended up getting stain because they didn't have enough of the paint. Hopefully the color looks okay. I tried to get as close to the cabin as I could.

Right before I pulled into Lowes Stockton called. I talked to him for an hour in the parking lot. He said that one of the previous APs came up and talked to him and told him how much he admired him. He said that there are a lot of depressed missionaries right now, but not in Stockton's district. He is doing a great job of keeping everyone's spirits up. Stockton has been fantastic as a district leader. I always like to ask him what he did for district council. It is always super creative and fun. Stockton sure has thrived on his mission.

When I finished with the stain I hurried to Cabellas to get a rope for the knee board we borrowed. I got there ten minutes before closing time. I got it super quick and ran into Michaels. They were about to close too. Jorja needed paint for an art project for her summer class. She was on zoom calls a lot of the day today. So cool that she can still come with us and do her school at the same time. Next stop was back to Matt's house. He had accidentally run over the cord for the lawnmower. Not a fun thing to happen, especially on his birthday! He is going to call the people tomorrow and see if he can get a replacement cord. I left the lawnmower at his house.

Sam made Matt Shephard's Pie for his birthday. They had a piece left for me! They also saved me a piece of his ice-cream cake. Yummy! I headed back to the cabin pretty late, but made it back okay.

Matt and Stephanie

Mike cooked dinner for Jorja and Preston on the boat. Preston rode the tube while Jorja did homework. Maysen stayed at the cabin looking after Bear. Mike ended up sleeping on the boat tonight. He was so excited about it. He wanted to do it one day, so it looks like today was the day!