Brandon's Big Month

We spent two fabulous weeks of June in Idaho at my Mom's. 

It has been many, many years since we've been able to break away for that long. 
And it wasn't even planned!

My parents came through on the way to a class reunion in Vegas, and I decided to ride back with them. 
Since Nathan and Dallin were staying behind for Scout Camp, we all fit in Grandma and Grandpa's van.

One big reason I wanted to get away was that I was having a bit of a struggle dealing with the constant competition from the wonderful neighborhood kids.  They really are wonderful, but I was having a struggle creating what I wanted with my own family when there was a constant distraction.  No matter how great our family plans were, playing with friends always seemed more fun.  
I needed to get away from it for awhile. 

How happy I was to wake the first morning to my dad's riding lawnmower going.  I went outside to find Brandon contentedly driving around the lawn. 
It was just what I had hoped for him to experience. 
Summers with my dad are wonderful.  He is so knowledgeable and patient.  He can do lots of things.  He loves his grandkids.
And it's pretty special to go get a "mug" of pop with him after the work is done. 

Since this post is about Brandon's adventures, I'll quickly sum up what the rest of us did.  We enjoyed the beautiful weather in my parents' beautiful yard.  We helped Grandma with projects.  We went to Cherry Hill with the cousins.  I read a couple of books.  I had nice, long study sessions each morning.  I read scriptures to the kids each night.  We enjoyed delicious meals and treats from Grandma.  We got some sewing and shopping done.  It was a REAL vacation.  I didn't feel like I needed to recover afterwards.
Well, except for the fact that Daisy and I got walking pneumonia for the last few days of our break.  But even that was tolerable with my mom there to make chicken noodle soup and give lots of TLC.

Brandon, on the other hand, had the "best two weeks of [his] life!" 
Besides learning how to drive the riding lawnmower, Grandpa hooked up his small trailer and taught Brandon how to back up a trailer.  He let Brandon work alongside him as he tended his large apiary (honeybees). 
Despite getting a few bee stings, Brandon stuck it out.  One of the most amazing experiences was going along with Grandpa to collect a swarm from somebody's yard.  We have pictures of Brandon with his hand COVERED with honeybees.  When they swarm, they are very calm and gentle.  You can stick your bare hand right into the big blob of bees hanging from a tree without getting stung.  (I've actually never done this, but Brandon has!).  Dallin and Nathan came to stay the last weekend and bring us home.  Monday morning, they all went fishing with Grandpa.  Ruby and Simon went along as well.  Wouldn't you know it, but within the first hour, Brandon caught a 4.5 pounder!  Dallin also caught a 4 pounder.  We had a lovely fish dinner before we headed home. 

We thought Brandon had had about enough excitement for one month, but not quite.  I have to add a story that happened Saturday, July 2nd. Dallin took Nathan and Brandon hiking with his brother Aaron and his oldest 2 girls. They were trying to climb a mountain right by our house that has a big tower on it. They have never climbed it before, so they had no idea how long it would take, etc. They took a wrong turn on the path and ended up having to walk through some brush to get back on the main road. At one point, Brandon was leading the way, looking at the GPS. He felt a squish under his foot and then heard a rattle! 
There were some very tense moments as they watched the huge rattle snake slowly slither away without striking. We're all really thankful that nothing worse happened. Why would that snake not strike after being squished like that? Dallin got some footage of the snake. He wishes now that he had killed it, but I think it deserved to live after sparing Brandon.


We're so thankful that Brandon got to have such a special month of growing and learning experiences.  We're especially glad he came out of the snake experience unscathed!