Bear Lake

The first week of August we spent several days at Bear Lake with my family. We mapquested the drive and saw that it would take roughly 3 hours to get there (including the 1 planned stop). We got about an hour outside of Sandy and blew a tire on the trailer. No worries though, Jeremy brought 2 spares. The highway patrolman stopped and watched us work and then saw to it that we got to the gas station safely (to top off the air). 12 miles later the other trailer tire blew. Huh. No worries again since we have one more spare. Wait a sec, the first tire (from 12 miles ago) was speeshing air. As it turns out, any store in which to buy trailer tires closes at 6:00 (and it was 5:45). We left the trailer on the side of the road with concerned children, "what if somebody takes our trailer?" We assured them that if someone had two spare trailer tires and was willing to stop and replace the tires that surely they needed the trailer worse than we did.

Jeremy's brother (and our current hero), Brad, went to our house, pulled the tires off of our little utility trailer and met us at the mouth of Parleys Canyon with those and one more that he grabbed from his mom, along with his mom's jack. With the two new tires we drove smoothly to the campground and arrived 7 hours after we left our house.
It was a crazy start, but we truly had the most fabulous welcome from all of my siblings! And, they helped us get things ready for the night so we were set up in a snap.

The next day was windy, but we enjoyed riding on the tubes and playing in the lake. My bros and the kids built some pretty neat sand castles and we enjoyed chatting and playing.

It is no small feat to get a group this size together for a picture. Of course everyone their own camera so we have probably 100 or so pictures from this morning event. Surely there'll be one where everyone looks good.
One of the highlights of the summer is that our kids got to play with all of their cousins on both sides. The kids rode scooters, collected shells, colored pictures, roasted smores, and played in the dirt.

The 40 degree weather didn't deter us terribly. My sister has a big enclosed trailer so on the coldest day much of the group played games there while the kids did crafts in our trailer, and others of the group sat around the fire drinking hot chocolate. I think it would've been nice to play in the water a bit more, but I can pretty much visit no matter where my camp chair is placed.
It was a fun trip. All of my siblings were there, something we haven't enjoyed for 3 years since we live in different areas of the country, and it was very enjoyable. I felt like we could've spent several more days together. I'm grateful for good times.

what a treat!

All of my siblings are in town this week! Four of us are local, one sister lives in Oklahoma, one in Maryland, and a brother in California. It's been 3 years since we've all been together so this feels extra neat. The kids and I spent the night last night at my mom's house and I stayed up WAY too late talking with my sibs. It was completely enjoyable to chat and chat. This morning all the gals went to breakfast together--what's better than good food and good company? :)

girls camp

I spent all week at Heber Valley Camp with my young women. Wow. It was an amazing week. My girls have a lot of spunk and personality so for blue day we were the blue gal group. We canoed on the lake, went on a nature hike, learned and sang crazy songs, laughed, had spiritual experiences, ate junk (amidst the semi-healthy), stayed up late, got up early, tested our limits, moved outside our comfort zones, and made strong friendships.
Wednesday night was "visitor night" and ALL of us were there. It was a real treat. Jeremy came up with the bishopric, we had a nice dinner, and then performed our skits for the stake. My role in the skit was the one I wanted, the narrarator. I got to read my part and didn't have to wiggle my hips once on stage.
We were the Queendom of the Butterflies of Individual Worth (note my antennae, unfortunately you can't see my wings, both of which we wore to stake role call every day). We had some amazing spiritual discussions with the girls and some experiences that I think will shape their lives.

I sure didn't think I'd ever love these girls the way I do.

Thanks (again!!) to Jeremy for taking care of our kids all week (in addition to working and keeping things running). They stayed up late, caught up on their movie watching, and had a sleepover with their cousins on the tramp. It was a great week for them, too.

I feel so blessed.

drive-ins and gettin' old

To celebrate our Pioneer heritage (July 24), last weekend we went with cousins to a drive-in. The cement was hot, the popcorn a-plenty, and the movies good. We didn't even mind the rain at midnight-ish since we all piled inside the van to finish the movie.
Here are the kids sacked out in the van at 1:15 a.m.











We also celebrated Jer's 40th birthday last weekend! When we were getting ready for the party, Griffin asked, "is 40 old?" :) We enjoyed our awesome families and friends with funny senses of humor.

Jeremy is an amazing man. He loves our children with all of his being and wants the best for them. He encourages them to be creative, to be good at sports and at school, and to read. Jeremy loves me and supports me in anything I think to try. He had some money set aside that he had worked hard for that he wanted to do something fun with. He chose to spend it on a piano for me. It's a beautiful baby grand, built in 1915, that needs to be striped and then stained. Not only is it hard earned money, it's a lot of work ahead. He takes care of our aging neighbors, attends all of his early morning meetings, speaks Spanish to our children, works tirelessly in the garden, and manages to keep up on current events. He keeps me grounded, reminds me to be keep things in perspective, and maintains a positive attitude through rough times. I feel so grateful that he is mine. He is an amazing man.

Jackson Hole & Yellowstone

The night before we left for the family reunion the kids had a late movie on the tramp. There's just something fun about watching a movie outside with your cousins late at night.

We enjoyed a few days in Jackson Hole for the Duane & Effie Wright family reunion. We rafted the Snake River (a scenic float and whitewater) and everyone had a great time. Because Griffin wanted to go down the whitewater I went along; I fell out of the boat at Big Kahuna (a first for me), and we all had a grand time. It was fun to spend time as a family and with cousins who we don't usually vacation with.














The kids became Junior Rangers at Teton National Park (this is them being sworn in) as well as Junior Rangers at Yellowstone. Zachary and Anna opted for the Young Scientist at Yellowstone which was pretty in depth--they got to time Old Faithful, take temperatures and measurements, and learn and hypothesize like real scientists.

We played at Kelly Warm Springs, Slide Lake, String Lake, went to the Jackson Hole Arts Festival, ate smores, saw Old Faithful and many bubbling, fabulous, smelly pots and geysers. We enjoyed our new (to us) tent trailer, seeing wildlife (what's Yellowstone without buffalo walking down the road?), and seeing family. It was a great week!

it's a...

BOY!!! We're happy to announce that our baby is due December 21!

father & sons = girls night out

One very important thing I forgot to include in the first bit of summer update...

The boys went to a father & sons overnighter (and had a great time! They shared their tent with some other boys from our ward and came home very dirty!) so us girls had a girls night out. We went to dinner and then Anna and Jane got their ears pierced!

This was Anna's reward for growing her fingernails out (instead of biting them). Anna asked on the way there if Jane could get her ears pierced, too. I thought quickly of what my position was, realized I had no good reason not to get Jane's done too, so they got to share this fun experience.

where does the time go?

I can't believe it's mid-July! I've posted the highlights from the last several weeks here. As a side note, I'm grateful for the flexibility of a blog. There's no deadline, no need to carefully review and edit text, and no need to post perfect pictures (even though the ones I post ARE perfect!). I'm just happy when my favorite people update their blogs so I know what's going on in their lives. Here's to the blog.

We had Rissy and Cassie come stay for a few days in June and had a great time. Zachary taught Rissy how to ride a 2-wheeler and we enjoyed racing in the church parking lot. We also took in a movie and stayed up late and had a fun time playing with cousins.

We went downtown to the Arts Festival and afterward went to the Gallivan Center to play in the water. Zachary especially had a great time and I like this picture.

Griffin got pretty wet, too. It was hot and a fun activity for us all.

























My brother, James, was home from California for the 4th of July. We went to West Point Days and saw fireworks, stayed up late, ate yummy food, celebrated Jeremy's birthday, and just had a very nice time. The kids sure enjoy hanging out with Uncle James.

Our Jones cousins are in town and we enjoyed spending a few days with them. The kids played in the water outside and just played and played. What a fun summer!

Griffin and strawberries

I couldn't not put a picture of the fabulous Mrs. Smith and Griffin on the last day of Kindergarten. Griffin said, "Mommy, Mrs. Smith loves me."

All of the kids had such great teachers this year. I feel like that is such a huge blessing and I feel very grateful.








Friday morning we picked our first crop of strawberries from our garden! They are so juicy and delicious; we enjoyed every last one of them for breakfast this morning!

school carni

Last Friday was our school carnival which my friend, Kari, and I were in charge of. It was enormous preparation and I'm grateful for a good committee, good faculty, strong 4th and 6th graders, good friends, a supportive husband, and rock star kids who all helped out.

Zachary and Anna are shown here working the snocone booth. And the kids later on in the night after playing games and dancing and having fun. I don't absolutely love the girls' orange hair, but what's a carnival without colored hair and tattoos?

My friend put her cell phone in her pocket that afternoon at 2:30 which has a pedometer on it; by the end of the night she had walked 7.6 miles! It was a busy and successful day!