Some Summer Highlights

We had a busy, fun, wonderful summer.  Here are just a few of the exciting things we did:

We tried to get a few hikes in this summer.  This day I took the kids and a couple of their friends up Big Cottonwood Canyon and hiked to Doughnut Falls.  The hike was great, but the water was still running too high for us to climb up and see the "doughnut".  We'll have to try again another time.

Kyle went to Camp Jeremiah Johnson with his Bear Den.  He got to shoot bb guns, paddle a raft, build rockets, shoot bows and arrows, and lots of other fun things. 

We visited Idaho Falls and stayed with Grandma Senia and Grandpa Lou.  We took the kids to Tauphas Park Zoo with Vie and her boys.  We picked a great day to go because they had lots of activities for the kids and they did a clue scavenger hunt to earn stuffed animals.

In July, our family friend, Gail Tolman died while on vacation in Canada.  Joe had the opportunity to be a part of the military honor guard and present his dad the American Flag at the graveside service.  I think he looks amazing in his Class A uniform!

McKayla marched in our Lehi Round-Up Parade with Jump-N-Jive, her dance group.  The kids and I also went to the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo for the first time.  It was a lot of fun!  We will have to make the rodeo a new family tradition.

This summer, the kids discovered a swimming hole at the creek down in the gulley just east of our house. Someone built a small dam to form a pond and the older kids jump off a small waterfall into the water.  Josh prefers to stand in the shallows and throw rocks into the creek.  They all spent hours playing at the creek this summer - the best free entertainment around!

Kyle had the opportunity to carry the flag onto the field at an Orem Owlz game with his scout troop.  He did a great job!  Our family stayed and watched the Owlz beat the other team.  What's more American than baseball on a hot summer night?

Our family took a trip to Northern Idaho to visit Vie and her family at the end of July to see her son, Ethon, be baptized.  We had a wonderful time at their house, and the kids really enjoyed getting to know each other better.  We spent one of the days at Hell's Canyon National Recreational Area playing in the Snake River.  We found a little sandy beach with a nice large area for the kids to swim.  We ate a big picnic, swam, relaxed, fished, splashed and played all day long.  What a great memory!

One of the things on McKayla's "Summer Checklist" was to see Tarzan at the Tuachan theater in St. George.  Mom and Dad let us come stay at their house and came with us to the play.  We loved the play, especially the gorillas and the aerial zip-lines.  Tarzan wasn't half-bad either!

We got the bedrooms finished and decorated downstairs.  For Kyle's birthday, we surprised him with this FatHead of Darth Vader.  He LOVED it!  I'm still not sure about having the "bad guy" on the wall, but he really does look cool!

Our Primary had a "Summertime Scripture Olympics" activity a couple of weeks ago.  We divided the kids into 4 groups and had them listen to the stories of Nephi (Adam Fisher - left), David and Goliatih (Bishop Southwick - middle), the Ten Virgins (not pictured), and Samuel the Lamanited (Joe - right).  Then they got to do a water activity that went along with the story (raingutter boats with Nephi, launching water balloons at Goliath, a water relay filling a bucket (oil), and shooting water guns at Samuel on the tower.  Afterward, we had hundreds of water balloons filled up and the kids got to throw them at Joe and the Bishop.  It was a great activity!

Now summer is over, and the kids are back in school.  We really had a great summer, and it went by too fast, but we are excited for cooler weather, leaves changing colors, and football!