June... one month of summer gone!

Summer was fantastic.  Tiring but great.  We love going to Liberty Park and playing in the water.  I tried to bike ride once or twice a week with different ladies.  I gathered a crew of ladies in my neighborhood who wanted to bike.  Most of them had never really biked before.  We have a great time now!  We still tried to do lots of important things along with all our playing things.  Tyler practiced his piano a lot. He preformed in his yearly recital.  Fantastic job.  He played two songs, both memorized.  He also won the award for practicing the most of all Sister Wilkinson's students.   Ella kept working on her piano and especially her Spanish all summer.  

We did have a few melt downs here and there.  Sleep wasn't always the most important thing.  Darren work got a new ice-cream machine.  We had to go in a few times to help him eat the icecream.  50 cents a cup with toppings is pretty awesome.  We love our neighbors.  They are so good to us.  Abby goes to bed almost every night asking "Can we play with Journey and Jagar tomorrow?"

We did have a fun camping trip with the 10 and 11 year old scouts.  Families were invited.  We camped at Hope Campground in Provo.  Most scouts dont go to bed at 9:00 when my kids are done!  But when my kids were up at 6:30... I think they wished they had gone to bed earlier.  We hiked to Stewart Falls the next day.  The Larabees joined us. Our husbands were off biking.

Abby has started her fashion statements.  She tells me she "looks so cute" and "I'm so adorable".... 

We gave Tyler a haircut mid summer.  We forgot about sunscreen on his ears after the hair cut.  He had blisters all over his ears from the sudden sun exposure.  I also had to take my 10 year old boys on a hike.  That was an experience.  I learned that many kids aren't able to do outdoor things.  Even if they are big kids they may have not been exposed to hiking and therefore it might take 2 hours to go 1 mile.  

Our first magnolia flower.  Abby trying to figure out how to get outside.... And and her little music group playing at an outdoor concert.  

A Nice Weekend

I took Tyler up to Scout camp and thankfully didn't have to stay for Saturday.  Ang and I meet downtown and hiked up behind Red Butte Garden to the "Living Room".  We had to FaceTime Abby at the top since she was a bit sad when her Dad picked her up and I wasn't with him.  (I missed her loves and hugs for sure!)  Ang and I had a great hike, and then went to lunch.  Ang had a pretty bad fall about 60 feet while rock climbing and this was the first time she had been able to finally get out... Her staples in her leg had just come out a few days before.  

 I went home and had a nap. Tyler arrived home from scout camp at 3:00. We went to my moms house which is now Renees house (for the next 18 months) and had a birthday celebration for my nephew Seth.  18 years old!  my oh my!  We were able to Skype my parents in Mexico city.  It was fun to have lots of there together.

After the party Tyler and I went to a concert at a beautiful Episcopal church.  My dear friend Ang was singing in a choir that preformed there.  After wards Tyler got to go play a harpsichord, an Organ, and a grand Piano.  He said on the way home it was the best day of his life!  He is eager to start taking Organ lessons as soon as his legs are long enough.  

 Darren picked up the girls and headed to Logan for a Crookston family reunion.  Beautiful area by Green Canyon.  Pat and Seth enjoyed them coming.  I think this photo is Darren on the left, with cousin Kendra and brother Nolan.  .... I enjoyed my day off... Moms need those once in a while!

Bike Crash

I had a bit of a bike crash on my mnt bike on Thursday.  I was grateful to have friends with me.  I made it home with my head on... it hurt but at least no blood was coming out of it.  The blood was just coming out of my elbow.  The three pictures of my elbow are of how it is progressively getting better.  I didn't want to get stitches, but probably should have.  I still have a low headache, but I think thats normal after hitting it hard.  Grateful for helmets.  

Savage Annual Conference

This year Savage had their Annual Manager Conference in SLC.  Which is nice... sometimes with little kids and schedules, staying is OK!  One morning we had snowbird to our selves.  They have lots of fun rides and activities.  We decided to haul up to the top of the Tram first.  so just over 3 miles of hiking and gaining some massive elevation... 3,000 feet... we made it to the top.  My calves were cramping.  

 That night we had great seats for the Mormon Tabernacle Choirs final show before they go on tour.  It was hot and we almost left with half the crowd at half time.  But we stayed and the show even got better.  Alex Boye preformed two numbers with the choir and it was energizing.

 The next morning was beautiful from our hotel room.  I picked up Tyler from Nolans work and we headed up to scout camp.  Dedicated leader or something....

 The kids were mean while having a great time with Corie and Nolan.  Hopefully they all got some sleep too...

 We had one night that we had to dress formal Western. Darren and I borrow lots of things for that event!  Sure wish my Dad had been here so we could have used his belt buckle!  We did get this photo at the bottom from a neighbor our first night there.  So we grabbed our bags and jumped back in our car and went home.  We were up until 11 fixing the sprinkler leak!  But we had a good time regardless!