Summer time

In some ways I like the less structured summer schedule, in other ways I do not. Even though I have more "free time" on my hands and more play time which I like, it seems there is never a good time to accomplish tasks like blogging, but here I am ready to catch up. First there are some girls camp pictures of Savanna I wanted to add, she loved girls camp! She came home dirty and happy, and spiritually fed and uplifted. Jared went up and stayed one night with the YW and was able to snap a few pictures of Savanna at Aspen Lakes. Sav made up a song to the tune of Taylor Swift's "Trouble" that the Young Women loved so much they made her sing it to the whole relief society.  Savanna has been keeping busy since she got back, she babysat her niece Lexi for a few days and earned some money (thanks A and A) and she has continued with her violin practicing and lessons. Fiora has done some clogging summer workshops but otherwise is busy trying to read the Harry Potter series this summer, and she takes some time to work on typing, math, and cursive in preparation for her A.L.L. class in the fall.

 Weston brought home this massive trophy from gymnastics one day, they rotate this thing around the class whoever does the best that week, so he got the weekly trophy. Weston has a lot of stamina! I took the kids to the canyon one evening and we had KFC and tried to play catch, it just ended up being fighting and crying instead of catch, so I suggested we hike to a waterfall instead.  The girls hate to hike, so Weston and I left the girls and hiked from Canyon Glen to Bridal Veil falls.  It was so fun! Last Saturday Jared and I decided to bike from our house to Utah Lake, and Weston gladly accepted our invitation to join us, the girls slept. And what a trooper, he biked all the way there with only 2 short water breaks and never complained. In fact when we were done and I asked if his legs felt like jello he toughly stated "I'm good." My legs felt like jello. What a beautiful trail and a beautiful way to enjoy the summer in Utah.

  

 Weston continues as a BEAR in scouts, and this last month participated in the rain gutter regatta. His boat was supposed to be made from a vegetable, his was a zucchini.  It didn't work very well surprise surprise but Jared got some pictures anyway.
So what have the girls been doing you might ask? We forced them to join us on the 4th of July to hike to Silver Lake, what a beautiful hike! It had just rained so the earth smelled and felt like paradise. And we got there early before it got busy so it was a good time.  The girls had a tough time hiking the 3 miles up, their stomachs hurt and hey hyperventilated and their feet hurt, etc etc, but once we reached the beautiful lake on the mountain ridge they relaxed and played and it was fun times.

 

 We we all pretty spent after the hike, but that didn't prevent us from going to the movies and seeing "Epic" and then going to Provo that evening to hang out with family until the stadium fireworks started.  Those sure are spectacular and loud and huge fireworks!  But the fun doesn't stop there.  On July 6th we had a new nephew join the family.  Justin and Shawna had their baby boy! Tate Richard, who was a 9 lb 5 oz baby angel and so handsome. We have welcomed 3 baby boy cousins this year into our family and its so wonderful! And I'll add one more picture to this over long post, my final Orem Chorale concert was last week a patriotic concert and it was fun to participate in and the kids actually came and supported me this time, even though the girls never applauded and weston fell asleep!