We celebrated the 4th of July with my parents. We weren't allowed to do fireworks again, but we made it a really fun day anyway. T, E and B went over to the neighborhood park for a bit of the local celebration. From there we went to my parents' church picnic. We had great food and B even won the best bike in the parade. The big kids had to dog sit,so we had to head back home. We finished the night by making glow stick videos to "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons.
The next day we went off to the Cherry Creeks Arts Festival. E had to work, but the rest of us enjoyed looking at and making art. We got a lot of fun hand outs as well.
We went to T's family reunion in Bear Lake. There are 49 of us, with one on a mission, so it was quite a group. T unfortunately had to work, but we were able to get a condo with wifi. That allowed him to work in the day and then join the festivities at night. We did have to drive Wednesday until really late at night/early in the morning, and that resulted in T's first speeding ticket, although I doubt the validity of it. The kids had fun playing cards and games with their cousins. We did a presentation of countries, and of course we picked China. We even spent a day at the lake, but it was a bit too chilly to really play in the water. Saturday, T went back with his parents and caught a plane home. I went on a spontaneous road trip with the kids.
My sister and I are having a competition to see who can visit all the 50 states first. I was lacking Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon and Washington. We were about 6 1/2 hours away from Oregon and another 3 1/2 from Washington, when we were at Bear Lake. The kids weren't ready to go home and I really wanted those states. We drove all the way to Ontario, Oregon that first day. We found a nice hotel and the kids enjoyed the pool. The next day we went to Baker City, Oregon, which is where my grandmother was born and raised. We toured the town and museum and had fun imagining her playing at the rec center as a child. From there we drove up to Walla Walla, Washington. Parts of the drive were really pretty, but in general, it was hot and dry. We saw a huge dust devil, thinking it was a tornado without a top! There wasn't much of anything in Walla Walla. We did go to the Fort and see some of the canons. The kids just wanted to touch a wall in Walla Walla, so we did that too. We turned around and drove back to the hotel in Ontario. It was about a seven hour driving day, but we got both states! The kids really enjoyed the pool that night and I enjoyed relaxing after the driving. The last day we started to head home. We dropped by to visit my aunt in Utah and then went part way through Wyoming. When we stopped at around 8 pm, I decided to find a hotel. I couldn't. Apparently there was a big rodeo and all the hotels were booked for over 100 miles! We ended up driving all the way home, which was a 13 hour drive day! I have never done that before and felt completely wiped out by the time we got home. We arrived at 2:30 am and it was all I could do to walk. Fortunately E had a lot of Mountain Dew (she never drinks caffeine) and that kept her up and talking to me for hours. Overall it was an amazing trip. The kids all did so well in the car and we talked and talked and talked. Now I'm tied with my sister and I had a very memorable vacation with my kids.
Since we came home early from our trip and T missed out on a lot, we decided that we needed to have some more fun time. We went to Despicable Me 2 on Friday night, and the Renaissance Festival on Saturday. It was fun to just play and pretend to be pirates, gypsies and fairies.
E's work at rue21 decided to punish her for going on vacation and didn't schedule her. That was a mistake on their part. I realized how incredibly stressed and unhappy she was there. We talked about it a lot on our trip. Having her home and not working brought her smile back. She prayed about it and decided that after Girl's Camp she would quit. She went off to camp with a light heart. After camp she put in her notice and then walked over to Puma to talk to her old assistant manager. She ended up getting the job there that day! It was a testimony to her that if she does what is right, she is blessed.
Before that she went off to her last year of Girl's camp as a youth counselor. She had an incredible, uplifting experience there. She said that at the start she decided she would be herself and love everyone, even if they didn't like her. It worked and she made a lot of new friends. She came back stronger and sure of her testimony and her future.
We had fun going to the local Music in the Meadows programs this summer too. We heard a country singer, a Beatles Tribute and a U2 Tribute. It was nice sitting out with the community and listening to music while talking to friends.
We had a fun picnic at the park with the church before school started. It was nice to have some fun as a ward family too.
We spent the last part of the month getting ready for school to start and playing at the pool. B even finally learned how to swim without floaties. She's not a pro, but she can dive down under the water. I can't believe the summer is all ready gone. I also can't believe this might have been the last summer with E (Sigh).
1 comment:
I am so behind on my blog checking! Great photos!
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