Summer Twilight

To sum up this summer - it STUNK!!!  It has been a really hard couple of months.  June was filled with conferences, meetings, camp, and various obligations.  I barely had time to catch my breath.  July was even worse.  Mom broke her leg which put her out of commission, Jeremy was in the ER on the 4th of July, the stampede was a colossal waste of time, and then I hurt my neck really really bad (I don't do well with pain).  Plus Matt was gone to school twice a week the entire summer, not to mention homework, tests, group projects, and term papers that needed to be done outside of class.  We didn't even get to do the summer of movies.  Blah!! Needless to say, I could have just skipped the summer.  I was thinking about the past two months and one thing that I always looked forward to kept coming up. 
I think that the books and movies have ruined the term twilight.  Twilight is not sparkly vampires and teenage angst.  Twilight is the soft, diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, most commonly, from sunset to nightfall.  During the "summer of chaos" Matt and I would always find some time to take a stroll through our neighborhood during the twilight hours.  After the kids were in bed, I grabbed a hoodie and my flip flops and we would be on our way.  We walked.  We talked.  We dreamed of far away places.  We made plans.  We would unwind.  We left everything behind.  So amid all of the obligation and chaos, I always had the summer twilight to help me get through.  It is the best time of day, especially when you are with someone you love.

Club Psych

This weekend we had our bi-annual Psych party!! Brandon and Angie were coming and Matt invited the Smiths, so I decided to make a new shirt since so many new people would be there. After some confusion on the time the party would start, we huddled around our tiny TV:


I had decorated the room with TONS of pineapples and I printed a hoodie with the psych logo on it and gave it to whomever guessed how many pineapples were up. Logan (with a little help from Matt, cheater face) won the hoodie and shared the candy.
Because we were watching it a week late, we got to see 2 new episodes. My favorite was the 1st one with the kung-fu. It was hilarious:


The second episode was a tap dancing episode. Gus really has some moves, but Lassiter made the episode hilarious:

The kids were oblivious to the show, they just played:


It was a great night full of giggles, good food, and great company!!!

Ute Stampede

I've got to admit, I think I've got a sour taste in my mouth for the Ute Stampede.  We went to the parade and the kids grabbed candy a plenty:


Mom even managed to hobble out to the parade:


That night we went to the rodeo and I was less than impressed.  The clowns jokes were worse than any previous year and the kids weren't even watching the rodeo.  Matt enjoyed watching the horses, but he was probably the only one.  I'm still debating on whether or not we are going to go next year. 
Saturday night Holly was going to the rodeo with some friends, so I told them to come over for dinner.  We also invited the Smiths and the Lenharts and had a mini-Psych party.  After dinner, Holly and her friends:

headed to the rodeo, but not before some "goodbye, thanks for the grub hugs."

Yes, I was appalled at the cowboy hat too!  But she is my best friend and I love her no matter what her fashion choices are.  :)
The rest of us headed down stairs for a psych-filled evening.  It was hilarious as usual.
It was a decent weekend until I tore a muscle on my neck, then I was in A LOT of pain, but it is SLOWLY healing. 

Sundance

Matt and I both had the 5th off work, so we decided to go somewhere.  We were going to meet up with Cory and Sharon in the morning and head up to Sundance.  I went to check on mom and as I was leaving my ankle gave out and a fell down mom's cement stairs.  I was fine, but my left wrist was hurt.  I didn't want it to ruin our day, so I took some Advil and we headed to Cory and Sharon's and up to Sundance. 

We had lunch at a cafe there and they have THE best chicken strips ever. 


After lunch the kids wanted to ride the chair lift to the top of the mountain.  We wandered around for a bit:


and then it was up the mountain:


It was a beautiful day and scenery was amazing:


Once we got to the top we decided to go for a little hike.  My wrist was throbbing but it wasn't that big of a deal.  We hiked through the mountains and trees and a field and by then all the little ones were BEAT, unfortunately we had to hike all the way back.  By the end of our little excursion, I was filthy, my wrist hurt, and everyone was a little cranky.  So we hopped in the car and headed for home.  It was a fun day where we got to see new things!!

Happy 4th . . . . in the ER

So, after about 30 minutes of Jeremy screaming, Justin told us that the fall looked pretty bad, so we took him to the Emergency Room.  We got some x-rays and waited:

The doctor comes in and says it was pretty swollen and he wanted us to see an orthopedic surgeon to make sure it didn't affect his growth plates, so the splinted his arm:




Gave us some prescriptions and 2 1/2 hours later we were on our way.  Jeremy is super excited to have a splint on his arm.  He thinks he is so cool.

Happy 4th!!!!

This year, the weather cooperated with the 4th of July festivities.  It was a little chilly early in the morning and then it slowly got warmer.  We started out the day playing games:
 
Then, Jeremy got it in his mind that he wanted to climb the rock wall:

And Matt got it in his mind that he wanted to join him:


Then we hit some more games:

Then we met up with the cousins and rode some rides:



At noon I had to head over and do hair painting with the young women and when 2 o'clock rolled around I was beat and ready to head home.  Cory and Sharon came over and we had a little water party, but the kids didn't want to have any fun.


Holly came over for a few minutes to tweak my dad's insurance.

And while she was there, Jeremy started SCREAMING and SCREAMING!!  Justin was cuddling with him outside and it turns out he fell off the playhouse and landed on his elbow.  Coming up . . . . A trip to the ER.

Home, No Place Like It

This year for Girls Camp, we were able to go to the Heber Valley Girls Camp.  Our theme was from the Wizard of Oz:  Home, No Place Like It.  Monday morning we loaded up on our bus and were on our way:


Then we arrived at the front entrance.  It was beautiful.

After some orientation and welcome games, we got settled into our cabins.
 
I was a little weary about spending an entire week up there, but there was so much to do and the girls had such a blast.  We got to go canoeing and played water games on the lake.


The girls presented their skit on Virtue about a poor young heifer who had lost her memory and was searching for Virtue.
 
 
Everyone played A LOT of volleyball:

Well most everyone was playing:

We went to challenge course one day:
 
Complete with zip line.  It was exhilarating.

We went on some hikes that were INSANE!!!


But there were some amazing views:


The Relief Society Presidency came up and had all the girls do some Humanitarian kits:
 
 
One Clear Voice came to speak at the fireside.  They are a Female LDS Vocal Group and they were amazing:
 
There were also many, many, many games of Curses, a game which gives you the opportunity to make a fool out of yourself.

 
  
It was a great week, but towards the end, everyone was like this:

and this:

However, it was beautiful and there was so much wildlife.  During our testimony meeting a beautiful owl perched on a tree and listened to our meeting.  A moose interrupted the end of our faith walk.  And these guys were always around:

It was a great week full of awesome memories and life changing experiences.  A great big THANK YOU to our stake leaders and missionaries: