Oh What did we do in the Summertime?

My summer has been a crazy modge-podge of events...but most of all, it has gone by way too fast!  I truly love summer...the green grass, the blue skies, the wonderful heat...I just LOVE it!  Tonight as I went to mutual, it was our last summer social...tomorrow the kids start school.  It will seem weird that a school bus will wake me up driving up the road at 7:30 in the morning.  It doesn't seem possible.  I have had a great summer though, which involved getting to travel, seeing all my kids except Jacob, and all of my grandkids at least once.

  

We loved spending time with Tess and Trisha's families and getting to see DisneyWorld!  Definate highlight of the summer, the heat was a little overwhelming, but everyone always dreams of going to DisneyWorld...we got to live the dream!  

I loved seeing Addi's face when she got to meet Mickey Mouse in person...and I also loved riding on Toy Story with Ali and seeing her concentrating so hard on her shooting...we had a blast!

Seeing tired little Grant fall asleep with his little Dalmation Puppy was just...awwww,  precious!  We had so many fun experiences.  It was definately a time we will not soon forget...

We were also privledged to get to visit Mom and Dad in Palmyra and go on the Church History Tours.  Brent had never seen them and I had almost forgotten it had been so long.  It was a powerful thing to be there and to hear such strong testimonies born by my parents...such a great, spiritual memory! 

We were lucky to get to see Jaron and Heather and the kids when we arrived in New York and go to Niagra Falls with them!  I'll not forget the cute little Lilly running to me with her arms stretched out  wide for a hug and a kiss...what a sweet little girl!!

It was fun to see Carter so excited to get soaked in the mist of the falls!   Emmy was more excited to get a little duckie from the gift shop and was so sweet and thankful for the tiny gift, and I won't forget Ashton being upset that he couldn't buy something with his penny!  

We had a very fun time with the boat a few times this summer...once with Clint and Trisha's family on a Saturday in the awesome Onieda Reservoir where we all had a total blast! Corgin, Ali and Grant love to ride in the boat, and I remember taking Corgin for the first time on the tube at Alexander and seeing such a wiggly little boy sit absolutely motionless!!  The other trip we got to go on was a jaunt up to Lewiston and a little camping trip to the beautiful Dworshac Reservoir with Danny, Trisha and the kids.  Grant loved to run all over camp and play in the dirt...the bee sting was NOT his favorite, though.  Ali decided an encounter with a rattlesnake was not her thing either!  The boating was fun, but the swimming, the tube, and the sun were the best!  Who knew a camping trip would have been so fun for me?  I think this was Brent's favorite because he got to go pick blackberries, and we are still enjoying them!

One of the highlights of my summer had to be having Ali and Grant with us for a whole week!!  If I could only have had a week with all the grandkids, my joy would be full!!  We had such a fun time and since they have ALWAYS lived away from me, this was especially priceless.  I have had time with Emmy, Carter, Ashton and Addi, when they lived here and now Corgin, and babysitting them and having them regularly at my house has always been a joy, but I hadn't ever had that time with Grant and very little with Ali, so that was a great blessing!  I really need to get to know Lilly...she's the only one I haven't had one on one with!

Summer is fading now...I hope it still stays warm for awhile, since spring pushed into the first part of summer so long!  I look forward to Birthdays coming up...Mom and Dad coming home...meeting my new little grandaughter...and the holidays.  WHAT!!  The holidays?...only four months till Christmas...CRAZY!!  

Where did the SUMMER GO?

(There you go, Tanessa!!!)

Camping and Boating!!

Brent and I had the opportunity to go up to Lewiston this past week and spend a couple of days camping and boating at Dworshak Reservoir.  It was so beautiful up there...lots of trees and shade for camping.  We picked a boat access only camping spot and hauled in all our stuff.  Danny, Trisha, Ali and Grant went with us, and it was a big help having them there to carry all our stuff and help set up camp.  We each had a tent site with an outhouse and we had a couple of picnic tables and a firepit that sat up on a little hill that looked over the lake.  It was so pretty at night when the moon would come out and reflect across the lake!  We were able to get to a floating dock that had a swimming area in the middle...that was pretty neat...and we set up our canopy and stayed on the dock all day Friday, and most of the day Saturday.  We boated and tubed and Brent even skied and kneeboarded.  We had a great time and enjoyed the swimming and the food.  Trisha and her Dad were pretty good dutch oven cooks!!  Ali and I stuck to what we did best...riding the tube!  Trisha's family went exploring one day and discovered a couple of rattlesnakes...yikes!...but they didn't bother us, thank heavens.  We loved the reservoir and we all had a great time.  I hope we can go back sometime.  I didn't get my camera packed, so I don't have any pictures, and we were so busy having fun that Trisha only got a few, but if you check out her blogspot, you can see those!!