August- Huckleberry picking, Scout camp, more summer fun

We finally tried our luck at the great Montana tradition of picking huckleberries.

We drove up the mountain above Whitefish Lake.

3 excited faces

the leader of our adventure (I wasn't good for much with my bad ankle)

We didn't find very many huckleberries, but we had a lot of fun trying!

Parker went on a camping trip with all the 11-year-old scouts.

Taking his turn working the stove

Enjoying his taco

Building his wood-chopping muscles

We took another trip to Tally Lake with a friend of Parker's.

3 boys (P, D, & L) on the dock, Anndra in the water

Little ones resting after all the swimming (big boys still on dock)

Miscellaneous silliness:

Brother-sister moment

Streamer mummy

Tickles and giggles

more swimming at Foys Lake

The other 2 big events in August were our trip to Utah and a family camp-out at Hungry Horse Reservoir, which I will cover in separate posts.

Ward Campout at McGregor Lake

We went camping for Pioneer Day this year.  Friday night we were joined by other members of the ward and the kids got to go boating with them.  We had a great campsite, beautiful weather, fun activities, and the perfect balance of family time and the company of friends - definitely the highlight of our summer so far!

A & L pretended the campfire was their pet named Woody-firey and 'fed' it all the little sticks and bits of bark they could find. I love that camping is so conducive to imaginative play!

Dad & son throwing the football (Todd was on-call and couldn't camp with us, but he came the first evening and helped set up)

posing for Mom (I'm on the other side of the fire with my ankle elevated)

trying to get all 4 heads onto L's pillow for a 'good morning' pic in the tent

watching the wildlife - the lake was FULL of crawdads!

dropping bits of cookie so the crawdads would swim up to eat them

Anndra asleep on the dock

Parker kayaking back to our campsite to get my hat - my hero!

Bishop (standing), ward friends, and the roaring fire built for the group

singing primary songs, telling pioneer stories, and enjoying homemade french fries as the sun set

late bedtimes and so much swimming caught up to Linc, who collapsed from exhaustion as we packed up

July: Lemonade, Lakes, Old Friends, New Friends

the boys selling lemonade in front of our neighborhood

swimming at Whitefish City Beach

sprained ankle

re-connecting with an old friend

'selfie' taken by Parker with his phone

pictures & t-shirts: playing tourist in Polebridge

Anndra's first teeth cleaning

water balloon fun in the driveway

dancing at Concert in the Park with new friend Ada

squeezing in a few last play dates with these wonderful friends

swimming at Foys Lake

just in case anyone was wondering, Anndra still LOVES ponies

Temple trip with Tina

Before this visit, Tina had only ever been to the Orlando temple, so I took her to 8 temples in 3 days:

#1 - Jordan River Temple

#2 - Oquirrh Mountain Temple

#3 - Bountiful Utah Temple

#4 - Salt Lake City Temple

temple was closed for renovation, but we enjoyed touring the rest of Temple Square

#5 - Mt. Timpanogos Temple

#6 - Provo Utah Temple

on our way to Manti, we visited my grandparents in Mt. Pleasant

#7 - Manti Utah Temple

temple was closed for the Manti Pageant, but we enjoyed the show

#8 - Draper Utah Temple