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

June: K graduation, Tally Lake, Sailing, Utah fun

I had a relief society leadership training in Helena the first Friday evening in June, so Todd and the kids went with me and we stayed overnight - making a mini-vacation out of it.  Here are the kids swimming in the hotel pool:

Lincoln's class had a graduation ceremony on the last day of kindergarten - it was the perfect end to a fabulous year.

The next day we celebrated the beginning of summer break by going to Tally Lake with the McGraws.

That weekend we went to The Zone with Parker's friends' family.

Parker, Wyatt, Lincoln

For Father's Day Parker & Todd went sailing with Jude & Lisa. The next day Todd & I went sailing with Jude for our anniversary.

In the middle of June we had almost an entire week of very rainy weather and the boys' golf camp was cancelled, so Parker got creative with home science experiments.  He worked a bit with dry ice and even learned to 'breathe' fire (slow-motion video below).

For the last week of June the kids and I drove to Utah for 3 reasons: temple trip with Tina, my high school choir reunion, and Grandma's birthday.

Mr. Larson retired and an alumni concert was organized to honor him

the kids loved eating in the train car at Old Spaghetti Factory

Anndra posing during water fun in Gma's backyard

driving home from church in Provo (my home ward)

Birthday dinner at Sweet Tomatoes