Friday, August 6, 2021

Youth Conference!

Going to Youth Conference and Girl's Camp really were the highlights of my summer. It was so fun to have a break from the kids and be able to spend time with the youth getting to know them. Mckinley actually ended up pretty much just babysitting for 2 days while I was gone. She is so awesome!

We went up to Utah State and stayed in the dorms and honestly, the program they provided wasn't all that great but it was so good to be with these kids and get to know them better. I had a blast!

Hike up to the wind caves that was super hard! But so incredibly beautiful at the end.


We had a blast swimming. I beat the girls in a lap pool race! We had fun jumping off the diving boards too.

One morning our plans at the college kind of got cancelled so we took the kids to a jump place instead.

Such a fun group of kids!!

I had so much fun chatting and hanging out with these leaders. We had to help the kids get the dance started, and then they took off and had so much fun.


Right after we got home I was able to go to the temple for the first time since it shut down from Covid. It was nice to be back!

Boy oh boy I had a hard time entertaining these kids this summer. We were doing some back to school shopping and found that the mall playground was opened again. And they've changed it a bit.

Went to Bonneville park with friends one morning. They have completely changed the playground and a lot of it is covered in shade. It's really nice.

Jackson fell asleep sitting on Mckinley's lap while she was at the computer doing her favorite thing, writing stories.

Kari-Lynn came into town and we were able to meet up and see Emerald too. Such a fun night!

Mckinley got to go with Kiara to the butterfly exhibit at Thanksgiving Point one day. My kids actually did a lot of stuff with friends this summer which was super nice. I love that they get to have these fun experiences that I can't always provide for them.

We went to the splash pad one evening with Brandon and had such a good time!



We went to Scera swimming a few times.




Brandon and I were able to go to the temple when they did Dale's endowment and sealing. It was a really neat experience.

Julie took us all out for ice cream after.

Josh got home from his mission to Sweden.

The kids grew a lot while he was gone!

Tyler got to go swimming with his friends a few times.

One night we had this crazy rain storm that actually caused some flash flooding for some of our neighbors, including Jason and Shannon. Our house had no problems which we are grateful for.


Trip to the Bean Museum with Megan and Emmy. And Tyler was able to bring his friend Michael along.

Swimming at the neighborhood pool that we don't have access to but luckily some friends invited us along.



The youth went to the new Orem Temple "tour" and I knew the Hackings were going to be there so I brought along this birthday note I found that Bishop Hacking wrote to me when I turned 8. It was so fun to see them again after so many years.


We finally got to have the Pinewood Derby activity that was the start of the Covid shut down a year and a half previous. I actually ended up missing most of the activity so I could take the girls to their dance dress rehearsal, but it ended up being a great night for everyone.

Kallie and Mckinley were forced to dance through the summer which was super annoying but eventually the dance concert weekend arrived and they got to perform 3 times. One of the performances got cancelled because of fire smoke in the air that blew in from California. It's been such a crazy year!

They absolutely love performing though and did a great job. Kennedy was able to come and watch one of Mckinley's performances.


Jackson loved this one dance and had to stand up to see it better. Ha ha.

Shellee hosted a dessert bar after the last performance. It was so fun! So glad we can take a break from dance for awhile though.


Ross and Karen brought flowers for Ava too so she didn't feel left out.


Kallie had such a great group this year for dance which made it so I only had to drive them to dance once every 5 weeks. Pretty sweet setup!


 

Monday, July 5, 2021

4th of July and Summer Fun

Enjoying concert in the park.

Mckinley got to go up to Clear Creek for a day with her friends.


This is them, sad that it's over. So glad she enjoyed herself.

Canada Day with Family.

Mckinley and Kennedy didn't hang out nearly as much this summer as I thought they would, but we did get together a few times. I did nail wraps on them.

We had a lot of fun in our blow up pool this summer. Got it out quite a few times.

The kids got to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from Ross and Karen's roof which they thought was soooo cool.

Mckinley made cookies all on her own and then shaped them into a flag. So cute!




We made sure to get up for the balloons. They didn't blow up forever and then they never took off but we still loved being there.

We headed from there to the parade. We hadn't done the parade in years so most of our kids didn't even remember what it was like. We had a great time!


Fun foam party at the neighbors.




This was the time I joined the kids in the pool. It felt so nice! We had a crazy hot summer.

Headed up the canyon with Kristen's nature group one day. The kids didn't love it. Everything this year was just so boring.




Beautiful view on the way down.

Matching rompers. 

Our ward had a BBQ and a bike parade. The kids were so creative and decorated our bike trailer and wagon all on their own. So cute!


They made this into a bubble bath and we brought our bubble machine in it.


Super fun swimming day at the Provo Rec with friends.

Kallie got her splits and straddles down and does them all the time.


We went to the Springville pond one day with cousins. The Manila pond where we usually love to go had swimmer's itch so we didn't go there at all this year besides around Spring Break.






We had a few fun campfires this summer. I feel like even though this summer was super hard, we did okay at making some fun memories with the kids.