First Day

Things you'll need in your Darth Vader backpack for the first day of second grade: dinosaur folder, Elmer's glue and antibiotics! Max's first day wasn't until the third day of school this year- our whole family was sick. But it just made his first day all the more anticipated. He loves Miss Connell and can't wait to get there every morning. Max's top two favorite parts of second grade: Math and sitting by his buddy Spencer. It's good to be seven.

Willard Bay

It's about an hour and 20 minutes north - we pack up lots of food, lots of sunscreen and as many sand toys as we can find and drive out to meet the Hreinsons. This year we were missing Mistee, she stayed home with Boston who is still only 3 weeks now. Max swam back and forth from the bouy with Jessie this year, and helped with the sand creations. Lucy was so brave and discovered her life jacket lets her float! (she might get her face wet next year, we'll see). And Sam was very suspicious of how the water moved, the waves took some getting used to. We're not the kind of family you worry about drowning.. but it's great to be with cousins.

Our Sam

He recently said/repeated his first prayer - on his knees while we were holding hands a couple of nights ago. The baby boy phase is gone now and we are in full toddle stage, in the blink of an eye he'll be a little boy. He likes to count "1..3..2". His laugh is a low throaty sound, but his voice is high and loud. He likes to play cars, shoot his finger gun at you and throws himself to the ground when you shoot him back - he uses the "f" word for fork, frog and truck.. (oh my). He also loves princess dress up shoes and applying pink lipstick. Sometimes he just wants Max to hold him and seems to trust Max over any of the other kids around. He has quite a following at church, several of the 10 and 11 year old girls love to vi for his attention, and one 16 year old boy, Hunter - who Sam will choose over any of those giggly girls. He is a mama's boy for now (I usually don't "lose" them to the dark side until their 3 or 4) but he loves to talk to his dad on the phone. He makes us smile when we are trying to be mad at each other - Happy Birthday Sam, we love our number three.

Neighborhood

An impromptu picnic, "Tyece, what are you having for lunch.. oohh, can I stay?" It's the draw of mac and cheese, combined with my desire to prolong our summer vacation just a little longer - won't be long time the majority in this picture won't be around for lunch time. We love our neighborhood; 5 families- 15 kids and only two of them girls! (We were missing the 11 year old and the three babies under one in this picture.) We've fallen into our own place where everybody knows your name - it's good.

Utah Lake

Craig and Sharlene got a new boat this summer! I'm so worried about taking my camera on the water that it wasn't until Sharlene's friend Shannon came with us this trip that we even got a few shots of how much the kids love it. Max's favorite thing is to just float in his jacket, but Lucy prefers the tube (as she usually doesn't even get wet!) As for Sam, he'll only go where his mom drags him, he'll learn how much fun you can have on UT lake when he gets a little older.

Peek-a-Boo

When he plays peek-a-boo he doesn't say boo, he pulls his chubby little hands away from his eyes and says, "alooow!" And if I don't give a yell or act scared he gives me a scowl in disappointment.

20 hour drive

Casey has been working out of town this summer - over and over he's driven to Illinois and Missouri to help with the offices he and Paul have set up. For the fourth of July we decided to drop the kids off at my/his sisters (two days at MyKels, two and Mindee's and the last at Mistee's.. man it's good to have family who loves us) and take a road trip together.


We started at 10pm and drove 20 hours straight.. stopping to sleep on the side of the road or get pulled over by suspecting cops - got to IL that night and slept off our long drive. We spent one of the days in St. Louis - doing the same tourist-y stuff that I did with my companions on my mission.
We visited the science museum, Casey's face is so funny in this picture! There is an enormous bridge to walk over the freeway, with cut outs in the floor where you can look down and see the freeway and cars passing underneath you - it's a wild feeling, and one that Casey is not entirely comfortable with.

We saw the Arch, we sat at the river front and watched an amazing display of fireworks that night.

But our favorite day was the one we spent in Nauvoo. The finished temple is so beautiful and seems to set the atmosphere of the entire place. We walked the grounds and ate lunch at a little tourist shop with a man and his fiance that were fascinated with us "Mormons" and asked all sorts of questions about the temple and how we felt about the reorganized church that they had just visited. It was very reminiscent of my mission and makes me think of how it might be when we serve together later.

We walked the trail of hope and stood next to these giant Oxen - while Casey held its horn so it wouldn't impel him.. we are not feeling as calm as we look. We went on two different wagon rides, Casey learned about how they built their cabins, and made friends with several of the Elders that offered the tours. So much so that we had to stay (and loved it) to watch them in their nightly performance with the songs and dances.

We gathered our prairie rings and our homemade bricks, and were excited to catch the end of the Nauvoo Pageant dress-rehearsal that they would be putting on just days after we were gone. I loved this trip. I'd forgotten how much fun he is.