Some Small Summer Snippets

Yikes! Has it really been an entire month since I last recorded anything on this blog? Apparently the part of me that wished to stay away from the computer all summer has been winning over the part of me that wanted to record everything. In any case, since I'm so far behind, I've decided to post some pictures of what our summer has been like so far in hopes that some day these pictures will spark memories, even though there are few words to describe our happenings.

Hallee went on Trek this year. Isn't she a beautiful pioneer woman? I was proud of her. Temperatures were over 100 degrees but she came home telling us what a good experience it was. Man alive, I missed her while she was gone!

When Regyn gets bored, watch out! One day she asked me if she could give Boston a makeover. I told her yes, and this is what she came up with. I laugh every time I see it. Those eyebrows just crack me up!

Regyn also came up with an idea to "sell" free water. I was desperate for her to find something to do so I agreed. The next thing I knew, she came in with money. Surprised, I questioned her, wondering how she got money if the water was free. "Oh," she said, "the water is free, but this money is from tips!" That is one clever girl, let me tell you!

Yet another "nose job" for me. Still trying to reconstruct my nose from the skin cancer I had a couple of years ago. I've decided plastic surgery is not for me!

Nate's baseball team won the state championship this year, finally beating a team that had beat them all year long. It was a sweet victory!

This group of boys is so darn cute! Great kids and really great coaches. I sure appreciate good coaches. They teach kids so much more than just how to play the game. It's what I love about sports.

My favorite Dawgs player. Man, I love this kid!

An afternoon at the Kaysville Splash Park. I love seeing my kids smile. It's medicine to my soul.

I especially love it when my children are enjoying life together. Nothing greater.

Hallee and Nate have woken up early two days a week to do SPARQ training, a Nike sports training geared to help them improve their speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness. These pictures are of the jump training they did one day. It's fun to see their progress.

Our wonderful upstairs neighbors, the Wardens, throw a big birthday party for their oldest son every summer. Last year they rented a dunking machine. This year it was this huge water slide. It was seriously as big as my house!

The kids sure had a blast playing on it, though. 

Hallee and Berkley just watched from the sidelines. I never dreamed my 13-year-old could be such great friends with my two-year-old, but they sure love each other. 

There's nothing my kids love more than to have cousins visit and sleep over. This is what our living room looks like when the cousins come. These kids came for swim lessons, and we loved having them!

Speaking of swim lessons, here is my little niece, Olivia, learning the back float. She was hilarious, begging to go back on the cement with her mother during her entire lesson each day. Then, she came out of the pool one day, after acting miserable the whole time, and said, "Did I have fun or what?" We will laugh about that for a while.

Speaking of Olivia, here is the makeover she received from Regyn. I love it!

One more picture of it, just because it's so . . . unique! LOL

At the Splash Park with cousins, Michael and Kaden

Berkley wasn't sure about the whole swimming thing.

Regyn and two of her best friends/cousins--Mylee and Mireya

We've had lots of fun with cousins this summer. I feel that is such a great blessing--cousins that are best friends, too.

Hallee played in an outdoor doubles tournament with one of her dear friends, Suzanne Katoa. It was definitely a change from indoor volleyball, but they had a great time, and they won second place in their division, which scored them $20 gift cards to WalMart. Can't beat that!

Don't they look intense? Wish I had better pictures, but I got too busy watching and forgot to snap some.

Here is a picture of Berkley riding her little motor scooter. She cracks me up on that thing! She looks so big!

Love that little smile.

Had to post this view because it's so funny to me what this girl wears--in her panties and boots. And she insisted on wearing that jacket, even though it was over 100 degrees outside.

Here is a picture of Nate after pulling weeds for a neighbor for three hours. It's hard to see all the dirt and grime on him from this picture, but I told him he would be glad to have a picture of him working to show his children some day.

Most people did something fun and relaxing for July 24th--not us! Dan was in charge and decided we were going to go to the track and have a little family fitness competition. Here they are seeing how many sit-ups they can do in one minute. Even Berkley got involved. I was the score keeper/timer/photographer since I have had too many sports injures to participate much. 

Dan, Hallee and Nate ran a 300 meter dash, but Regyn and Boston only ran 100 meters. They did great!

Here is the push-up competition. Hallee did NOT win this one:)

Lastly, they were going to run the mile. Only Dan made it the whole way. The other kids cheated a bit. I was still proud of them for their great attitudes and participation. It was a memorable 24th.

Summer life is definitely a change from the other nine months of the year when the kids are in school and schedules are a must. Summer holds it's own share of challenges, like how to keep 5 kids busy so I don't go crazy listening to them whine and complain about being bored and hungry all day long. Some days are wonderful; some are hardly bearable. But all in all, life is good and I am grateful every day for five kids that call me "Mother" and a husband who puts up with me.

Even on really hard days, I go to bed and ask myself this question, "Could life really be any better?" And the answer is always the same. . .

Nope!