June

When June started, the girls were still on their Disneyland/Universal choir trip. They had a beach day which they loved, of course.

I loved getting to see pictures of their adventures.

The boys, Eve and I had some fun adventures at home. Our nice neighbors gave us an old power wheel car they had:

It runs the best with just Eve in it and it's hilarious to watch her drive it.

I picked up Natalie's script for her. She signed up for the Ovation summer intensive which was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! Natalie got the part of the baker and was in the ensemble a lot.

We went swimming at the Jerome pool:

We also got a cheapy plastic pool which Eve loved:

Unfortunately, George liked it too and kept jumping in:

We also went to see Shoshone Falls and to Dierkes with Regina and her girls:

Eli was nervous about going on the platform.

It had been a while since we saw that much water over the falls:

Another beautiful sunrise:

Eli tried out for a soccer league starting in the fall and Eve loved wearing my sunglasses while we waited for him:

To give the boys something productive to do over the summer, I made them some bingo cards to earn privileges. One of the squares was cooking. Eli made this steak dinner all by himself (with me guiding him):

It was delicious!

Nate made this breakfast for us:

He makes really delicious hash browns.

For Father's Day, we went on a hike under the bridge together:

Joe and the girls decided they wanted to leave the trail and try to climb up the canyon wall while I took the rest of the kids back up the trail. It ended up being a scary climb in parts but they sure had a great view:

We also spent a lot of time watching Nate play on the Bombers All-Star team over the summer. Their team struggled a bit but Nate had some great plays. I wish I had more pictures of him but I do have this one of Eve while we waited for a game:

I also took this screenshot of one of his hits:

We drove to CA for Abby & Gena's wedding and then a few days of the Allen reunion in Greenwood before we had to get back so the girls could go to YW Camp. It was a quick trip but we loved being there for Abby's big day.

We were also so grateful to Leah for being our dogsitter:

Look at these gorgeous pictures:

It was SO hot. :)

Eve played in the fountain a bit to cool off:

The sealing was so beautiful and I loved being in the temple with my siblings and my Dad again (sadly my Mom wasn't up for it).

Gorgeous couple:

Their reception was a lot of fun, too, with dancing, a photo booth and a donut bar:

After that we headed up to Greenwood and shared a place with Matt, Melissa and Andrew. Matt put in a lot of work to get Eve to warm up to him and it worked. She talked about him for months after. We went on a quick hike on morning:

Eve loved throwing rocks into this stream:

We got to swim in the pool at least once:

I do love swimming with my kids.

We were able to grab burgers with Brad and Kelli and kids but other than that we didn't get much time with people and had to leave the next day. The girls sure had a great time at YW Camp, though, so I was glad we got them home for that. It was with the stake this year and they did a great job putting it together. i loved seeing the pictures from home:

I loved that Regina got to up there with them and especially loved these pictures before the 80s dance:

Meanwhile I had fun with these ones at home:

The younger kids and I had an adventure one day with Maddy. We decided to go down the canyon to a spot I'd heard about. I took the truck so we could throw the kayak in the back. I did not know, however, what the road down was like and it was a bit scary. Eli was so worried about the road that he wanted to get out and walk and I let him. Then, as we're going and going and not finding a place to stop or turn around, the gas light turns on and I start to panic that we wouldn't have enough gas to get back up to a gas station. We ended up turning around on the path we were on even though we scratched up the sides of the truck with tree branches. We met up with Eli and just picked a small pond to settle next to and called it good. It ended up being a nice outing eating our Subway sandwiches and taking turns on the kayak. 

I crave nature time and I think we need more of it in our family.

Joe had another mishap with his knife and needed stitches (luckily it was not nearly as bad as the last one):

It was a great first month of summer!