Rainy Rides

The kids have been riding their bikes all over the neighborhood this summer, and more than once they've gotten caught in the rain! At least the weather is warm.

Drains

After a big storm, a lot of the drains in our neighborhood got clogged. so we decided to unclog them one evening for FHE. Jake was pleased to be able to push the wheelbarrow all by himself, and then older kids felt pleased with their community service. 

Lawn Mower

This is the second summer Logan has been the one to mow our lawn. He is looking forward to next summer when we've said he could try and get a neighbor or two to pay him to mow their lawns. He asked me to take a picture of him and his freshly mown lawn to put on the flier he's going to make to advertise. I really hope he gets at least one customer: this kid has always been willing to work to make money, he just didn't have any really marketable skills. Hopefully next year that will change!

Lake and Hike

One of the highlights of the trip for our family was spending time on the lake at the house. The kids learned to kayak and paddle board and enjoyed the paddle boat too!

Jason took at hike with some of the family to a pretty waterfall.

It was a beautiful place to be and we loved our time there!

Vacation Heber City

The end of the week was the main reason we went to Utah: the Wickman Family reunion in Heber City. We stayed at an amazing "house" that had nine bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 4 levels, a theater room, a game room with pool table and ping pong table and Foosball table, a pool and hot tub, and it's own private lake. Needless to say, there was plenty to do and plenty of space for the 30 of us who were there.

Jason, his siblings, and their mom.

All of Jason's first cousins on that side of the family.

Jason's mom and her brother Uncle Lance (who sealed me and Jason--cool guy!)

The whole group!

We had fun with cousins we know and getting to know new ones!

Jake convinced lots of big kids to come play with him in the toy room.

We loved the pool!

And the fire pits!

BYU and Salt Lake City

Never having been to this part of Utah as a family, Jason and I were excited to show our kids BYU (where we met!) and Salt Lake City. 

It was fun to wander around campus and see how much as changed, and that some things are just the same!

Some of the buildings have awesome things to look at!

And the bookstore held all sorts of souvenir options!

We went to some of the campus museums and had too much fun.

Lunch at the Creamery where mom did most of her grocery shopping Freshman year was one of their favorite parts.

The next day we toured the Temple grounds and visitor's center and really enjoyed the Spirit there.

We also took time to have a little fun with it all!

We couldn't see the organist behind the organ in the tabernacle so I joked it was a ghost and Jake was convinced I was right.

We also toured the conference center; the roof was a highlight. When we first got up there Jake said, "Um...I don't think this is really the roof!" Sure doesn't look like any roof I've ever seen! So pretty.

You really get a feel for how big it is when you see it from the top!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip: vacationing is hard work!

Vacation

For our summer vacation this year we drove to Utah for a family reunion with Jason's Mom's brothers and all their kids and families. On the drive there we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Quillen's house and enjoyed seeing them for the first time since they got home from China. The kids all loved their presents from China, including this dress Ali got (which was actually from Vietnam).

We loved seeing my brother JD and his family and my sister Emily and her family, and I loved that the ladies came up with the idea for a girl's night with fudge, massages, and nails. It made my short stop over with them feel like more of a visit and was so much fun.

For the first couple of days in Utah we stayed with our good friends the Andersons. These are the kind of friends that, no matter how long it's been since you saw them (a couple years in our cases), it feels like no time as passes.

First Day

This year is a little different for our family, schoolwise. We have two Middle Schoolers (!), one in 3rd grade at the Elementary School, and one Preschooler. We we have three different send off times beginning at 7:30am and ending at 9am. But everyone is excited for what the year will bring, so we'll make adjustments and enjoy the ride!

We got to go check out lockers and walk the Middle School to find classes a couple days before school started. I was impressed with how confident and self sufficient these two were in finding their classes!

Then we got to go to our familiar stomping grounds and see Eli's teacher who was actually Ali's teacher last year (she changed the grade she's teaching), so even that feels very familiar and comfortable!

Hardly any (at least visible) jitters for these two! So ready for 6th grade!

And all smiles here!

We'll have another update when Jake starts in two more weeks, and until then he is enjoying time with mommy.

Dominos

Look at that domino chain! Teamwork and persistence!

Indiana Dunes

We had planed a camping trip to Nauvoo, but the weather called for thunderstorms, so at the last minute we changed our plans to a day trip to the Indiana Sand Dunes. We had such a fun day! When we first got there Jake decided the wind was too cold and wanted to go home. He cried for a while and then I was finally able to convince him he'd be warm enough if he wore my cover-up! 

The water was REALLY cold, but that never seems to stop kids.

He finally warmed up and had fun!

We cooked hot dogs over a fire for dinner, and while we were waiting for dad to get it all set up the kids and I found this cool bridge! They were braver than me and went out as far as I would let them...!