13 July 2011

The halfway mark

Yesterday marked exactly 6 more weeks until school starts up again and summer is officially over. Sniff, sniff. Why does summer go so stinkin' fast. I'm sure my kids feel like we haven't really done anything, even though we did mark the second half of summer by heading to the library, AGAIN, and enjoying ice cream afterwards, a fun little tradition we started this summer. It sure seems all our little traditional activities always seem to include food.

Here's a recap of our summer so far.

A trip to Phoenix sans most of my kids.

Our annual trip to Manor Lands but without really going to Manor Lands. We weren't sure how the snow situation was up at the cabin, so we opted for a "camping" trip to Kamas where we stayed at the Winterton home with running water, showers, and beds. I even went for a 6 mile run one morning.
A new playset and teeter totter.

 A visit to the zoo.

A very fun family 5k with the best cheering section ever.


A Peter Breinholt concert with Jon Schmidt as a surprise guest. Fireworks followed.






(Mom/Grandma thought Peter Breinholt looked just like Tyler. Hmmmm . . . maybe.)

Cub scout day camp for Nate. I am lucky enough to be his Wolf leader and got to go.



A short trip to Ferron for an open house. While there we had an unexpected visitor show up. Paul Johanson. I hadn't seen him since he was 7 and I was about 9 when they moved to South Carolina. I was good friends with his sister Mary. Dad asked if I knew who he was. I took one look and said, "He's a Johanson." Then Dad asked if I knew his first name. I answered, "Paul." I think I shocked everyone, including myself, that I would remember someone I haven't seen in about 26 years. He was passing through and wanted to see if he remembered anyone. I'm glad he did. I also got to catch up with another good childhood friend, Amber. Love going home and seeing old faces. (Also got in a 8.5 mile run; that 1/2 marathon is creeping up.)

While the boys spent time in Ferron, we talked the girls into cruising the Jordan River Parkway on bikes and rollerblades instead of going to a parade on the 4th. Lucky for us, Grandma Laura and Grandpa Brian came along for breakfast because we forgot the bike piece that connects the bike trailer to the bike for Alex.

Practiced our nursing skills on this poor girl. Natalie tore her ACL playing tennis and ended up having surgery the day before her mom (my mom) left for Phoenix to attend a baby blessing. The poor girl was miserable and just wanted to be home. Notice the little red cowbell? That's our dinner bell and she was under strict orders to ring it anytime she needed something and four darling little angels would magically appear.

Ate hot dogs and ice cream at a neighborhood party. We are loving our new neighborhood and seriously could not imagine living anywhere else. (Did a 10 mile run on this day.)

AND . . . yard projects galore. I swear we are the only ones on the block that have tackled the entire acre at once. It is slowly starting to take shape thanks to Tyler who has kept on top of it all. I think the one thing that has surprised me the most with building a home and putting in a yard is how everything interconnects. You make decisions WAY before you ever thought you'd need to. You end up doing things that you thought could be put off until next year just because it's more cost efficient to do them now. Just wondering what next summer will be like. In the meantime we're finishing up a deck and walkways and getting ready for sprinklers.



1 comment:

mommaquincy said...

Sounds like you've done a lot of fun stuff to me, except for the running!