Summer update

School's in session which means technically summer has come to an end. I have to admit that this past week has been rather quiet and a little subdued. I did get in my last kid date with Alex on Wednesday. This summer I took each kid individually school shopping and to lunch. I love lunch dates with my kids and the one-on-one it gives me to chat and bond.

Let's see. There were swimming lessons

and a couple of concerts. ABBA was so much fun and Peter Breinholt is always a good show.

There was a new nephew to be snuggled,


and preschool graduation for Alex and his friend Kristin. This year we tried the Utah state sponsored online preschool called Upstart. I was very impressed at how quickly and how well Alex was reading after just a couple of months.

We took a day trip to Great Basin National Park to tour Lehman Caves and hiked to some very, very ancient Bristlecone Pines, and . . .

what's road trip without a shoe tree. Boy did that bring back memories of our trips to Oregon and the shoe tree we would pass on our way to Grandma's house.

There was hiking. I've always thought my kids enjoyed hiking. Guess I was wrong or so they tell me. But we still take them anyway. Silver Lake up Big Cottonwood canyon is one of our favorites and this year we decided to hike to Lake Mary and Twin Lakes and loop back around to Silver Lake. On our way up, four moose were meandering down the path. I don't think I've ever been that close, especially to four. We were just hoping they would mind their own business.

Summer relaxing is a must. Kiersten deserved it with all her running and school work she was required to do.

I took my graduated Laurels (5 of the 7) out to dinner to celebrate one last time together before they all took off for their various parts of the world -- a couple of BYU-Idaho, one to USU, another to Snow, one on a mission to Switzerland, and another to SUU (although she has now decided to stay home).

Our fun sixth-grade-teacher neighbor held weekly science classes for the kids. One day they did solar ovens which we tried again at home.

On our way home from touring USU campus, we stopped in Ogden for dinner and found this cute baby grand on the sidewalk just begging to be played. So my pianists obliged.


And that is just a small sliver of some of our summer. I love when summers begin. I love summers. And I love when summers come to and end. I guess I love change. It sparks something in me to do things differently.

Good things
chocolate chips
bus transportation
air conditioning