Intense Fun!

We have had a few busy weeks this summer.  The month of June was relaxed and laid back and I was able to just do fun things with the kids.  But then July hit and we haven't been able to catch up with ourselves.  I know this is just how life goes.  We only have 8 days until school starts and I wish it was 88.  We've been busy but it has truly been a nice summer. 

We have loved going to the pool.  This is the first summer that we have actually been able to enjoy the outdoor pools.  Usually it is too chilly and windy to swim outside very much, but not this year.  It has been perfect weather for outdoor swimming.

 We took the children camping and picking huckleberries.  Oh how we love huckleberries.  The only draw back of loving huckleberries is that it takes a huge effort to get just a few.  We picked for two and a half hours and picked half a gallon.  Sorry, but these berries, we don't share. 

 We went camping and huckleberry picking the night before and morning of the Lay Family Reunion.  We'll just say that we WERE going to be on time for the reunion, but our tire decided to explode.  I've never experienced a blow-out before.  Thankfully, handy man Russ was there to take care of it.  I can't tell you how grateful I am that the tire went when Russ was with us.  We've been all over the country on numerous trips without Russ in the past couple of weeks.  I would have snapped.  Had a huge fit and meltdown.  As it was, I was able to stand back and take pictures.  (Oh, I did have to put my foot on the brake to keep the tire from spinning!)

 We made it to the Lay Family Reunion, just three hours late.  But we were able to play with cousins and visit aunts and uncles.  The children had great fun.  Henry especially enjoyed the homemade rootbeer!

 We celebrated Chris's third birthday the day after the reunion, so there were still lots of cousins running around to share in the fun.  And let me tell ya, it was a lot of fun.  Chris was so cute and excited about his birthday.  Can you tell that he loves motorcycles?  Loves them!  And I love him.  He is such a joy to have in our family.

We left the children with grandparents for four days while Russ returned to work and I went to Girls' Camp with the 12-17 year old girls from our church.  Girls are so silly but lots of fun.  We went on a lovely hike, made some crafts, enjoyed each other, and created some new friendships.

 I returned from camp, picked up Russ, picked up flowers, and drove to Townsend.  We worked all day Friday on the set up of the wedding.  We were hot, tired, sweaty, and I think the only one that was exuberant was Andrew!!!!

 We had rehearsal Friday night and everybody got their parts worked out.  We returned home and the children wrestled with Travis Catt, Andrew's friend that he served his mission with.  Then they crashed and slept hard.

 My job was the flowers.  I still enjoy doing flowers and Julie's were beautiful.  The lilies had me worried.  Not very many of them opened up, but just enough did so that there were some splashes of orange.  The groomsmen just wore white shirts so the boutonnieres had a hard time staying upright.  I also made the flower clips for the flower girls hair and I tied ribbon on their baskets.

 Saturday was the wedding and it was a wonderful wedding.  Their wedding was held at Julie's uncle's cabins.  After the reception, they rode into (actually away from) the sunset on horses.  Every girl's dream, right!!!  Oh and in case you didn't notice, I'm the one in the orange shirt.  You know me, just had to be different!