One Month of Summer - Gone!?!

June is over and done with. 

This fact created a little bit of panic with my children....it means one month of Summer down, only two(ish) to go. 

[In case my kids accuse us of "not doing anything"] Here's what's happened:

Matt's Birthday!

Family Vacation to Aruba!

Big Brothers torturing loving on little sisters!

Band aids....lots of band aids!

 Cousins!

Father's Day!

{Artists: Haylee, Katelyn, & Brookelle}

The Official First-Day-of-Summer celebration!

....complete with ice cream for dinner 

and opening a present (Summer-y wardrobe additions).

Swim lessons for Brookelle!

(she's in the blue swimsuit, furthest away in the photo)


Kyle attended a "Family History" themed Youth Conference with our ward the 25th-27th and had a great experience.

He also got to "sky dive" (iFly) as part of their Super Activity.  ;)

Scout day camps for Matt (in charge of the 11 yr. old scouts) & I (in charge of Bears cub scouts) up Millcreek Canyon in East Salt Lake City.

{view from the hike}

Our family went to this production of "Savior of the World"

Ladies Bear Lake Getaway!

{meanwhile the kids had a blast at home without mom making them to do their chores ;)}

I also found out that applying sunscreen to mostly the front of your legs, and hardly on the back, 

then floating on a raft (laying on my tummy) for two hours on the lake DOES NOT provide adequate protection...and it not a good idea!

Can you say BEET RED?

Can you say extremely painful to sit down - or walk?

Can you say half a bottle of Aloe Vera gel used in 3 days?

(Incidentally, the gel caused my clothes to stick to it, then I had to RIP it off my burnt skin - OUCH!!!)

This Weekend:

* Friday, Matt & I went to the Bountiful vs. Viewmont High School football game.

I'm a BHS alumni, and Matt's a VHS alumni (MAJOR RIVALS back in our day!!!)

....and our kids go to VHS (I know! SOOO embarrassing!)...

...so WHICH TEAM should we cheer for?  And WHICH SIDE should we sit on?

Well that's easy!  I gotta go with the BRAVES!  And I DID wear [the mighty] Red & Gray!  ;)

Actually, our nephew plays on the Bountiful team, and we don't have ANY

relatives playing for the Vikings, so it was a NO BRAINER!  (For me, at least!)

We ended up in the middle of the Braves fans - on the Bountiful side, even though it was played at Viewmont.

(AND the Braves got the victory!!!)  :)

* We went to Sonic Drive-In - a brand new one was built in our community! -  afterwards for one of their gazillion flavors of slush.

I think we lucked out and only got two [completely unnecessary] phone calls from home during our "date" - maybe three...? 

*Saturday, Matt, Katelyn, Brookelle, & I went to the Ogden temple open house.

(Everyone else in our family had already had a chance to go with others.)

It just so happens that my cousin & family were volunteering there at that time!

His daughter & wife were some of the ones putting the shoe cover slippers on the guests' feet before we entered.

All during the walk-through, the girls kept admiring all the PRETTY THINGS they saw everywhere!

 They brought up several questions - which I was thrilled with!  It created a special opportunity to talk & teach about the sacredness of temples.

See HERE for explanations.

 We went to the visitor's tent afterwards, too.  They were especially enthralled with the nail marks in Christ's hands & feet and the pierce mark from the spear in his side.

* I had to go out to my work in SLC for a quick meeting, so Matt drove me there, then we

found a restaurant that was nearby - and had a coupon in the Happenings book - to eat at.  

If you don't mind flies flying all around you, average food, and waiting a REALLY long

time to get your check, you should give it a try, also!  ;)  haha.

* We went to Temple Square in Salt Lake to the Paul Cardall concert.

{Matt REALLY likes his piano music - and I do, too.}

He played a few piano pieces, then would get up and speak, then play again.

He told interesting stories, jokes, & bore testimony - it was a good mix.

* It was Fast Sunday this week (due to our Stake Conference next week on the usual 1st Sunday) so

our Maddox turkey steak dinner (& sides) seemed REALLY yummy.

We also let them have slush AFTER they ate real food.

* I made cinnamon rolls since it'd been a while, and Brookelle was sad that

she had missed them at school on the day she was absent

when we all took Ryan to the MTC.  

I think we got like 3 dozen out of the recipe, so we started taking the excess around 

to our home teaching & visiting teaching families.  (Since it WAS the last day of the month anyway!  haha!)

* Monday was the holiday, so we went out for our traditional Labor Day breakfast 

at Sill's Cafe for their famous frisbee-sized scones and hash browns with S.O.S.  Yum!

{Unless you're a Celiac, like Haylee, and she has a plate full of bacon & eggs.}

* I had to work during the day, so Kyle convinced Matt & the other kids

to go up in the Farmington mountains for a hiking Encore.

{It's SO sad I had to work!  ;0  NOT.  haha!}

This time, they went on the "Hell Hole" trail.

* We went over to the Brenchley's for a BBQ and cousin play time.

* Late at night, I finished putting together a package for our missionary, then dropped it off
on our neighbor's porch - to be delivered tomorrow.
It's really convenient that he runs an [approved & licensed] Same-Day MTC delivery business -
AND he gives a "ward discount."

This Weekend:

* While the boys were at Youth Conference...

*The rest of us headed down to Zion National Park for

a Brenchley family reunion in a 7,000 sq. ft. "cabin."

*We hiked the Riverside walk (the trail that leads to The Narrows)

 and had a sack lunch at the end, while some of us played in the water,
then we went back down to catch the shuttles to our cars in the parking lot.

*Some of the ladies stayed up way late talking.

*On Saturday, after our boys arrived (they drove down separately after YC),
we went to another part of Zion's where there are some hieroglyphics

 & more hiking...

*That night we all went to the Ponderosa Ranch for a buffet dinner put out just for our group.

*We moved from the restaurant to the playground. 

{How many grandkids can get on ONE jungle gym?}

Some of the older kids started having a swing contest - to see who could jump out the farthest.

{Kyle won}

*We played the "Loaded Questions" board game - there
were so many people, we only did one round and it still lasted hours.
There's always some real funny answers!  :)

*Some of the ladies (& Ryan 'til he fell asleep on a bench) stayed up really late talking again!
(Even usually-in-bed-by-9:00-p.m.-Julie!!!  Woo Hoo!)

*On Sunday, we drove to a small town, Orderville, about 30 min. away to attend church.
  Interestingly enough, their program was made up of a dozen or so
youth who were reporting on their youth conference they had gone to recently.
There's was called, "Journey to know Him" and it sounded like it was
similar to ours in that there was reenactments and a Christ experience, but
there's covered scriptures in the Old Testament, New Testament, & The Book of Mormon.
(All scriptures about Christ).  My boys were saying they wanted to do
that Youth Conference, too!!
(Except Ryan has run out of "youth" years.)

*Nicole brought us all a "4th of July" craft for the ladies to do.  (Thank You!)
We painted, papered, & mod podged together in the afternoon.

{Here is the finished product on my shelf at home now.}

*Later the USA soccer team was playing their game in the World Cup.
In honor of this, and the fact that the Brenchley's are such a "soccer family",
the reunion "T-shirt" this year was actually a Team USA soccer uniform!

{The Matt & Suzanne Team}

Then we all (well, not all) thought it would be a 'Ton of Fun' to build a grandkids pyramid....


Step 1: Organize the rows by child's size

Step 2: Build it one row at a time.  Base row hold very steady!!!

Step 3: Ta-Da!!!  Hold & Smile until we can get a picture!  (While still pleading the "unsure" stragglers to join the human grandkid [+ a few parents] pyramid.)

Step 4: AND THEY ALL FALL DOWN!
(You knew it was going to happen!)

*I made dinner and I'm proud to say that ALL the food & supplies for dinner made it safely to our cabin at Zion's.  And the 42 peeps were happy they got to eat!  ;)

*Each family took some time to give "updates" on each person,
then we opened it up to questions from the "audience."

*The couples played "The Newlywed Game".
There was some heated "discussion" amongst the players about what was a "correct" answer or not.
If the answers of husband & wife were NOT an exact match in wording,
but kind of meant something that resembled the answer, according to that couple's inside knowledge - was it correct?

*Some of us stayed up semi-late talking.

*On Monday, it was time to pack up and go home,
and say good-bye to the cabin.

EXCEPT WE DISCOVERED WE HAD A FLAT TIRE!
(There was a nail in it.)
We got air put in it at the nearby Ponderosa Ranch - just enough to get us to Orderville again.
WELL......funny (or unfortunate?) thing, when we'd been at church the day before,
we'd heard them announce a funeral of one of the members - and that's where the owner of the service station WAS, and the teenager left to man the place didn't know how to fix our tire.
So, we went down the road to another station.  Well, that guy was way backed up
with so many jobs (because of the overflow coming from the other low-staffed station?) that he said he didn't have time for us.  And that we'd have to move on to the next town!
So, we drove another 50 miles on borrowed air & prayers to Panguitch.
There was a REAL tire shop there, and no line!
A guy came out to help us, got down on the ground by our tire with a couple of tools,
and in no time at all he was all done and said, That'll be $20.
What?!?
We were all thinking we'd have to get a whole new tire and that it would run us
HUNDREDS of dollars!  Instead....Bang, botta, boom - same tire and it's all good!
What a BLESSING!!
Then we felt like we had $$ to eat lunch at Henrie's Drive In which was great
since we were quite hungry (& stressed) by then.

* We got home with just enough time to unload and head over to Katelyn's
primary class SHAVE ICE party that her teachers were having for Family Night treat.
She even put vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the shave ice cups!
{YUM!}
It's good to be home again.