Badminton, etc

Grandpa and Jenna about to return the birdie

 We have played a lot of Badminton this summer at my parents. The kids love playing! Mara and Wyatt were excited to learn to play. We all played a little each day when we were together.

Grandpa giving Wyatt a few pointers. He loved it! He would get so sweaty everyday when we played.

Grandma, Cole, and Wyatt

Grandma and Sara knitting

Taylor, Wyatt, and McKay

Grandpa cooking our dinner.

Rylee & Mara watching badminton.

Rachel and Noah playing Bacci Ball

Cole & Jenna, Cole LOEVS badminton!

Jenna & Krista

Sara and Audrey

More Fun with the Binghams

Cole, Audrey, and Noah had fun making trains with dominoes and knocking them down.

Wyatt enjoying a pace bar, seriously love this kid!

Mara doesn't look like she is enjoying her pace bar...

Noah trying not to look at me, he hates having his picture taken.

Jenna, not sure why her eye is closed, just glad she wasn't making her typical grumpy face.

Cole, he doesn't really like having his picture taken either.

Audrey really is the cutest little girl, love her!

Noah and Wyatt putting together a puzzle. Wyatt LOVES puzzles and amazes me how quickly he can put together difficult puzzles.

A Visit from the Binghams!

Wyatt, Jenna, & Mara doing magic tricks for us.

Ta da!

My mom and cute Audrey

 I had my gal bladder out a couple weeks ago and had a week off work. My sister, Sara, was tired of the heat in Vegas and decided to come for a visit for a week. Luckily the times overlapped so we were able to spend lots of time with her and her kids as well as my parents and other siblings. Her kids are awesome! We had so much fun just hanging out at my parents playing games, eating good food, and sharing stories and laughing.

My dad and Wyatt, he is the coolest kid!

Grandpa had a few tricks of his own.

Baseball Party

 My kids found out a few months ago that our friend, Codge, has never seen the movie Sandlot. They were beside themselves and have been so excited to have him and his wife, Michelle, over to watch the movie. So we finally found a night when our schedules lined up so we had a baseball party. We ate pizza and drank soda. Rylee and her friend, Kyle, made baseball cakes and had a decorating contest (Rylee won). We ate the baseball cakes, peanuts, popcorn, s'mores, and lots of candy. Codge enjoyed the movie and we all had fun rewatching one of our favorite classic movies.

A to Z Summer Camping

Jenna & Mike at the falls

 We had a ward camp out this past weekend. Rylee had cheer camp so couldn't come, but we decided to go without her. It was a lot of fun! We went up to a campground just past Kamas. We drove a little further to hike at Provo River Falls for a bit. We were there a year ago and were expecting even less water than last year since our snow fall was less this year. We were very surprised to find it rushing with a lot more water than the same time last year. It was beautiful!

Cole & Noah had fun hiking in the cold water

Our cute family, minus Ry.

Mike & Jenna roasting their marshmallows over the coals left from dinner.

 We went back to camp to have dinner with the ward. It started raining just after dinner, but just for a few minutes. Then some of us played volleyball, some played ultimate frisbee, some just ran around enjoying friends, and some just sat and visited. Later we roasted marshmallows and sang camp songs around the camp fire. The boys slept in the tent, Jenna in the cab of the truck, and Mike & I in the back of the truck. It started pouring rain about 2 a.m. and didn't stop for almost 2 hours. We stayed dry in the truck and since the boys didn't come find us to tell us they were getting wet, we assumed they were dry too. Luckily in the morning we found out they were. Our tent is awesome!!! It was a really fun night. I hope they make it a yearly activity.

On our way back to camp  after hiking at the falls this "little" guy crossed the road right in front of us. It was awesome! Moose are amazing animals!

The boys were all smiles in the morning, nice and dry!

Cole doing a skit with some of the other YW.

EFY

Shannon rode down with us to drop Rylee off

 Rylee went to EFY in Provo again this year. Shannon is not in the same age group so Rylee decided to go on her own. She was a little nervous about who her roommate would be and if they would get along. She ended up with a girl named, Summer who was from Kaysville. Their entire group was girls who had come alone and did not know each other previously. She said her roommate was nice, but not as fun as Shannon. I was feeling bad that she was a little bummed on the second day, but then I got a text from her the next day. It was a picture of her EFY journal full of notes she had been taking in her classes. The caption said "My testimony growing note! ;-)" Then she told me she was glad she had gone and was getting a lot out of it. That made my day! My week!

Excited!

Rylee & Summer's Room

Rylee's stash for the week.

Love this girl!

My Boy Scouts

 Cole and Noah went to Scout camp earlier this summer and had a blast! They left early on a Monday morning and came back Saturday afternoon. They came home dirty, a little sunburned, tired, and very happy! They each earned multiple merit badges, Cole earned the most of his whole troop. Cole's favorite merit badge was the Horsemanship badge. Noah and one of the other boys decided not to earn that one because they had to get up at 5 a.m. a few days at camp. Cole said they missed out. He hasn't stopped talking about going horseback riding since camp. They had a court of honor a week or so ago and they were awarded their merit badges and advancements. One of the boys in our ward got his Eagle. It was really cool and my boys have started talking about what they might do to earn their Eagles. I am so grateful they have good scout leaders and older boys in the ward that they look up to. They have a great group of boys their age and they enjoy spending time together outside of YW and scouts.