Summer Days: Pool, Golf, Temple, Friends, Wyoming and More
In between our Lake Powell/Midway trip and our BYU soccer camp/G&G Walton’s house trip we had two weeks at home — June28th - July 8th — and it was full with so many things:
They were a busy two weeks for me. I spent time on the treadmill and in the sauna every day. I bought presents for Chris’ birthday, ordered wedding and open house things, figured out everyone’s clothes for the Family Dinner and Reception, bought and returned things for Megan’s new bedroom, sold mattress box springs and my tall red clock, shopped with Megan for new jeans, took the boys to the orthodontist, went to my annual mammogram appointment and had so many talks with Chris about an upcoming WY opportunity. Lots of excitement and trepidation and a whirlwind of emotions to figure out. More on that soon.
Chris was able to golf a few times during these weeks and enjoyed taking the boys golfing on Saturday. Love that they can do that together. Luke and Matt have been enjoying their weekly Golf Club. So glad to be involved in that this summer. They love being there with friends and earning tickets to redeem for soda and candy. Lots of fun Tuesday mornings.
Luke hosted a Service Party for his NJHS friends - which turned out really great. They made cards for SEND A SMILE to be given to Cancer patients, went door to door to collect canned goods for Care and Share and brought new art supplies for the local Teen Center. At the end they ate cookies and played a game. He was able to get 5 hours of Service with the planning and organizing, the actual part and getting all of the things dropped off and mailed to the right locations. It was great!
Matt has been waiting a long time for when he can have an all-day hang out with Ian and Cade. They have a great time together!
We spent the Fourth of July at the Richins house with Campbells, Jacksons and Ali and Anders (who were in town for a soccer camp). It was a great night. Good food and good friends. Love being together.
I found a SWIG cookie recipe copy cat on-line and decided to give it a try one Sunday night. So good!
We are so excited to have the Larsons back with us! We hung out at the park with them the afternoon that they pulled into Colorado Springs. It was so fun to have Matt and Ian reconnect after two years.
We spent several afternoons and evenings at the pool with the Jacksons, Larsons, Hales and Nielsens. We had beautiful weather and so many nice warm evenings. Love being at the pool.
Megan spent three days volunteering at the Air Force Academy with the Concussion Study. A great service opportunity for her and fun to be there with Romney. She also spent two days at YW Day Camp. They zip-lined up in Castle Rock, had classes, played games, had a BBQ, enjoyed a really meaningful fireside by S Richins, and took part in the testimony meeting. When Megan got home she was pretty emotional. We turned off the TV and listened to her talk about how much she loved Brother Richins’ words and felt of his spirit and love for her. It meant a lot. She also bore her testimony to the ward girls and came back on a Spiritual High. I texted our friend Scott and her leaders to thank them for putting on such a great couple of days and they all responded with how much they love Megan and really appreciated her testimony. Grateful for a really meaningful experience for her.
Megan Jackson, Matt, Ian and I brought a picnic lunch to the park in Castle Rock and met up with Anders and Ali one afternoon. Good long discussions on the way up and back and so fun to catch up with Ali. Love these ladies. It was SO GREAT to have these three boys together for a few hours.
After our Provo Week we headed to WY to check out an interesting job opportunity. Lots of time to talk through options. We checked out Douglas and then headed to Casper one of the evenings for a fun dinner and walk through the town. The kids loved staying in the hotel and eating out every meal — plus ice cream and all the treats that were left at the hotel for them. So much to think about…. that scripture down there plays a big role in this decision.
We celebrated Chris’ birthday with presents and Tiny Town games on Sunday. Then on Monday night we went out to dinner at Thai Mint with Ryan and Mindy. So fun!
Between Ryan and Cassie’s Wedding in Portland and our trip to the Lodge for the Reception — July 26 - August 5th — we had almost two weeks of more summer fun:
Swing dance camp for Megan, Luke and Matthew. Megan did two or three classes, Luke did two and Matthew did one. They all loved it. Friday night at 6:00 they performed for all of the parents at the park. It was really fun. We had fun talking to the Leishmans about we were some of the original swing dance families. Fun to reconnect with friends and watch the kids perform. So grateful for the opportunity our kids have had to learn Swing Dance with Kim.
Megan and Luke went to a Multi-Stake Dance. It was Luke’s first one and he was cute to seek Megan’s help on what to wear and what to do. Megan was happy to help him and give him some words of advice. When they arrived at the dance a girl approached Luke and asked him to dance. He stood there a bit stunned. Megan could see he was a little panicked and quickly approached and said to the girl, ‘he’ll be ready in just a few minutes’… then whisked him in to a nearby classroom to let him breathe for a minute and build up his self-confidence. When he entered the gym again he was ready to go and ended up LOVING the dance and doing standing back flips in the middle of the circle of dancing kids. Grateful to Megan for being a great big sister. At church the next day I heard the other Teachers asking Luke how many girls he danced with. “Six or Seven,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.
Lots of Tiny Towns going on these days. We pretty much leave the game on the kitchen table and play it once a day. A new favorite game.
Megan took her DRIVERS TEST and passed! So exciting!!
We headed to the temple with Jacksons, Campbells and Richins to do Baptisms for the Dead. It was Matthew’s first time and he was thrilled. So fun to be with friends and be back in the temple — the kids first time back in the temple since the beginning of COVID.
So fun having lots of friends over. I love this picture of all these different aged kids playing together in our back yard. So fun!
