A Summer of Adventure!

Well, the summer is winding down. We've had a wonderful and full one, and school starts again in two days, so I thought I'd do a blog about our activites!

(posting text now, photos to come...)

We started our summer off with a bang. The kids and I left for St. George just an hour after school got out on Friday, June 3rd. (Mike had to work, but he joined us a week later.) We stayed with Grandpa Cannon. On Saturday, June 4th, the kids' cousin was baptized, so we got to be there to celebrate with him. We spent the next week and a half playing with cousins, going to splash pads, swimming, eating out with Grandpa, visiting the St. George temple (the kids did a tour of the visitors' center one day, and Care and I got to do a session on another), BBQ-ing, visiting Great-Grampy Cannon and Aunt Mary, and going to the downtown evening open-air movie. Mike met up with us on the 10th, and we spent the 11th-12th at the cabin (we had to put all the furniture back together after a rather sever winter-season flood and basement rebuild). It was a wonderful vacation, and a perfect start to our summer!

June 17th, Jeremy turned 9! We celebrated by going to Mr. Popper's Penguins, the movie, which was released that day!!

We were able to put the kids in swimming lessons this summer--such fun for them, and such a relief for Mom! Jen, Jer, and Jessie attened 2 sessions (2 weeks each), and Jonathan attended 1. They went from June 20th-30th and from July 5th-15th. They made so much progress. Jess can put her head under water without even plugging her nose, Jeremy can jump off the diving board in the way-deep end without me worrying too much, and the 2 big kids became much stronger in technique and different strokes. Hooray! Swimming at the pool is so much more fun, now!!

Jonathan, Jennifer, Jeremy, and I went to 7 Peaks for a fun day in the sun on June 22nd. Jen and Jer had earned passes for reading this spring. We had a blast doing "big kid" stuff (Jessie got to stay at Kirk and Amy's with cousins!) The kids also met up with their Burns cousins, so it was double the fun!

June 24th-26th, the boys (Mike, Jonathan, and Jer) went to the cabin. They planned to work on building the fire pit. They ended up not being about to build it (the guy who was going to help them became unavailable), but it was a great weekend anyway.

Grandpa C. and Care and the kids came north to visit next. They got to stay from July 1st-7th. This was a full and relaxing visit. We had enough time to play, lots, but we didn't have to rush anything. I wish we could do this more often! While they were here, we all went to Grandpa's Aunt Pauline's 80th birthday celebration, we got to swim at the pool, we went to the Freedom Festival fireworks (July 2nd), the balloon festival and Grand Parade (4th), and our town's 4th of July fireworks.

Jeremy spent July 11th-15th at a Secret Agent Lab science camp. He had found out about it through school and really wanted to go. They learned all about forensics, lasers, and they even built a safe! He had so much fun--it was a perfect activity for him!

It was back to the cabin on July 15th-17th. The new fire pit was finally finished, so we got to try it out! We were able to have Grandpa and Grandma Richards, as well as Mike's Aunt Loya, come to stay with us. They came to attend a play at the Shakespearean Festival, and we also got to have one wonderful evening by the fire pit!

We got home Sunday night just in time to get Jonathan packed for Scout Camp. He left the next morning (the 18th) and was gone to Fairview till Saturday the 23rd. He earned 9 merit badges while he was there!

The next week, too, we went to the cabin--this time with Grandpa C., Care and the kids, and Mike's business partner, Mark, and his daughter. Mike and Mark did some good business planning, and we all had some great relaxation time as well. We spent Pioneer Day weekend there, from July 24th-26th. On that holiday Monday, the 25th, we rented 4-wheelers for the entire day. It was sooo much fun!

July 28th, my dear, dear friend Jenny came to visit. They were here from Oregon for a vacation, and it was so fun to see her and catch up on our crazy lives!

August 1st was our anniversary. Mike and I spent the day up the canyon. We hiked to Stewart Falls, explored Cascade Springs, and then had a gorgeous dinner at Sundance's Foundry Grill. It was a perfect day!

Our family spent an afternoon downtown on August 6th at Discovery Gateway. Jen had a family pass from school, and we really enjoyed it. It's such a fun place for the kids to play and explore!

The final big activity of the summer was a production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, in which our two big kids participated. Mike's sister, Ellen, put on the show, including several families (cousins and friends), on their stage as a summer project for the kids. Jonathan was cast as Dogberry, the very funny constable, and Jen played Ursula, Hero's waiting gentlewoman. There were two showings on August 13th. Both kids did such a great job, and the play was a success!