Playing Hard

August -- can you believe it?? This time of year always brings mixed feelings. It's bitter-sweet. We're sad to see the summer coming to an end, but also excited for school to start again. So in the spirit of summer wrapping up, we have played hard the last few weeks. Here are some highlights.

We got to go to Boondocks with our Nana for her summer work party. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins who they adore. They rode go-carts and bumper boats. They played games and even played laser tag with the dads and Nana (Go, Nana!!). I wasn't able to get many pictures because we'd accidentally left the camera's memory card at the house. We had so much fun and are grateful that Nana let us tag along!

Matthew's very best friend had his birthday and we got to join his family at Classic Water Slides. Rachel played and swam until she literally dropped to sleep on her Daddy's lap.

The kids had a ball swimming, sliding, and eating pizza.

They played on giant inflatable bounce toys until they were roasting hot. Then they ran outside and jumped in the water.

Sweet Bailey watched from the sidelines.

Our ward had its end of summer swim party at the Aquatic Center. Rachel and her best friend kept Dad busy in the smaller pool.

Matthew is quite a swimmer and loved playing with his buddies at the pool.

This past Friday was our ward campout. Steve was working, so we hadn't planned on staying the night. Matt's best friend's family invited him to go with them, so he went and had a great time. The poor kid has had very limited camping experience due to the fact that his father's idea of camping is "anything less than 3 stars," so Matt ate it up. He came home Saturday very dirty, very tired, and very happy. Later that day he went upstairs to read. When I called him to dinner, he didn't respond. After a few tries, I went upstairs and found him sawing logs. :)

It's been a great summer. We are sad to see it ending, but are very excited about the beginning of a new school year.