Catch up

I hate to brag, but I do have to honestly say that I am pretty darn good at procrastinating. I used to be, at least. -sigh- When I was in school, I could work really well under pressure and get a lot done at the last minute. A lot of things have changed since then. For one, I've gotten dumb. Not that I was ever the sharpest tool in the shed, but I could usually hold my own. Now, I am just kinda dumb. Sorry, I digress. The point I was trying to get to is that I'm not as good at cranking out high volumes of productivity at once. It used to be a challenge. Now I just get overwhelmed and don't want to do it. So, with a blog it shouldn't matter. I have no deadlines, nobody really cares about whether I do it or not. Okay, I do, but that's, again, not the point. After being unable to blog for so long, I feel like I have a ton that I'd like to catch up on. I've sure thought about wonderful, witty blog posts over the last few months. I just sit here and feel overwhelmed. The old (smarter) me would see the challenge and buckle down to do it and dazzle. Now? I'm thinking I just need to get started. So here goes: --warning-- picture overload.

We started out our summer with swimming lessons. My kids love swimming and we love our little aquatic center. Both Matt and Rachel did really well. Bailey could have done a "Mommy and Me" class this year, but was too young for official lessons. We didn't do the Mommy and Me for several reasons. One, I felt like I needed to be available for the other two kids - especially if Rachel needed help. The other, bigger reason is that the Mommy part of Mommy and Me shouldn't put on a bathing suit and be in public. Next year, Bailey, next year.




The kids logged oodles of hours playing in the water. They ran in sprinklers, played on the ol' slip & slide, played with water balloons, and soaked in the wading pool. I came home one day from running errands and found Steve and the girls cooling off.




Another thing that consumed a TON of time this summer was our garden. It was an awful lot of work, but it was a great experience. Really. No, really. "Our" garden kind of ended up being "my" garden pretty quickly, as I was the gal out breaking my back in the dirt. :) Bailey actually spent a lot of time "helping" me. Truly, though, our little garden worked miracles this year. We loved all the fresh produce, but the experience was the most valuable part. Remember my little Bailey who had such issues with tactile and sensory things? You know, the one who wouldn't eat forever? Fist off, she started out not hardly wanting to touch the dirt. After a few weeks, she was digging and playing like it was the most natural thing on earth. The other wonder was that this child ate just about everything from the garden. All of the work was so worth my kids eating carrots, peas, beans, spinach, squash, etc.



We spent a few days in Salt Lake with family and it was a blast! My sisters and I took the kids to the Gateway one afternoon and they played in the fountains. They were soaking wet and happy!



Becky and I sat in a tiny corner of shade with the littlest ones who didn't want to get wet. The kids and their wonderful Aunt Margaret all took part in the play.



One of the many, many things I love about living in Logan is the parades. The picture below is of the kids at the 24th of July parade. They love it for the things to see and the candy that everyone throws. (I found the girls a couple of days later playing "parade." They were prancing around the livingroom and throwing candy and small toys to each other.)



Several times during the summer we made day trips to Bear Lake. We packed lunches and water and headed up. The kids loved playing in the water and costructing elaborate cities in the sand. It was wonderful! It was so nice having everyone old enough that we could play with them or just sit back and watch. Steve just kept saying, "Why don't we do this more often?" We loved being so close to such a fantastic get-away.












Another thing on our summer wish list was to ride the Frontrunner Train. Ever since it started running, we'd been saying that we wanted to give it a try. One day we drove to Ogden and left our car at the station. We then rode the train down to Salt Lake where we got to ride Trax as well. We had lunch and then walked around the Gateway. It was a lot of fun and the kiddos loved the train.



We were able to have the kids' Ogden cousins up for a few days. Matt loves hanging out with his cousins and the girls adore them because they are so sweet with them. One afternoon we went bowling and had a blast. Bumper bowling while listening to the Beatles...heavenly. :)



Steve's mom has a summer work party every year and families are invited to attend. This year we went to Wheeler Farm. It was fun to see Nana and Steve's brother and his family. We ate, played games, and visited. Good times.




I included this next picture 'cause it's so seldom that we get one of all of us. Just disregard the fact that it looks like I have a second head sprouting from my right shoulder.



Another summer favorite is the County Fair. Love it!! Rachel got to ride a pony and was in heaven. The pony's name was Cocoa and she talked about it for weeks.



The local Ballet had a booth set up as well. The girls thought that this carriage was so amazing because it was "a real princess carriage." We even won tickets in a drawing to go to the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea that they have when they perform the Nutcracker.
We always enjoy walking through the fair and seeing the animals. We're all city folk and don't really understand the whole showing of the livestock and such, but hey, who doesn't love pigs, goats, and sheep? We had our traditional fair corn and Matt even sampled some fried Coca Cola.



We had such a fantastic summer! I literally have tons of pictures and have just shared a sampling. :) We weren't able to go on any big trips, but we did lots of fun day trips and ended the summer feeling like we did just about everything we wanted to.
With the wrapping up of summer came the beginning of school. Always bitter-sweet. It was a little sad to see the summer end, but it's always so exciting to start a new school year. Matt started 6th grade at the Middle School and Rachel started preschool.






Our family tradition is to have a Back to School dinner the night before school starts. We eat dinner on cafeteria trays and talk about the new school year. We reminisce about prior years and share what we're most excited about and goals for the year.



I'm happy to report that we all made it through the beginning of the new school year. Okay, so I wasn't worried about the kids making it; it was their Mom I was concerned for. :) Matt loves Middle school and Rachel adores preschool.




In a nutshell, that was our summer. It was terrific.