Summer Montage - 2015 (part one)

Summer was a crazy blink of an eye. I honestly don’t think I sat down once the entire three months. There is no doubt that we sucked the marrow out of this summer season, H.D. Thoreau style. We made many pleasant memories that hopefully won’t be completely forgotten if I take the time to record some of them here.
My kids are well into the new school year and thankfully all three have adjusted seamlessly (mostly). They are still talking about summer memories though, and that makes me happy. Summer can be challenging with very little breaks from being in each others company. Their chatter about the good times help me think maybe we did some things right.



First of all…hats off to Grandma Janice and Grandpa John! The Lagoon passes that were so generously given to all of us at Easter time have been one of the best highlights of our year, let alone summer. We have squeezed every drop out of those passes and have made some fantastic family memories. There was epic bonding happening in our immediate and extended family. I’m pretty sure that was my parent’s ultimate goal. I think you can count yourselves successful on that, Mom and
Dad! Thank you so, so much!




Jonathan was very selective about the rides he felt comfortable on. He would barely walk near a roller coaster but was totally okay with the mile-high Ferris wheel. I don’t get it. Being up that high freaks me out!


We discovered that Uncle Eric has some serious “Spill the Milk” skills. He won each of the boys a Minion singlehandedly.


Keeping kids busy is always a challenge in summer. I think we will always remember this as the summer of Pearler Beads and Harry Potter…


Every kid on our block (and maybe the next one over too) was at our house this summer, gathered around the table crafting with Pearler beads. Even I got into the action. My favorite creation was this family group we completed together. I love my mini skirt and naturally curly hair!



It actually got quite annoying, but the boys spent a good majority of their summer tracking down Mary Kate and begging her to read Harry Potter books out loud to them. She was incredibly busy, but I’m so grateful that she made the time to do this with her brothers. They loved every second of it! They even made it half way through book four before the summer ended. Now she is even more busy so we’ll see what happens.


Another major highlight of the summer for Mary Kate and I was going to the Utah Shakespeare Festival down in Cedar City with Grandma Janice. Mary Kate has such happy memories of Cedar City after going there every year with the school Shakespeare team. I have never been, so it was a special treat for me too. MK got to show me all her favorite spots and relive some happy memories with me. We had such a relaxing and enjoyable time. Lots of generational bonding going on. Thanks for the idea, Grandma!

While there saw fantastic productions of South Pacific and Taming of the Shrew. I honestly can’t tell you which one I enjoyed more. I’m leaning toward Shrew because it’s Shakespeare…you know.
Hopefully this is something we will do again.