August little things

I have been contemplating over this last month about how for the past almost 14 years, besides school, Braxton and I have had very similar experiences when it comes to family time.  We have the same memories most of the time, then he goes off to Spain for three weeks and it is like a giant gap in our memories.  We just carried on without him and he experienced many many things that I will only know of through pictures.  For me as the mom this is very strange and foreign.  I am happy he was able to go, just feel very unsure about how much he grew up and experienced while he was in a far away place.  I like to talk to my children everyday and see how their days went and often there were days without much communication.  I guess it was a small preparation to when I will only hear from him 1 time per week and only by letter.  

I finally got the boys to the skate park and the library.  They only had asked me 500 times to take them there, but the summer just got away from us.  I was sad we only made it to the library one time, I need to re-prioritize next year.  They read everyday they were home, but we just slacked a bit too much.

It was our 17th wedding Anniversary, and Shane bought me these beautiful roses that made my day.  I had young women's that night at a water slide, so I invited him along and we stopped for ice cream at Peach City on the way home, just the two of us.  It was a good day.  We have been married a very long time and are getting old.

The annual carving out of the zucchini.  Man they love to let the zucchini grow huge and carve them out to float them in the tub.  Such sweet, happy little boys I have.

More Lagoon time.  We spent many hot summer days here this year and had a great time.

James, Carrera, Cameron, and Ridge

Weber County Fair this year had a kangaroo exhibit.  It was neat to see the kangaroos and even pet the baby.  We went to see our cousins Dalton and Gunnar show their sheep.

3 weeks in Spain

Braxton had the wonderful opportunity to go visit Gonzalo's family in Logrono Spain this summer.  He spent 3 weeks with them and had the time of his life.  I was sad to see him go and we all learned a lot while he was gone.  We realized all the things we missed about Brax (like how he constantly entertains his brothers and says OK Mom when I ask his to do something) and all the things we didn't (like how he doesn't keep his hands off his brothers).  He realized what it was like to not lift a finger to help out for three whole weeks and grew pretty accustomed to their (the children in the family) laid back lifestyle.  He couldn't even clear his place at the dinner table or make his bed.  The only requirement was to put your clothes in the laundry basket, that the maid washed and placed on your bed the next morning.  Spoiled!

He brought home the most wonderful gift a family could have given us, a book full of pictures and a flash drive with the rest made into a slide show. 

These are some of the only ones he sent us by phone while he was in Spain.  I can't even say how many times we texted him "send more pics".  He started to take more as the trip went on, but these are some of the few we received in the first few days. 

A hot plate they had at a restaurant where you cooked your own meat to your liking.  It looks gross, but he said it tasted wonderful.

A church near their house.

A picture of the outside of their other house in the village.  It was about 30 minutes away on the outskirts of town. 

Gonzalo's family has a vineyard with their own line of wine products as well as a construction company.  The construction company is building this LDS church not to far from their home in Logrono.  Not quite finished, but almost.

They spent 5 days at a place called PortAventura that is near the ocean.  It is a theme park similar to Disneyland or Epcot.  This is a big waterslide there.  And below is a Ferrari he thought was awesome.

Bear Lake

 My sweet niece and nephew came in to work and I served them.  They are so sweet.

 It was the annual friend trip to Bear Lake.  It started off with a flat tire on the way.  It was pretty easy to change.  We went to the Bear Lake on Friday and to Bloomington Lake on Saturday after we went down the zip line.  The kids loved it.  My favorite part is always Bear Lake.  It is just a magnificent, beautiful place to be.  The kids play for hours and I have acquired quite a love for the kayak.  Shane and I both got quite a sunburn.
We have such great friends and our children all get along so well.  This is one trip I look forward to every summer.

4th of July, adoption and more Lagoon

This year both Cameron and Dakota carried flags at the beginning of the parade.  Dakota actually carried the banner.  Scouts sure gives them opportunities for service and also for learning about respecting the flag and their country.

To earn money for Braxton to go to Spain in August our family drove the pumpkin train around for kids and charged 50 cents.  It was crazy busy and very hot, but we earned a lot of money and helped him out a lot.  Getting the kids to help was a bit tricky, but luckily Tara needed to advertise for Head Start, so we killed two birds with one stone.  The firefighters sprayed the kids at the end of the day and man did they get soaked.  It was like a shower with your clothes on.  They didn't ever dry, just finally changed clothes later that day.

Time for New glasses, here Dakota is trying on new frames.

Troy adopted his step-daughter Eliza during July.  It was a wonderful opportunity to watch court hearing and congratulate Eliza on her new adoption.

More Lagoon.  We have been spending one day a week at Lagoon with our cousins.  It is really hot, but we have a great time.  Thank goodness there is a lot of trees there, because this heat is bad. Braxton is such a great helper and he really enjoys the little ones.  

The final decision on new glasses.  Dakota is headed to 6th grade and I must say he is very handsome!

June Happenings

Cameron and Dakota had a spring piano recital and both did a great job.  They practice so hard for these events and I love to sit and hear them play. 

Grandma Becky gave each of the boys a cross stitch to do and they LOVED it.  Braxton finished his super fast.  He loves to have his hands busy. It was so fun to sit around on Grandma's floor and get a lesson on how to cross stitch and then go over and show her the finished product.  Becky retired this summer and it has been really fun for the boys to stop over and see her during the day.

We got our oil changed at John Watson's and the boys made a hut out of the large floor mats.  Such handsome, hiding boys.

More Lagoon Fun.  This time it was for the Facer Family Reunion.  Every year my Mom and Dad pay for lodging for us to go on a weekend adventure all around the state.  We have been to many places, and this year we decided to utilize our passes to Lagoon and stay at Troy and Hailey's up in Mt. Green.  We camped out back and it was beautiful.  It was raining so our plans of going to LagoonABeach were ruined, but we made the best of it and watched a movie at their house and went later to ride the rides.  Sunday we went for a beautiful hike up to a cabin.

And as usual we all crashed out on the drive home after a fun, long, exhausting weekend.

Just a pic of the pumpkin starting to grow with its seed still attached to the leaf.  The seed was red because it was treated.

Braxton went to Camp Hull for scout camp this year.  He did his cycling merit badge that encompassed 50 miles on the bike and he came home pretty sore.

A strange thing we saw in the patch one green and one white.  It isn't currently white, so not sure if it made it or not, but I thought it was neat.

Weston Family Reunion at Rockport.  Cameron caught this awesome fish and the rangers stopped by with some birds.  One falcon and one owl. It was so strange to not have Braxton there with us.  He was at scout camp. 

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend all week at girls camp in June.  We got home from the Weston Reunion and I turned around and went all week to girls camp.  I was so nervous about the drama and all those women, but I had a blast.  I got to bond with the girls all week and learned to love them so much.  They are so kind and do so many little acts of kindness all day long.  I felt the spirit through them and also through the speakers. One thing I will say is that it was EXHAUSTING!  I do not stay up late and we never went to bed before midnight.  Also it is hard to be on your A Game all day everyday, no downtime or rest, just trying to be friendly and listen is quite exhausting, Mentally and Physically.  I figure it was about 17 hours a day of that, for 4 days.  Man I came home one tired mom that is for sure.  I got to wear this awesome showercap hat for our skit.  We had to rap and I said "My name is Geana, I work at Melina's and in my spare time you will find me in my Gardina."  It was fun, the girls were confused what a Gardina is, it was just a play on words for Garden.

While I was gone to Girls Camp Braxton got to go with Jake and Dalton to Flaming Gorge and caught some great fish.  He came home exhausted from a great time and also sunburned all over his face.  This summer he has spent a lot of time away from us and it is very strange.  Not my favorite thing for us to do things separately, but I guess he is getting pretty big now. 

For Young Women's we have an activity every week.  For the most part I would say it is a constant party where we entertain the girls.  This day we got to do baptisms for the dead and it was so nice to feel the spirit and not just entertain.

Much needed nap after working on projects everyday for almost 6 months he now can relax for a few minutes after work and he is loving it.  Although I don't think it will last long, he always has new ideas for his next project.

This is the story of my bathroom for 4 months during the summer.  I am so glad we have this giant tub so we can hang a clothes line over it and stack clothes all over it after we get out of the pool.  Once a week I throw everything in the wash, and the next day it looks just like this again.  It looks chaotic, but to me this is organized compared to what it could be.

Cam went to a fun scout activity with the Wolves.  They did relays and he loved it.