Samantha's Summer of Travel

Samantha has a very busy travel schedule this summer.  Already, she's been to Bear Lake twice(?) and to Boise with the family, but she also has a full 3 weeks of travel without us, before joining us again in Bear Lake.  First week away is Girls Camp with the wardies (and stake).  (Her first time at girls camp - can't believe she's old enough.) She wasn't acting all that enthused, but as usual, as soon as she joined up with her girls, Shawn and I hardly existed anymore.

We still made her pose for pictures and were sure to hug her good-bye to embarrass her.  (We're just good like that.)  The house will definitely be quieter (and cleaner) without her around.

This is just a few of the 14 beehives from our ward.

*Side note:  Samantha's week was cut a little short when a bear was spotted in camp.  Nothing like a phone call at 2 am to get your heart beating.  Fortunately, it was just to let us know that the girls had been evacuated and were headed home. This also happened 2 years ago.  Our stake is just super lucky I guess.

Another Awesome Weekend at Bear Lake

We invited the Dunfords to join us at Bear Lake for the weekend so they could see what all the fun is about.  A pretty good storm blew through on Friday evening, but once the rain stopped, the wind was perfect for kite flying.  And the sunset made for a beautiful backdrop.

The girls were excited to help Shawn out with the kites.

Fortunately, Saturday was a bit nicer weather-wise, so we could take the boat out.  The water was a little rough, but perfect for tubing.

Peter and Lila were best buds on this trip and were excited to go tubing together.  (The nice thing is, everyone - with the exception of poor Jonas - has a partner that they match up with in the Dunford family.)

Having a little chat.  (Mostly Lila was telling Peter what to do, but he didn't seem to mind.)

These pictures just make me laugh.

The other kids took turns tubing as well. (Amelia and Caroline)

Megan and Avery.

Some of the Dunford girls enjoying the ride on the boat.

Amelia warming up.

Our Captain enjoyed being out on the water, too.

No pictures, but we enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show Saturday night, as well.

On Sunday, Shawn told the kids to make some chalk art out on the sidewalk.  When they were done, he came out to judge the pictures.

These two finished up pretty quickly and so enjoyed more time chatting.

The girls were waiting patiently while the judging took place.

This was very serious stuff - complete with awards for each drawing.

It was a fantastic weekend, and as always we were sad to have to pack up and leave.  We love Bear Lake that much.  Can't wait to come back.

Happy 4th of July

It was a beautiful day to celebrate America's birthday.  Shawn started the day by bagging a peak.  (He's still working on his 40 peaks in his 40th year, but he's waaaaay behind and may have to extend his deadline a bit.)  But still, he had a beautiful hike.  I wish I had decided to go with him after seeing the wildflowers in his pictures.

And beautiful views of the valley...

As soon as he got back, we hopped into the car and headed up Emigration Canyon to the Smolka's house for our annual 4th of July picnic.

We enjoyed eating, chatting and letting the kids run free.

We also had the obligatory Marsh cousins picture.  It was just our kids and Rob and Michelle's kids since everyone else lives out of town, but these 9 are good buddies and it's fun to have them together.

...and as always, it was extremely difficult to get a picture of everyone happy and smiling and looking at the camera... (typical Jonas here.)

We gave up on the kids photo after this and decided to inflict more pain by trying to get a picture of the whole Marsh gang.

(This took several tries also.)

Amelia had spent the morning painting all sorts of 4th of July stuff.

After the picnic, most of the kids went to Rob and Michelle's to play and we went home to clean and pack for Bear Lake.  As soon as the sun barely started on it's way down, the kids decided it was time to light the smoke bombs (since you can't see the colors in the dark anyway.)

They are all so easily entertained - including Shawn.  We all laugh every time we look at this picture.

We got the car mostly packed for our trip and then the Dunford's texted us to come watch fireworks with them, so we loaded everyone into the car and went.  It was a good spot because we could see at least 3 different fireworks shows going on all around us.

The kids managed to keep themselves busy while we waited.  (Lila was watching from the car.)

Most interactions between Jonas and Peter end in some sort of wrestling match whether at home or not.

As soon as the show was over, we headed home to put everyone to bed.  It was a fun, busy day - especially for the kids who spent almost the entire day with cousins and friends.