2008, Best Summer Ever!

Wow what a busy summer. It passed so quickly and Shelly kept fretting that she would never be up to date with her blog, so I thought that with one entry I would fill in some of the moments that she wasn't able to get to.


Sammy has been crawling all over the place. He has this cool trick in that he pulls himself up to something and then lets go, smashing his face on coffee tables, walls and stair railings. Quite an amazing trick, but for some reason he stopped doing it a week ago, now he just sits himself down slowly.
Gracie and her blankie. I know that other kids may do this, but she chews on her blanket when she goes to sleep. I've seen her drag that blanket all over the place and chew on it at night. Pretty gross.

This is the kids when we slept on the trampoline. I personally would like to thank my 6 neighbors, whose houses I can see from the backyard, for keeping their outdoor lights on all night.
Hudson and Jonah helped cut out the holes on Shelly's bean bag toss that she made. It was really cool, Shelly spent about 15 hours on the bean bag toss and I put in about an hour and yet at the school carnival, everyone was saying how well I did making it. No work and most of the credit, I could get used to that. No really Shelly, you did a great job on the bean bag toss.
Here's spider face, Spiderman, and Fairy Girl at the school carnival.


I'm going to miss all the weeds that made it into our house last summer. Not to mention the sand, flowers and grass clippings.
The kids love to go camping whether in the mountains, the backyard or in this case: the kitchen.

I don't know why I love this picture, but this is our summer in a nutshell: Candy, smiles and blankets tied around our necks to make us superheroes. Which gets me to something I think about a lot when I get ready for work or church. In old period movies (like the Count of Monte Cristo) you see men wearing neckties and capes. How come the stupid neckties lasted for centuries and yet somehow we lost the capes, I would really like to start wearing a cape to work and church. Nothing cheesy with letters and stuff on it, but one that matches my suit. I think that a three piece suit shouldn't be pants, coat and vest; it should be pants, coat and cape.
I love you Shelly and you make great food, but I will always remember this salsa for how great it wasn't. It was so bad that we laughed about it for a couple days. People may think I am mean for putting this in our post that represents our whole summer, but it just emphasizes how really disgusting the salsa was.
This was the best game that Gracie played for about 2 days. 1-She would get in Sammy's bouncer. 2-We would laugh. 3-She would ask for us to help her out. Repeat about 306 times in those two days.
We went to Fairview only once this year and finally found this tree. I had heard about from when I was little. My late grandfather(and my namesake), carved his name and the date (9/14/22) into this tree.
Summer was a fun time for lots of roasted marshmallows!
Many days it was too hot to play outside, and the kids love to play computer games on those particular days. I think that we are the only people who have a computer with stadium seating.
Jonah's first day of school was really really really really bad. He did more in those 2.5 hours than anyone thought could be done. Anyway, after school we went to the store and had him pick a toy that he could earn with 10 good days at school and 12 school days later Jonah had earned his Obiwan Kenobi light saber. I thought that he would have wanted a red Darth Vader, but Jonah wants to be like Obiwan at school because Darth Vader's dad is really mad when Darth Vader doesn't listen to his teacher. Good Job Jonah!
Happy Birthday Emma! I can't believe that you are already 7.



We had a chance to get together with some of Jonah's friends that he knew in Ethiopia. The kids played so hard and had a ball. On the way home we picked up some Injera that Jonah devoured. After inhaling the Ethiopian food, Jonah went into the garage and puked everywhere. EVERYWHERE! It was awesome.

We were trying to get a picture of Gracie gnawing on the cob, but everytime we went to take a picture she would stop gnawing and say "cheese." We finally gave up.
Jonah thought that corn on the cob was one of the funniest foods in America.
Hudson shooting arrows with Grandpa. Now they call it archery, but what is the verb? Do you say shooting arrows? Or can you say "archering?" If anyone knows, please leave a comment and let me know.
The kid had fun on uncle Jace's brand new 4-wheeler. we feel bad, because the week after this camping trip, we found ringworm on Hudson's head and Ethiopian head bugs on Jonah's. Thanks for the great ride Jace, but we probably infected your new helmet.
Shelly and Sammy on the banks of Bridger Lake.
Walking to the fishing spot.
Hudson in the back of Grandpa's truck. Rain came and forced us home one day early, but he was perfectly happy.
Hauling firewood.


The primary parade.
Getting dirty at the ward campout.
Jonah's first time fishing.
Jonah's first fish.
Sammy is starting to suck his finger less.
Nana and Papa at Jonah's birthday party. Thanks for making the great superhero cake Nana!
Showing off his new shirt.
An epic battle between spiderman and venom.

Shelly walked in on Jonah drawing this picture of Jesus. Jonah has always been concerned with Jesus' facial expressions in different paintings. He looks at them and says that Jesus is sad or Jesus is mad, etc... One day he asked "Why Jesus never happy?" We explained that he is happy and rewards us when we keep the commandments, but he countered with his impression of the paintings in our home and church. About a week later, Jonah was helping me clean the garage and he found an articles of faith card that on one side had a picture of Jesus with children. He was squeeling "Daddy Daddy, Jesus Happy. Jesus Happy with Jonah!" Sure enough I looked at the picture and Jesus was clearly smiling. Smiling at the small black child he was looking at in the picture. I gave it to Jonah and he promptly taped it to his headboard.
What a great summer to grow a family!
I don't want to be taken the wrong way, but I just have to say that Shelly has very very nice eyes.


This summer was full of all the fun described. Not to mention, a lot of time outs (pictured above).


Now we are done with summer and we are tired. I was all geared up for fall. This morning we woke up to 4 kids screaming "Merry Christmas!" You see it snowed today. Hopefully next summer is just as fun.