Monday, July 18, 2011

Summer, Part One

I kind of miss my pictures of the day. I like that taking them made me pay attention to the good things (or not so good things) that happen every day. I like that writing about them made me take even more notice of how quickly time was passing and how valuable each moment is. I'm considering starting again, but posting them on a different blog, since it did take up a lot of real estate.

Along those lines, I decided at the beginning of summer to try to make every day fun in some way for the kids. Last summer had some redeeming moments, but overall was a bust. The summer before was also (but not equally) hard due to the selling of our house and upcoming move, so I was determined to prove that yes, indeed, summer can be fun.

So here are some of our highlights: (Warning: Lots of pictures ahead.)

 My cousin Blake took me to U2 at the last minute. Our night involved sidewalk moped riding with no lights. A very fun night.
 Josh graduated from junior high school.
 Kate got an honorable mention in the Salt Lake Piano Competition.
 Sophie got locked out while babysitting some of our favorite kids.
 We went to the old neighborhood to hang out with people we love.
 We walked up to our favorite Shave Ice place.
 Josh went to youth conference.
 We pulled lots and lots and lots and lots of weeds (oh, wait. That's not fun.)
 The kids made goo. And earned blue hands in the making.
 This is after the kids made homemade ice cream and sold it at an ice cream stand. They put the $7 they earned on the back of my car and I drove off with it. It was never seen again.
 Ananda came to visit, and I met my newest niece, baby Jane. I fell in love love love.
 Sophie made a cake with her buddy Canyon.
 We danced with Matt in the Great Salt Lake.
 The kids bought t-shirts from Matt.
 Bri, Celia and Mike came to visit for a night.
 Everyone else got to meet baby Jane. Can you see that she is very very loved?
 We blew up the alligator pool and had fun.
 We had a slip and slide night

 We played in the sprinklers.
 The kids had an outside movie night.
 I let the older kids have a sleepover on the trampoline with some buddies, but will not be making a habit of it.
 We had a 4th of July pre-celebration with Ash and her mom.
And then we headed to Spokane to spend a week with Dave's brother and his family.

So far, so good. I think we may have broken the summer curse this year. (Knock on wood...)

6 comments:

Bri and Mike Titera said...

Wow, you really did put that picture of me up. Cool. See if we ever come visit, eat all your food, and then leave, ever again.

Lara Neves said...

I think your summer so far looks perfect! Except for maybe that killer weed...

Danielle said...

I am so not letting my kids see all your fun stuff. We've had fun, but lack of documentation makes it seem (to them) like it never happened.

Kerri said...

Bri, you know you love that picture. Lara, it has been fun, but there were many more weeds where that came from. Danielle, I even started writing down our activities on a calendar because one of my children complained about our lame summer over and over, so I had to show them that they were sadly mistaken.

Anonymous said...

I'm luving all these summer memories! Sounds like it has been fabulous. I especially liked that they sold homemade ice cream...and don't worry about the money, they'll not forget the fun time they had. Thinking of you with your hope post, sending you hugs and happy hopeful thoughts! I'm definitely feeling that smooth run desire too. May this next year have some ducks in a row! luv you, katrina

Camilla Millar said...

Looks like a lot of fun (minus the weeds, of course).