I think it is time.

I've been struggling with my blog; making the decision to put off making the "big" decision: do I just give it up? I finally decided to keep going when my son asked me to tell him something funny he has said or done recently. Hmmm. Couldn't come up with anything! SAD! (I have a terrible, horribly bad memory.) I finally realized that this is my journal! I obviously don't write anywhere else! I need to preserve these memories, cause they happen quickly then quickly leave my pathetic memory! I don't care who reads it, if anyone, because it is for me and my family.

That being said, I am well aware of the time since my last post. Here is my "Ode to Summer"; my all time favorite season E.V.E.R. This isn't a recap - just the highlights.

Beginning with Labor Day: Spent the week with friends at Lake Powell! It was a PERFECT week full of sun, warm water and fun people. The best part was there were so many kids all with the same ages. Could have spelled disaster, but not for this group. The girls had their cute friend Jesse and Jake was right in the middle of four boys. We had such a great week. We can't wait to do it again!

June: Birthday at Lagoon (FUN!), Thursday bike rides with Craig and picnic up the canyons. We went one Saturday evening picnicking up the Alpine Loop near Cascade Springs. We loaded the children into the car and started home around 8 pm. As we rounded a corner, Jeff slammed on his brakes and yelled: BEAR!!! There was a huge bear standing on two feet in the road. I couldn't get my camera before he turned and ran down the hill. It was such an exciting moment! I guess it could have been scarier - we could have seen him OUT of our car!!

July:

Lots of fun stuff this month!

Uintahs - Our favorite campground is up in the Uintah's. It is just so relaxing to camp there near the river. Jeff and Jake spent the entire weekend fishing. One night they caught over 23 fish!! We even decorated our very own 4th of July shirts!

Daren, Craig and I went for a ride up a trail. Daren, the fashionalist, wore jeans. (Duh.) He was tired about 4 minutes into the ride. Craig and I wanted to go further, but we couldn't leave Daren to head back to camp alone! And risk ruining his jeans? I think not!

Cherry Hill - We camped overnight at Cherry Hill Campground. Daren joined us the next morning vowing that he would NOT do the "freefall". Ha HA!! There was no freefall -so he was off the hook! Isn't something I recommend for older kids - but it was perfect for my children's ages.

The Summer HIGHLIGHT! - Lake Powell with the Gages! It was an incredible vacation. One that even I got to enjoy thanks to four teenagers around to watch my children! The weather was perfect (minus the one night we almost died from the heat!) and the company couldn't have been better! Luckily, Craig made us a cool video that we watch weekly. What a fun trip!

The girls spent the summer in their swimsuits. And they are still in their swimsuits. They are a daily-worn-item. We've gotten more mileage out of these then anything else we own. They love putting the sprinkler under the tramp and jumping. Perfect "summer day!"

We planted a great garden this year. In fact, I planted over 13 pepper plants! 9 bell and 4 jalapeno. But wait!! The tags must have been wrong. I ended up with 4 bell and the rest jalapeno. Yeah, that's a lot. I decided to make Jalapeno Poppers. I was unprepared for the commitment. Hours and hours of preparation to make 60 poppers. Fortunately, Jeff loves them. Unfortunately, he requested more...and didn't get 'em!

August:

Our wonderful Grandpa Bo passed away from cancer. It was a sad, sad week. But (can I say this?) it was wonderful visiting with our cousins, aunts and uncles that I don't see regularly. We spent one particular evening eating pizza, chatting and laughing with our cousin Jason and his girlfriend Renae. What fun! I only wish it was under better circumstances.

My grandma, mother, aunts and uncle:

Since my grandmother's home isn't exactly "kid proof", we decided to spend one day away at the nearby Six Flags Park. Juliana is a smidgen too short to go on some of the rides. Not a problem, I pulled her hair into a high pony and stuck the flower in front. She passed every time! One worker wouldn't let her enter so I asked to speak to her supervisor. The supervisor came, squatted down and looked Juliana in the eye. After several seconds, he said, "Yes, she is tall enough," then he proceeds to instruct the "newbie" how to measure small children: "get down on their level and look them in the eye. That is the only sure way to determine their height." The ironic thing is that the "newbie" really knew what he was talking about. She IS too short! It's obvious. But we managed to get into that "grey area" and slide by!

Juliana before the "grey area do!"

We came home on a Wednesday and had a family wedding on a Thursday. Baby Laura was married leaving the Jeff's parents empty-nesters. Our cute family at the reception:

My cute hubby at the temple:

One week left before (dreaded) school. We spent one day at Seven Peaks.

Sadly, our summer came to an end the day Jake went to school. (Sigh.) Maybe I should have been happy - but I wasn't. It's hard to send my helper, sidekick and friend to a place that I can't go and can't participate. I miss him every day. (But it is kind of nice to have a schedule...you didn't hear that from me!)

Then it was time for my sweet princess to go to preschool. Her leaving wasn't so sad as much as it was annoying. Two hours isn't nearly enough time to accomplish anything. But it IS long enough for her to be gone. Next year will be worse. Am I the only mother that feels this way?

Papa and Mimi took the kids to the fair the first weekend of September. I love this photo. This is after Addy begged Papa to take her down the yellow slide. She had already been down four times. He didn't want to - but couldn't say no! He gritted his teeth and said, "LAST TIME!" Ha HA! Only I knew what THAT meant!!

Finally, Mimi's apple tree produced a BOAT load of apples. We canned over 33 jars of applesauce, 19 jars of apple butter and 18 jars of apple pie filling. It will be well worth it this winter!