Last Hurrah 2010

The weekend after Kiley's birthday we went up to McCall for one last summer weekend of family fun.

We spent all Friday afternoon on Lake Cascade.

The older girls showed off their wakeboarding skills.

Kiley finally got Lizzie out on the tube for the first time this summer.

After dinner at Chapalas in McCall we had ice cream cones. Kerrie does a lot better with ice cream in a bowl.

We drove through Ponderosa State Park to scout camping sights for our Sunday dutch oven cookout. We drove up this road to a beautiful lookout spot above Payette Lake.

14

Who would have thought that in five short years we would go from this cute little 9 year old to

this beautiful 14 year old?

Kiley is an amazing girl and we are blessed to have her in our family.

August 17 was Kiley's birthday. She started the day off with her breakfast choice of homemade bagel (the bagel was actually not homemade) sandwiches. These are made with a cinnamon and sugar bagel, ham, and scrambled eggs and cheese.

She received some lovely gifts from the family, including a cute camera.

We rented a big water slide for her party with friends and, of course, sisters.

Kerrie wasn't really into the slide.

We served bbq hamburgers for dinner.

Dinner break.

Dad working the grill.

Opening gifts.

Kiley has a nice, fun group of friends.

Kerrie posing as the new poster child for high school rivalry.

Chocolate eclair cake on the trampoline.

Afternoon in the Park

In August we spent another beautiful day at the park. This time we went to Municipal Park. It is in a beautiful, older area of Boise with lots of mature trees. Everyone enjoyed our picnic food from Chilis on our last park outing, so we decided to do it again.

The younger girls enjoyed playing on the huge playground.

I tried to get a good individual shot of everyone.

I have great models.

This park also has a nice nature center. We finished up our relaxing in the shade and headed down the path to check it out.

This picture makes me laugh because I was taking the shot of Hannah and didn't notice Susanna until we loaded the pictures on the computer.

Goofballs.

It has been kind of cool and rainy today. These pictures make me miss summer and it is only early September. I am afraid it is going to be a long winter.

Trek

Kiley had the most amazing experience this summer going on trek with our Stake. This is her "family" pulling their handcart into the final unloading area. It was three days of hard, dirty work, but she and all the other youth learned so much.

The rest of the family drove up to the Donnelly area to welcome them in at the end. It was a beautiful area for pictures.

I thought we would see them coming down a dusty road, but they came down out of the mountains. It really was an awesome sight. It was an emotional experience for me and I am sure for most of the people that were there to welcome them home.

The rest of the girls are all dressed up because Cousin Charlie was baptized in McCall that day and we had come directly from the church.

Lounging in the tall grass.

All the families welcoming them in lined the path and waved white handkerchiefs like the people did as the newly arrived pioneers made their way into Salt Lake.

Sweet Lizzie out walking through the grass.

I am thankful for the people who worked so hard to make this a great experience for my girl. This is something she will never forget.

Girls' Camp

Kiley and I were both able to go to Girls' Camp at the end of June. It was the first time I had ever been to a Girls' Camp. It was so much fun. I enjoyed being with all the Young Women and leaders. We had some very cool experiences. I felt very blessed to share those experiences with Kiley. One of the most fun was the hike to Boulder Lake. This is the same hike we took our family on in July. It was amazing that within 2 weeks all that snow on the mountain behind us was gone.

Our Young Women's group.

Random Summer Pictures

I love this picture. It seems like a sweet childhood scene to me.

Eagle Fun Days.

Lunch on the patio.

Hannah's newly painted room.

Chilis picnic in the park.

The girls all got coupons for a free ice cream cone from the sheriff at the lake for wearing their lifejackets.

Making a Splash

We spent four weeks (up to 3 hours a day) in June at swimming lessons. It is one of my favorite parts of summer. I love to see how much the girls have grown and improved. Paige must have been in her lesson during the above celebrity shot.

This was Kerrie's first year of lessons. She was like a cute little fish.

Everyone was usually so good about sitting on the wall and waiting their turn. School starts tomorrow. I can't wait for next summer to start the fun all over again.