Wrapping up summer

We played right to the very end of summer!! Nothing says end of summer quite like the fair.  This year I dipped my toes into figuring out 4H.  I grew up doing SO MUCH 4H.  The programs have changed a lot and I'm in a different state so the learning curve is bigger than I'd think.  Cara did a sewing camp with my mom and made these four pillow cases.  She loved it!  We tried to talk her into modeling in the style review, but she is shy about being on stage so she wouldn't event budge when my mom offered her $100 to do it.

My kids are not farm kids!  Ali walked through the animal portion of the fair with her nose plugged.  She didn't thing the pigs were as cute as I thought they were.

Johnny was to scared of the animals to even walk.  He cried and hid most of the time.  I love Ali's discussed face in this picture.

There were some cool elephants at the fair.  They were fascinating to watch.  

Here is the next round of boys hanging in the cul-de-sac.  There are even more 2-3 year old boys, not pictured.  These four were trying to play frisbee but Johnny was the only one who could throw it forward.  Amazingly there were no older siblings telling them what to do and on their own they organized a game of duck-duck-goose.  They are adorable!!

One of the best days of this summer came on a Saturday when we had nothing formal planned.  My mom let us use her 4-Wheeler.  Caleb and Cara became proficient at driving with a parent on back.  We had a wonderful time in the beautiful fall weather.

We capitalized on being in the canyon with the 4-wheeler and had a camp fire and roasted hotdogs. I love roasting marshmallows.  I pride myself in making perfectly melted marshmallows.  Caleb has caught on and does a great job too. The kids always love having family time in the mountains! It makes me wonder why we don't do it more often. 

Josh and I have lived in Providence for almost 9 years and I had no idea that there was this beautiful water fall up Providence canyon.  Cara LOVED it!  She and I drove to it 3 times on 1 day.  She couldn't get enough of it.

Caleb and Josh hiked saddle rock with the 11 year old scouts.  Josh was called to be an 11 year old scout leader this spring.  He does a great job with the boys.  I'm so glad he get's to do that with Caleb!

We spent the last Friday of summer "vacation" in Bear Lake.  (I can't really call summertime vacation because it doesn't feel one bit like vacation to me.  It feels exhausting and like tons of work.)  We loved our family day in Bear Lake.  The Bandito show at Pickleville Play House was fun as always.  Ali and Johnny didn't love it.  Johnny was scared of the darkness during scene changes.  Ali had a hard time following, but the talent always impresses me.

Ali was very content playing on the beach.  She was mostly there alone while the other children including Johnny played on the "island trampoline".  The kids LOVED IT!!

Josh and I rented a Jet ski for an hour.  The kids were all scared of it.  We even offered to let Caleb and Cara each drive, which they did for a very short time, but they were a little too scared.  Josh and I loved throwing each other off multiple times.  An hour was enough but it was a really fun hour!!

I had to post this picture.  Cara made the kids "popsicles" out of sprite.  They were enjoying them on the deck and making a sticky mess so I asked them to go eat the popsicles on the grass.  I had to laugh because they moved in the right direction, but they weren't quite obedient.  Still dripping on the deck, but happily enjoying their cool treat.