The this and that of Summer...

or what we actually documented with pictures...

nothing beats being all matchy-matchy:

We did a few hikes this summer.  

I really wanted to go to the falls up High Creek.  

On our first attempt, we went at a leisurely pace but ran out of time
and had to head back before we got there.

On our second attempt, we were serious,
hiked twice as far and still didn't reach the falls, wha-AT???

But we did find a really neat inch worm.

A little discourage, I decided to check out the map once we got home, 

and realized we'd been hiking the wrong.trail.all.along.

duh....

So, on our third attempt, we took some friends.

stayed on the right trail,

and this time we finally we made it. Yahoo!

  

Another exciting event this summer was Hollie chopped her hair!  

over 11 inches...GONE!

She also enjoyed doing the art club at the library again this summer,

 

It was especially fun to have Maddie up that week 

and enjoyed being able do sketch club with all her cousins.

It was also a treat to be able to celebrate 

cousin Hazel's Birthday at the Splash pad.

We also enjoyed a visit from my cousin Darby and Rob Carlisle 

and their kids for few days before the Reunion.

Hannah spent a good bulk of the summer babysitting this little stinker.

Oh, Seyban!

Hannah would go over to his house early in the a.m. and watch him on Wednesdays and Fridays, 

and then bring him over to our house during afternoon nap time.  

It was a pretty sweet babysitting gig.

Hannah also organized a river run for her friends and had a blast!

And Hyrum finally made it to NEW YORK!

He loved it, of course.

He enjoyed visiting all the major highlights 

with friends and saw a couple of amazing plays.

but dancing on Broadway was by far his favorite!

It wasn't Broadway, but Jotham and I had a fantastic date night with my parents and some of my sisters.  Jill had us over for a Salmon dinner and then we went to the Utah Festival Opera 

and enjoyed the Hunch Back of Notre Dame.

 Although we didn't get to see Hyrum dance on Broadway,
dancing at the fair is a close second, right?

and as a bonus we were able to watch Jill's kids show their sheep.  

Mark had a fantastic adventure at Camp Bartlet with the Scouts in July,

he worked hard and earned 10 Merit Badges

One day in August, Mark declared all of his blankets too small.

And insisted he wanted to make one that would reach all the 

way down and cover his big man toes, and so he did!  

For better or worse, once Mark gets an idea in his head, he doesn't let it go.

Every once in a while I'll let the kids binge watch cartoons all morning on a Saturday. There's just something about it. Even though they don't watch the same shows I did as a kid, it makes me happy to see them all together enjoying something I did as a child. 

I signed Gavin for fall soccer and was amazed

when it both started and ended in August, a pretty short season.

but he loved it and keeps asking to sign up to play again.

Spring is a long ways away when you're six.

Although the photographic representation is sparse 

we did carve out a few trips to the lake with friends:

School registration took forever. It was seriously an all day event day to get them all registered and comfortable with their new schools and schedules.  

I had to treat the teens to a refreshing soda by the time we were done. 

and then just like that...summer was over and school started.

Da..Booom!

***

P.S. A few other highlights that bare mentioning despite their lack of picture documentation: Hyrum went to his first AP camp and Hannah enjoyed Girls Camp at the Hot Springs.  Hyrum and Hannah also went to Youth Conference in Manti, while they were gone, the Hollie and Gavin enjoyed swim lessons.