Remembering summer

It's early January and the van's in the shop. This means that I have the joyous opportunity to apply that "early to rise" advice good ol' Ben Franklin gave back in the day, hop in our Jeep (which has a blocked heating duct), and cart Jon to work at early-thirty each morning. Ah, but "early" in Northern Utah also means "frickin' cold!" And so, wistfully, I turn my thoughts back to those hot days of summer...

We met up with my family at Lagoon during the summer. Alex and Elise got to spend most of the day on the kiddie rides with Grandma and Grandpa Love. Among the rides they visited were the merry-go-round...

...Bulgy the Whale...

...and the boat rides.

It was a great day and we had a fun time spending it as a family. One moment that stands out to me in particular was taking Alex on the Tilt-O-Whirl with Uncle Justin. Justin and I unlocked the secrets to endless, gut-jerking spins years and years ago. Lucky for us, Alex was up to the challenge and didn't get scared at all. He laughed just as hard as we did! :)

Don't get me wrong, I like snow. It's fine. But it stays for-EVER! I miss my flowers. I planted my first flower bed (all by myself...no help from landscaping crews) this last summer along side our shed. So I planted a yellow climbing rose bush, some wild strawberries (their blossoms are hot pink!), and some delphiniums. I never got around to snapping a shot of the roses--or the strawberry blossoms for that matter--but I did get a picture of the delphiniums in bloom.

Later in the summer, during one of our visits to my parents' in Idaho Falls, Rachael, Jon and I took our kids to feed the ducks at the Greenbelt on the Snake River. Before heading up to where the ducks are, we climbed down to see the falls...

...and the kids played in the sand. Smokin' sandals, Rach!

Jon and Elise heading up to the ducks...

...but then we took a detour to the overlook.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the Idaho Falls Temple. It was such a beautiful day!

Here come the ducks!

Here's a video of us helping our kids feed the ducks. Alex and Cannon did a pretty good job chucking those bits of bread all the way out to the ducks.

Elise's arm isn't quite as strong as her brother's, so I found a rock right on the water's edge so she could toss them out. She had a good time.

Once the bread was gone, Elise took to the grass chasing the ducks and geese.

All the kids had a fun time chasing the ducks.

Alex had a smile for me...the last one of the trip, I'm afraid...

...as you can see, he wasn't too thrilled about "picture time." He wanted to play on his hands and knees in grass/bird feces. There isn't enough hand sanitizer in the world to justify it, my boy! Anyway, Elise and Cannon had ready smiles. This was the best we could get out of the three of them.

And then it was time to go.

People from Idaho were always surprised when I told them I'd never been to Pine Basin. "You've never been to Pine Basin?!" This summer I was finally able to change that. Jon was at Fort Lewis for some military training, so the kids and I packed up and went to the Norman Johnson Family Reunion...at Pine Basin.

The kids had a great time. As you can see, Elise lost no time getting dirty...but it was all good clean fun.

Alex wanted me to take his picture, but the sun was in his eyes...either that, or he was pretending to be a pirate. Arrr!

This is my favorite picture from the whole trip. Justin and Karli took Alex with them on a nature walk and he was very excited about it. And then five minutes later he decided he wanted to come back. Still, he had a great time and he talked for a long time about going on a walk with them.

What family reunion isn't complete without some friendly Family Olympics? We had various courses...discus/plate throw, javelin/straw throw, water-in-spoon relay race, water balloon toss, three legged race, and of course sack race. I managed to get a picture of the most intense race of the day...snapped it just after they were off. Of course, from a picture it's difficult to tell who the winner was, so I'll tell you...it was Justin (third racer from the right). Notice how he has the sack secured with his jacket tied around his waist. This gave him the advantage of getting that extra bit of distance using his arms. I never would have thought of it.

I love this picture because it's just the men and Grandma Johnson tying the Johnson family quilt. These are rarities among men. And Dad looks so happy to be there. Wow, Alex totally gets his cheesy grin from Grandpa Love!

The last off roading trip of the season. It was fairly cold that day, so we had the top on. But I managed to get some pretty good shots by rolling the window down and sticking my head out the window.

The kids were really excited to see some sheep up in the mountains. And Jon took delight in frightening them (the sheep, not the children) by honking the horn in the Jeep.

We had a fun time. It was bumpy...

...it was rough...

...it was great!

The weekend of Halloween, I took the kids with Jon's family (he had to stay behind, again, for the military) to the Spillman company condo in St. George. Though it technically was no longer summer by this time, the weather was so gorgeous in St. George that I think it still counts. Netta and I took the kids for a drive through Zion National Park.

I couldn't get enough of the views!

And we went through a VERY long tunnel.

Left to right: Elise, Dominick, Gabriel & Alex. Alona was in her rear-facing car seat in the back next to Dominick. Out of the park and on our way back home to cold, cold Cache Valley...