June

So summer. It happened in a big way around these parts. So big that I hardly turned on a computer, let alone took the time to blog about anything.  Which means that now our summer will be blogged as a rather boring travelogue, an unfortunate turn of events since summertime really was pretty great around here.

So June.

The kids didn't get out of school until June this year, which is a first for our family. Cole received the Great American award at the 5th grade assembly. Only one other student received it. I think that I should have also received one since I memorized everything with him, but I got nothing except a blurry picture and the fact that I convinced him to wear a button-down shirt to school.

 Annie and Claire had a dance recital to finish off the year. Pretty girls, those two.

Grandma Donna was delighted to get to come watch them dance.

Here's something unsurprising. We celebrated my birthday at the ranch. Also unsurprising, it was beautiful. Such a little slice of heaven on earth.

Annie picks me a wildflower bouquet every year. Sometimes they make me sneeze a little bit, but they are still my favorite.

Grandpa Clair got a bunch of tickets for the Cherry Peak summer concerts, which was lucky for us. The first concert nearly hospitalized Cole with severe allergies (Floyd and I were not in much better shape), but aside from that we had a great time at them.

Ben has discovered a love of baking this summer and every Sunday, he pulls out a brownie mix or a cake mix and makes us something yummy. He got a little fancy {and a little help from Dad} on Kaden's birthday cake.

Molly got to come fishing with Dad and the Young Women. She loved it and caught a couple big ones.

 Ben lost his first tooth this summer. Hooray! He pulled it right out of there all by himself.

We went hiking up High Creek a couple of times this summer. It is one of my favorite places and I can't believe how lucky we are to live right here by it.

Can you tell they are brothers?

One Saturday night, we decided last minute to drive up Cub River and try to have a cookout. I was sure that we wouldn't find a spot, but we got the only empty spot in the entire campground and had a nice little evening. The kids tried to kill me making me hike all over the mountain, but otherwise, things were perfect.

And of course, no June would be complete without our annual pilgrimage to Lagoon. It was pretty fun and incredibly hot. Going to Lagoon reminds me of how grown up our kids are. I hardly even saw the oldest two cause they were off on the crazy rides with their cousins the whole day.

Good news! After fifteen years, Floyd finally got me to catch a fish on a fly rod. I was pretty excited...

...and then I dropped the fish. Those suckers are slippery!

 And then Cole decided to be a show-off and caught one too. I don't think he even dropped his. 

 

June is such a beautiful month. I love it when you finally get to be outside and when the days are full of daylight. I say it every year - I chose a beautiful time to be born.