Summer wrap up

 We had anther fun family and friends filled 4th of July! We love this day and go all out! We often have our cousins with us that weekend because it is also their parents anniversary and they usually get there just in time for the parade! This year we even tie dyed shirts. I had never done it before so some of them got A LOT more dye than others.... but they were fun. (Even with a dead dryer for weeks this summer! I had to hang dry everything for over a month while waiting on parts for the dryer. Thankfully it was hot and dry and we had clean clothes.)

 Not long after the 4th we went to one of our favorite places Prineville Reservoir for our family vacation. We were so lucky to have many of our family come up for part of the time and friends too! We swam a lot, loved the kiaks a lot, had lots of water fights and Ruth learned to water ski!

 Brock and Macquarie did their usual and build massive mud castles and lakes.

 Ruth was amazing! She totally water skiied on her very first try and had no fear. She can stear really well too. It's amazing what this kid can do! Some of the pictures look foggy but we had some smoke issues due to wild fires. It was also my 20th class reunion while we were there. I didn't take any pictures while I was there. It was a lot of fun to go see everyone who came. I am glad I went.

 Amelia and I got to go to girls camp together again this year. This was her 2nd year. She has such a great group of friends, and had a great time getting to hang out with her friends.

 We took a day trip to the beach late July with a few cousins. The weather was AMAZING!

 I even had Brock drive! He hadn't done much other then around town so this was a big deal. We weren't in a hurry so it was good practice. (AND SLOW!)

 We also attempted a new thing for our family. We not only went on a hike which we have done several times but we went on on over night backpacking trip. It was so much fun! Everyone carried their own pack, no one was packed, and it was awesome!

 The lake we camped by was beautiful! The kids loved the food and the experience of really being in nature not just in a camp site.

 The girls all shared a tent and snuggled in tight.  It was pretty cute.

 See look at that lake! AMAZING!

 Late summer we said good bye to both of the Spanish Elders that were serving here. They closed the Spanish area here. So Elder Elias (above) and Elder Kehl (below) Moved on to other areas. We miss them. We held Hayden's picture because she was in Sunriver with Uncle Sunny when they came to say goodbye.

 We made one last trip to the beach with Aunt Emily, Grandma, and Myka the end of August. It was NOT as nice of weather as we had in July. But they still had lots of fun

 Something super cool that happened August 21st was we had a total solar eclipse and we happen to be in the path of totallity. By camera didn't get great pictures and there aren't really good words to describe what it was like. But it was incredible. We watched at the park a few blocks from our house and it was amazing to see the light get dimmer and dimmer yet you could litterally still see the sun was there. Then all of a sudden it wasn't! It was gone and it felt like night. It got cold and everything. Then like a flash the sun was back but still dim as it slowly came back. God is amazing at the things he does.

This is Elder Pinkston. He was hurt doing service in our area and tried really hard to heal his broken wrist and serve the Lord but he ended up needing to go home to have surgery and physical therapy. We sure loved having him here.

Great Wolf lodge

The other part of our mini vacation we did with our Holiday Bazaar earnings was going to the Great Wolf Lodge. Ruth was only 2 the last time we went so she didn't even remember it. We had so much fun! The big kids played till the place closed down. I took Ruth to do a few other fun things while they kept swimming. We all crashed as soon as we were back to the room. We really had a blast and it even better because we got to take our "6th" kid Jocie Dunmire. We love her and she makes us all have more fun.

18th anniversary

Larry and I went to the beach this weekend to celebrate our 18th anniversary. It was so relaxing and so quiet!  Larry got to blow a glass ball for our Christmas tree. He's wanted to do it for a few years. We also went to Ripleys Believe it or Not,the Wax Work Meuseum,  and the under water sea garden. Larry had never been to them either. We decided that they are definitely NOT worth taking the kids. We had dinner at our favorite place "Fathoms" right at sunset. It was such a beautiful day Saturday. Sunday we went to church in Lincoln City and got to see one of our favorite missionaries that served in Monmouth. Elder Folkersen. A bunch of people from our ward were there too because it was Lincoln City's ward conference. The kids had a great time spending the weekend with their cousins at Sam and Jenniann's.

Vacation

We spent last week at Prineville Reservoir. We had a wonderful time with friends and family. I don't get as many pictures as I use to because I'm busy participating. Tyrah and Macquarie did the horse shoe ski this year! Lia and Jocie learned on 2 skis. Everyone had fun, no major sun burns, no broken equipment, but we did have a little rain the first couple days. But after that it was hot, hot, hot! (Which is why we go there!) We ate way to much sugar but had a great time!

General conference trip to Utah

Last January I challenged my kids to read the "Friend " magazine or The New Era magazine cover to cover every month and if they did we'd have a big prize! They ALL did it.  So we took all of them to Utah to attend the General Conference for our church. Ruth isn't old enough to go in so while we were in the meetings she spent time with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin with her daughter. She had a wonderful time!  Which made it so much easier for us to enjoy our meetings.  Friday we toured Temple Square, This is the Place, and the Church History Museum.  (I did part of temple square with just the little girls while Larry took the older ones to do baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple).  Saturday was filed with conference, we were lucky enough to get tickets to both general meetings and the boys attended the priesthood meeting.  Sunday too and time with my cousins and aunt and uncle. We even ran into the White's  (a family from our ward who live around the corner) our stake President and dear friends that live in the other ward here in town. Such a small world! Everywhere we went we met people who knew friends of friends, or had some kind of connection. We truly are one big family and I find sisters everywhere I go!  It was a wonderful weekend and the kids traveled great!
Then also while we were gone we had our hard wood floors refinished. They are beautiful! I'm so excited to have beautiful floors!