Dancin' (NOT Kissin') Cousins!

What a great time T,T, L, and E had with their cousins this summer! I wasn't sure what to expect with all the forced (for them) get togethers, as their track record is spotty at best. But wow was I pleasantly surprised! They seemed to enjoy every single chance they had to play with cousins wherever we went. My photos from the summer are in various locations and will take a while to get all together here, but I'll just keep uploading them here as I get them. So if you're a cousin or relative who cares you may want to check back to this post. But here's what we have from the last week or so of our California vacation.


Beth and Carson while camping in the Sequoias

Beth and Seth, unusually clean for the camping trip.

Beth, Abby, Lil, and Kate the morning after their sleepover.

Carson (sporting his ice pack), Noah, T n T in the K'Nex.

Luke and Tyra waiting for BBQ at Ron and Annie's.

T, E, Kyla, and L waiting for the BBQ.


I loved watching my girls play with cars and firetrucks and whatnot with their cousins, I'd been a little worried before we came out that it might be tough for them to play, but they had lot's of fun.
When we had all the kids in Anne's van it was a chaos to defy all chaos. But I never got any good footage of the crazyness. But here's a bit of the kids rockin' out to Anne's tunes.

Forever in Peace May She Wave

Hi guys, in case you forgot, this blog is for me, and so rather than work on making my old drafts correct for the moment, I'm going to try to get their pictures added in and just post. The only things I'll add here are that Tyra recited the preamble to the constitution (thanks to Tom encouraging her to memorize it, thanks to Tom's uncle Terry encouraging all his relatives to memorize it.) Also Thomas recited the names of all the presidents in order, so that's what the pictures are when they are standing next to "George Washington." We also have pictures of wheelbarrow and 3-legged races, which don't include TnT as they refused. But they did join in our little parade singing She's A Grand Old Flag. Lily and Beth enjoyed the races and other American games. In the middle picture, holding the flag, is my counselor, Rebekah Barnes, who came to Thomas' baptism with her family. Unfortunately that was because she was in Provo to start BYU. Yes, I currently have no counselors, but am just glad that the summer workers --husband's selling security systems or pest control-- were willing and able to stand in for me all summer long and did a great job.

Yesterday was Flag Day, and the day of our Primary's Patriotic Picnic. As you will see as I begin to blog the last while to catch up from when our modem broke down, things have been pretty hectic with the end of school and many other great activities. I was feeling like the quarterly Activity Day was the last thing to prepare for before I really got down to packing and getting ready for California. (Really I had thought about Father's Day in passing here and there, but never really clamped it down in my to-do part of my brain. So it wasn't until hours after the activity that I realized I needed to get moving for Father's Day prep!)

Before We Even Left

I guess this summer was just bound to be fantastic. We even had a great time in Maryland for the week and a half before we left. We had our great friends the Pullins' come to visit and catch up on the many years since they left our ward. And I had a fun time taking the kids to Wheaton Regional Park, many closer smaller parks, the Old Maryland Farm, and the Maryland Science Center. Here are the pictures of the Maryland Science Center and our weekend with Brandt and Lori Pullins: