Summer's end

We ended our Summer last week with a quick camping trip to Ensign Ranch. We met up with some friends and stayed overnight. Ensign Ranch is a beautiful property owned by our church. The activities to do there are numerous and lots and lots of fun.

Cooling off in the crystal clear water of the river.

Matt loved sorting through all the rocks.

After the river, we went canoeing in the lake. My friend and I tried paddling a canoe together. Even with all of our husband's tips and coaching we ended up going in circles or turning into the branches and plants on the side of the lake. It was pretty funny.
She and her family went canoeing the next day and afterwards she sent me the message "I found out paddling with one person is a lot easier than with two."

We all enjoyed ourselves though.

The big activity my girls were soooo excited about was the horse rides they have at Ensign Ranch. Alia and Madelyn went on a trail ride in the morning Then all the girls went on "led" horse rides in the field. I got to lead a horse for the first time. It was kind of stubborn and wanted to go it's own way sometimes, but we made it around the arena pretty well. I got better the second time around. I am always impressed with people who own and train these big animals. (like my little sister and her hubby)

Good horsey.

And that's all folks...til next time at the ranch.

Portrait time

We had a little photo shoot yesterday with my favorite models. I think I got some good ones!

Gettin' er done...

A few noteworthy accomplishments from Labor Day...

Sewed my girls some aprons.

Canned peaches with these fabulous helpers
28 quarts of deliciousness
Aaron completed the porch.

This is what it looked like before. (Definitely in need of refinishing)
After hours of pressure washing and sanding (not on the same day of course)
Complete and looking great!

The joys of Summer

Summer always inspires such lovely fashion. Cherry tree skirt is an Alia original design.

Water is an essential ingredient to every summer.

We've eaten tons of watermelon and delicious juicy fruit. Including these yummy blackberries we gathered from the trial by our park. Funny that these plants are classified as "noxious weeds" where we live. Their fruit sure makes yummy blackberry cobbler. The inevitable scratches from their big thorns are worth it.

We've climbed trees and park equipment a lot!

I love visiting the beaches each summer.
Discovering driftwood, rocks and sand. Collecting treasure...

..then bringing it home to wash and enjoy.
It's been a great Summer and we are filled with lots of happy, fun memories to remember.

Back we go to Idaho!

We took another trip to Idaho in July for a family reunion. Here's what we did...

Matt tried root beer for the first time and loved it! Who doesn't love homemade root beer?

My girls got their first ride on a waterslide.

They loved every minute of it!
Plug your nose!
The pool was fun too.

We enjoyed lots of time with our relatives.

Then we bid Idaho farewell.

On the drive back we were almost home when all the freeway lanes closed for an hour for some rock blasting. A lot of people got out of their cars and made the most of it. There were some teenagers skateboarding and a family playing frisbee. Madelyn and I went into the trees that lined the freeway - for reasons I won't mention but you can probably guess - and as we were coming back we hear this bagpipe music start playing. Imagine our surprise as we come out of the trees to see an impromptu performance by this guy. Pretty cool.

Our girls think it's great that they can say that they have played on a freeway.