Summer

Around the last Monday in May, Seth and I sat down with the boys for Family Home Evening and made a list of all the things we wanted to do over the summer; things that would make our summer awesome.  We also talked about using time well to accomplish goals and the importance of maintaining productivity levels in the absence of school structure. We decided that we would do our best to make the summer fun and exciting, but also that reading, chores, and piano practice would still be a part of our daily routine. (Cue audience laughter).  Yeah. Right.  I think this was the laziest summer on record!  But, my guess is, if you were to ask the boys they would probably rate it pretty high simply because it was so lazy.  

          Notwithstanding our lack of success at achieving all our productivity goals, we did manage to complete several of the items on our list of summer awesomeness .  Our version of summer this year included lots of trips to the pool (thanks to Talmage’s school walk-a-thon prize), many days spent with friends, scouts, family reunions, after dark chats on the front porch bench swing (my favorite), numberless rides on the golf cart, playing with cousins, hikes, sprinkler playing, biking/running/riding along the canal trail, Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, back yard games, slurpees, a trip to Lagoon, and our final summer hurrah…7 Peaks:).

          Now for the bad news.  Every summer I seem to have this hope that by the end of August I will have a plentiful portfolio of beautiful, candid pictures showing the many splendid, sunshine-y moments that would tell our summer story.  And, regrettably, every August I scour my computer for such pictures and come up short handed.  Why did I not take pictures of this, or of that?  What was I thinking not bringing my camera here, or there? Such is the case this year as I struggle to find the right moment-capturing pics to tell our summer tale.  So please forgive the sub-par assortment you are about to view.

One of our many hikes:

Lunch with sisters for Tara’s “baby shower”.  (Please forgive the camera phone pic, but this was maybe one of my favorite activities of the reunion.  I just love spending time with my sisters, including the others not pictured here.  Every time we are together I wish we all lived closer.)

Joseph and his best little cousin, Ava at Lagoon.  I just loves these two:)

 Okay.  Quick tangent on this awesome young man:)  This is cousin Zack.  He is Talmage’s closest boy cousin and has always been the greatest friend to Tal.  It has been so fun to watch him grow up and become such a wonderful young man.  And even though he is taller than me now and has a full-on man voice, he continues to be a great friend to Talmage.  Over the summer we had the privilege of having Zack stay with us for a few days so he and Talmage could spend time together.  He was respectful, courteous, helpful, and just a delight to have in our home.  Talmage loved feeling like he had a big brother in the house and I loved seeing how much fun the two of them had together.  I just love this boy:)

          

          Although we did not manage to check off all the items on our list, all in all it was a good summer:).  Now onto the next season, which hopefully won’t equal another three month hiatus from blogging! (Sorry about that, by the way.)  Bring on the autumnal equinox:) Yay for pumpkin, right?!