Wrappin' Up Summer (and a very long post)

**Warning** Get comfortable, pop some popcorn. There are lots of pictures here.





Our "big" summer vacation this year was spent at a condo on the beach in Indian Shores, Florida. It's on the Gulf side where the water is like a bathtub - both in temperature and waves. My favorite kind of vacation is this one - sand, water, swimming suits, lots of reading materials, nothing on the agenda (a view of the beach from our condo doesn't hurt either!) We went with our good friends, the Roberts, and had a fabulous time.

Our condo unit was right next to a bird sanctuary so we had to go over and check it out. It looked like a place for birds that had been injured to "recover." The pelicans who'd had their eyes pecked out were a little unpleasant to look at...

It might be hard to see, but can you tell what a gorgeous view we had??

Dina and Scott celebrated their anniversary while we were there so we enjoyed a YUMMY dinner out with them.

Look what happened when I tried to do a "red eye reduction" on Jordan. He really wasn't about to puke, his face just turned a little green.

Jordan found this little treasure on a walk...a dead fish!

One of my favorite pictures (below)

If we weren't in the ocean, we were in the swimming pool.

Okay, we've made it past the vacation at the beach. Moving on to a day trip to Aunt Kelly's. She lives about three hours away. We drove to her "compound" as Brady calls it, where the kids were able to swim, paddle boat, fish, drive the golf carts around, eat pizza, everything kids love. We had a great time there. Here are some highlights.

The golf carts were a definite favorite.

Another favorite (or frustrating) activity: fishing. Jordan caught two fish and Tucker caught one. They were thrilled. The other fishermen (minus Meghann) weren't as thrilled. Maybe next time.

And finally, they loved the paddleboat. They rode it around the pond and Tucker was thrilled when he finally got out on the little "dock" (even though it was covered in duck poop!).

Brady and I made a quick trip to Utah for my 20-year high school reunion (I know, I don't look nearly that old!) It was so much fun to reconnect with old friends that I haven't seen for a long time.

My best friend Wendy since the 7th grade

Brady is such a goof ball. Thank goodness Mike is a good friend of the family and he "gets" Brady's sense of humor! Look at me, I'm just posing for the picture thinking those two were doing the same thing!

We were also able to get together with family. Here were are with Brady's side of the family (well the boys anyway, the girls were off having the last hoo-rah of summer).

This one cracks me up. They all decided to pull a funny face.

I got to meet and hold baby Kajsa for the first time. I need to be closer to these new little nieces and nephews that are being born!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at El Matador with my side of the family. Thanks mom and dad for a yummy dinner. I haven't eaten there in years!

A few other highlights of the summer:

Tucker and Jordan putting their money together to buy a new Lego set. They experienced the joy of buying something off the Internet (since we couldn't find it in stores) and the anguish of waiting for something to come in the mail!

Courtney learning to wear make-up (yikes!)

The youth in our stake were challenged to read the Book of Mormon over the summer. We're proud of the girls for accomplishing this, and also of Tucker who, even though only 10, took the challenge very seriously and stayed caught up on his reading the whole summer long. Here he is with the candy bar award they received at the end of the summer.

Congratulations, you made it to the end. Now I've got to get something posted about the first day of school! (Yes, my house is restored to quiet).