Sunday, June 30, 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Trek

Bud and I got the opportunity to be a Ma and Pa for our stake's Pioneer Trek.  It was quite the experience!  We had been working for months with our "kids" with different activities to gear up for it, but the last weekend in June it was finally here.  We headed north a few hours via bus and embarked on our 20-mile journey complete with pioneer clothes and 500-pound handcarts.  The first day we hiked 13 miles.  Our family did great, but we were all exhausted by the time we rolled into camp.  It was pretty hot, but we had miracle clouds that offered shade throughout the two days of hiking (Seriously, no clouds one minute and then they appeared out of nowhere right over us!).  Another highlight was the food.  Our ward pretty much took that over and it was AMAZING!  It really gave you something to keep walking for.  On the second day of hiking, we didn't hike as long but we had really rough terrain and a lot of hills. It was actually tougher than the first day. Toward the end, the "army" took the men away to go fight with the Mormon Battalion and the women had to push our huge handcart up the steepest hill of the entire trek.  I knew it was coming, but I still was just plain mad.  One after another, those amazing girls pushed those handcarts up the hill and then ran back down to help others.  It was an inspiring sight! When the men rejoined us about an hour later, I had never been so happy to see Bud.  We both hugged and cried and I can't explain exactly why, but it was a wonderful moment.  There were great bonding moments for everyone at camp too.  The square dancing was the hit, which actually surprised me, but it was fun.  We were all happy to head home and take a much needed shower, but won't ever forget that experience.  Hopefully we'll get to go again on the next one.










Saturday, June 22, 2013

New Baby!

Mark and Jenni had their first baby on June 21!  The Stoddard's have an uncanny ability to have birthdays and anniversaries on the same day, and true to form, Leighton Emma Stoddard was born on Tara's birthday.  Mark and Jenni are in Ireland which is so hard for us not to get to see our beautiful new niece, but Mark and Jenni are loving being parents.







Thursday, June 20, 2013

Other Summer Fun


We tried to squeeze in a few friend play dates too this summer!  Mae and Jonah won passes for a small party to go to the Mini Grand Prix with friends and cousins and we also went to the Discovery Children's Museum with Tingey's and Chapman's.  I also hosted one of our weekly pool play dates with friends from the ward and the kids played with Tingey's whenever they could, which wasn't much this summer with all of our and their trips.  These summers are jam-packed!









Monday, June 17, 2013

Cousin Summer!


Kim came with Christopher and Brooklyn at the beginning of June and got to stay for almost an entire month!  Then the last week of June, the Fontano's came into town and got to stay for three weeks!  It was such a fun way to spend our summer.  We did all sorts of stuff including splash pads, bowling, tea party, sleepovers, swimming, birthday parties, Flip N Out, and Wet N Wild.  It's exhausting entertaining these kiddos, but so great to see them so happy to be with their cousins!