SUMMER TIME

I sure do love summer! I wish it could go on forever! We have so much fun and can be spontaneous with our schedules. When school starts all that freedom goes away and I get sad. We've gotta enjoy the indulgences while we can!

All us girls at Girl's Camp!

Sister S got asked to be the Stake speaker at Girl's Camp this year, so I went with her. We went up and had dinner with Princess P who was already there and then we got to listen to my amazing oldest child speak. The theme was 'There's No Place Like Home', so it was perfect topic for her and she did such a good job! What a great example she is for those girls! I'm so proud of her.

All the old camp flags from years past were hanging up. We had to find our names.

We got invited to go to Palisade Lake for dinner with friends. It was fun and the weather was great for throwing siblings into the water- at least that's what my kids did.

Sister S, Princess P and C Man fight for the high ground.

One of my nieces came home from her mission as her sister is leaving and we went up to hear them speak. It was a hot day, but fun to visit and see everyone.

Elder D, Awesome A, Princess P and C Man- dang, my kids are good lookin'!

Sister S was on the forest fire crew this year. She loved it!

I think she started more fires than she put out... weird.

S'MORE FAMILY NIGHT

The weather is SOOO beautiful right now. It is cold enough in the evenings for the leaves to be turning, but nice and sunny in the day. Can I just say again how much I love fall? I do. We decided to take advantage of the nip in the air and roast us some 'mallows for Family Home Evening last night.

Aunt, Uncle and cousins by the fire.

It was a good night to have cousins over too, so we invited some of the in-town Gordons. They happily accepted and the party was on. Fire-roasted gooey-ness for all!

Cousins, cousins, cousins! We {heart} cousins!

Many Sandlot puns were had by all! 'You're killing me, Smalls!' 'How can I have some more of nothing?' 'First you take the 'mallow...' and more, many more...

A with a 'mallow on his roaster and one in his mouth. Yummy!

THE WEST IS ON FIRE

As I mentioned before, we have had over 60 days without measurable rain fall. It is causing a huge wildfire problem here and in many other western states. I looked for a map with all of the fires on it and counted about 38 fires currently burning here in the western United States. 

Wood Hollow fire by ©Jason Stevens

Two of these horrible fires are 20 and 40 miles from my home. The smoke and fires are currently being blown North of us, so we are not personally in danger, but many people are.

Wood Hollow fire ©Jason Stevens

These amazing photos of the Wood Hollow fire are by our good friend. They are better photos than even the ones on the news. It is so scary. Our town is fasting and praying for rain and I'm sure many others are as well. We sure need it!

FAMILY NIGHT FIRESIDE

Last night we had combined Family Home Evening with the Gordons. We went up the canyon and had dutch oven stew, chocolate cake, and visited around the fire. It was very fun!

C, J, A and D around the fire.

 My two youngest are staying with my brother and his family for a few days, so I only had my two older boys. (S went to the college ward).

D, Big C, Me and D

It was a very nice day to be up in the mountains. It even got a little chilly before we finally went home.

Big C on fire!

I gave A the camera to take some photos and he took this awesome one of Big C. Very cool!