Family Boating Time! And Other Summer Fun!

We had a wonderful summer filled with family and outdoor activities. I LOVE being in the mountains so much. It will be so much fun in about 5 or so years when our children are old enough that we can all enjoy camping together every summer! We still take them, but enjoy is the key word :). I still do it and love to spend time together as a family in nature, but little babies and kids have a rough time at night not in their own beds. But I do want them to learn to love nature and God's creations and be able to be away from technology and distractions of the world.

Now to these pictures.
We had the Close's come visit us earlier in the summer. Tara and Tammy wanted to go to the Family History Center in Salt Lake and get some of their genealogy figured out. The kids all got to play together a lot and we loved having them with us.

The girls spent a lot of time outside and mostly in their swim suits. Nora would live outside if I let her. She always wants to play in the rocks or swing or "ride bikes" (mainly me pushing her around on a bike). We also love taking walks up Bridal Veil Falls, BBQing and eating outside, roasting marshmallows in our backyard, summer evenings outside with the cul-de-sac neighbors, and working in the yard pruning and gardening. The girls LOVED when Daddy and I cut down huge branches and they helped haul them to the truck. They were 5 times bigger than them so it took some muscles but they were pretty proud of themselves :).

 

In July we went to our annual Burton Family Reunion. This year it was held in Spanish Fork when my Mom and her siblings grew up. It was in the park just behind their small house they lived in. Nine people in one house with one bathroom and a couple bedrooms. We loved hearing some of their stories growing up.

We had a great time going on Grandma and Grandpa Bleak's boat. Cade and I have never really been that interested in boating mainly because we HATE being cold and the water is almost always cold and then you are wet on a boat and remain cold most of the time :). But we decided to get over it this year and we had a blast going with everyone. The girls especially loved it and of course got very tired out. Reese is a little fishy and wanted to just spend every moment in the water. Nora was hilarious though. She couldn't stand NOT being with me in the water so she would jump to me. But the water was cold so she'd start crying. So I'd put her back on the boat and she'd start crying because she wanted to be in the water, so she would jump to me and start crying because the water was cold! Over and over and over! It was so funny.  We had some great times this summer and I am always a little sad when it's over, but then I remember next is fall and Utah falls are my favorite!