Mountain Bike Race...

Jack has been practicing with the mountain bike team a few times a week and now we are full into race season!

Merril looks awesome in his team gear!

Jack was so cute and placed 10th in his division! Awesome dude!

Butterfingers....

I'm not a huge fan of cake but this cake is so good. It was shared by Kathy Brown, who moved away. She brought it over when I had Mark. It's vanilla cinnamon sugar pudding cake. I was excited to make it and as I took it out of the oven, I totally dropped it. Cake flopped out all over the floor. I totally picked it up and we ate it. 

First Day of School!

Wahoo! The first day of school is here! Jack and Juliet are both going to the Intermediate School this year. Juliet is in 6th and Jack is in 7th.

They ride the bus together and it comes crazy early! At 6:55 a.m.

Maxine fixed Mikayla's hair for the first day of school. Braids of course. Mikayla is in 1st grade.

They are ready to peace out.

Maxine is ready for 10th grade at the high school.

Mark starts preschool at Coral Canyon. He's a little nervous but I think he'll do okay.

And we finally have our mornings back! Loving it!

Catching squirrels...

I made a new grow box for things that don't fit in the greenhouse. After planting peas, lettuce and arugala, we discovered that the rock squirrels behind our house like to eat those things. So I tried to deter the squirrels and that didn't work either. I got mad and didn't plant anything for a while. I broke down and bought a live squirrel trap. I couldn't kill the squirrels myself but I wanted them far, far away. After some trial and error, I caught a squirrel. Juliet and I drove clear past Virgin and released it next to the river. It's going to need water. I couldn't release it in the desert. It's on the other side of the river so I don't think it will find it's way home.

I ended up catching 4 squirrels total! Now it's way too late for peas so I'm going to plant a pumpkin patch. Hopefully I can get a pumpkin before Halloween.

AND I FINISHED THE FLAGSTONE PATIO! It turned out better than I though it would.  Yay! Yay and yay!

Lagoon!

This is the last hurrah before school starts!  Lagoon!  We haven't been since Jack was a baby.  Mark loved the boats.

I saw on Facebook that the 20th ward had leftover Lagoon meal tickets from youth conference and was trying to give them away.  I snatched them up.  We got 6 free meals!

We rode rides and screamed screams.

I don't have any pictures of Lagoon-A-Beach but we spent part of the day in the water park.  The water was super cold!  The weather was sunny so it was still nice.  Maxine and I played until the park closed and Merril took the rest of the fam to go get Crown Burgers.

Unfinished Business Rally...

Merril and Ryan entered a 3-day motorcycle rally. They road from Hurricane to Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Primm NV, Williams AZ, Albuquerque NM, Denver CO, the corner of Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, and back to Utah. They rode 3,200 miles in 3 days. They had to take pictures with their rally "flag" to earn points and a picture with an officer was one of the bonuses. This cop was not excited about it. He said "this is my happy face." OK.

And there he goes!

Merril and Ryan are posing in front of a sasquatch at a museum near Denver CO. I can't see it so it must be a good sasquatch. 

They found Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.

Merril and Ryan won 3rd and 4th places! 

Hurricane Flying Tigers...

Hey look at my cute kid! He's on the Hurricane High School mountain bike team called the Flying Tigers. He's only in 7th grade but he can get away with this because Merril is helping with the team. He's holding his own and looks good doing it.

Playing in the river...

Playing in the river is on the summer bucket list! We came to the bridge by the settling ponds and played in the river underneath. We had a scary experience when we first arrived. The river narrows and waterfalls just after the bridge. The current is stronger there and I told the little kids to stay upriver, away from it. Juliet wanted to play close to the waterfall and started to get swept away. Jack tried to help her but she bounced over the rocks on the way down. Mikayla thought they were playing and went over to go down as well. She got swept over the boulders and kept getting swept downstream. Luckily she had her life vest on and I was scrambling on the shore, trying to get to them as quick as I could. Mikayla finally got to the side enough to stop herself but she was sad and banged up.

After we regrouped and calmed down, we had a fun time.

It was plenty hot and the water was a good temperature.

I got sand in all the places.

Anchovies!!!

I've always wondered anchovies taste like on a pizza!!  It happened today!  A few of the kids tried it out but they said it was super fishy.  I couldn't taste the fishiness because I wasn't smelling very well today so I could taste the saltiness.  The texture was a little weird as well. All the little bones are still in the anchovies so they were a tad crunchy.  I'm glad I did it, I don't think I'll be doing it again.

A girl in our ward works at the Dominos pizza where I got the pizza and she said everyone working there hates making anchovy pizza.  It makes the kitchen smell and they have to switch out the pizza slicers.  

Our last Pioneer Day parade...

These are my peeps. These are my girls. Mandy, Libbi and Valerie. We were told we are going to be released some time. Our callings in the primary presidency have been hard but it could've been so much harder. Where I was weak, they were strong. When someone couldn't be there, I'd show up. Libbi could talk to any inactive family like they were old friends. Valerie kept all the attendance rolls and assignments on track. Mandy was organized and kept us doing what we should. We served and became awesome friends. I am so lucky to serve with them!

Since we are going to be released some time, we won't be in charge of the parade next year! This is parade number 4 and it's plenty of work. Val and her husband did an awesome job on the trailer. I was just in charge of the wheels.

Lib was in charge of all the cute signs.

There was even enough room that I could ride on the float this year! We usually have to walk. It was so hot, even for 8:30 in the morning. I got to wear Maxine's trek outfit and looked so cute!

Selfie Saturday...

As I raid everyone's phones for pictures, I get to come across fun selfies! So that no one is embarrassed, I'll go first!

Merril's in St. Louis! He didn't have enough time to go up the St. Louis Arch but he wants to.

And I just love this one!

Merril and I have been trying to send each other more selfies when we are apart. I love seeing his smiling face when he's away!

Campbell Family Reunion

This is the Campbell Family Reunion in Glendale, UT.  We are hanging out at Grandma Swapp's house and it was hot.

There was a jam session.  Maxine's getting so good at the guitar.  She kind of just picked it up this summer.

We took the RV and camped on Mason's property.

Daddy and Jack rode mountain bikes at Thunder Mountain with Mont and Adam Campbell.

Sleeping kids are the cutest.

There was this rope on Mason's property that had knots in it to climb.  Julie climbed it.

Then Mikayla. That girl has no fear. I was a little afraid she would slip and fall but she's strong.

Independence Day....

Independence Day started with some good 'ol rock climbing.

We lit some sparklers.

Julie and her friends dressed up like pin up girls from the 50s.