Water day...

We have 3 reunions with Merril's side of the family 3 weekends in a row. Maxine and I played hookie from the Laub Ranch. To help with swim team, we went out to sand hollow to swim early in the morning. Brrrr, it was a little cold for my liking and a little creepy. We swam out to the dock that's halfway to the rock island. When we got done, we were cold and a little itchy. We were fine after we came home and showered.

Merril took the other kids to the Laub Ranch and snagged this picture.

My bestie Emily came to visit for the high school reunion and brought her daughter, Caroline.  Juliet is good with kids and Caroline took a liking to her.   

We took them to Quail because I'm always afraid of the swimmer's itch. We visited some of the old places like the Brigham Young Home. She visited her cousin Andrea Palmer one of the days.

Then we came to the reunion!

We chatted and laughed with the old gang. We're as dumb as ever.  

Emily stayed for the long weekend and we stayed up and chatted.  I took Caroline and Emily to the shuttle so they could catch a ride to Salt Lake to meet her husband Aaron and her two other kids.  They were going to continue to a reunion in Idaho Falls.  

It's funny how close I can be to her after all these years.  It's fun to be in the same room though. 

Maxine's pioneer trek...

There was trek for youth conference this year. I never did one. Maybe I feel like it's silly to haul handcarts when we have cars but whatever. I made Maxine a bonnet, skirt and shirt.

Jocelyn and Jared and Amy Hummel were there. Maxine was in Jared and Amy's "family."

The weather was crap. Crazy flash flooding forced the teams to turn around so they ended up hiking way farther than they were supposed to. And they were wet, soaked to the bone.

They found snakes so I guess all was forgiven.

Maxine wouldn't be Maxine without awesome hair. 

The first night, Maxine was trying to dry out her shoes by the fire and melted them like crazy. When she tried to grab them, she burned her finger on the melted rubber. She ended up borrowing another leader's extra pair of shoes. I don't know what she would've done otherwise. 

She says it was hard, like really hard but was also good. Whatever man, I'm just glad she's home safe.

Juliet's 11th Birthday!!!

Summer time means Juliet's birthday is right around the corner.  Merril took her to Bear Paw for the awesome waffles.

We spent the afternoon seeing a movie!  We saw The Incredibles 2!  It was maybe a little scary for Mark.

Because Juliet loves making cakes, I didn't have to make one for her birthday.  She made it herself. 

This girl gets it done.  If there is a task at hand, she jumps in.  She's very organized and a terrific babysitter.  We love our Julie.

Circus circus...

Merril had to do some work in Vegas and offered to take the kids down to Circus Circus for the afternoon!

I haven't been to Circus Circus in a long time but I remember it being ghetto.  The adventure dome looks nice from the pictures.

Kids don't notice things like that anyway.

Summer splash pad...

Yay!  We made a summer bucket list and we are making our way through it!  A splash pad was on the list.

The weather was perfect!

I think Maxine was at Girl's Camp.

Good times.

Maxine's 4th year hike...

Maxine is a 4th year at girl's camp and so she had to go on the 4th year hike before camp started. Luckily, our stake is filled with a lot of her friends.

So basically, it was a huge sleepover with friends. :) 

This girl is awesome.  She inspires me with her testimony.  Love her!

Bike Moab...

Merril went mountain biking in Moab with his buddies.

Taking in the sunshine and the views!

You can't go to Moab without eating at Eddie McStiff's.  I hear they don't make their own root beer anymore.  That's unfortunate.

Mark and I were goofy while he was gone.

Fish Lake SAR Conference 2018

Merril attends several Search and Rescue trainings to help him learn new techniques and be safe.  There's a multiple day conference in Fish Lake every year and families are invited to camp.  I've never been, Merril's taken the boys before.  The whole family went this year.  The National Guard brings their cool helicopters to train as well and allow people to look inside.

It was windy the first day but then became nice weather.

Maxine and Anna Nelson.  We used to live in the same ward with Nelsons but then they moved out to Dixie Springs.  Anna's Dad, Jason, is on SAR as well.

While Daddy attended training, we entertained ourselves. We brought the RV so that was nice.

You can't come to Fish Lake and not fish.

Camping means snacking.

These kids cracked me up on the ride home.  They all piled into this bed and slept on the way home.