Thursday, August 1, 2013

Summer, summer, and more summer


We have had such a wonderful, full summer.  Full of drama as you can see above.  It is amazing at how fast time goes.  It has been good....really good.  My goal for the summer was to read like crazy with the kids, swim a lot and sleep late as much as possible.  I think we did very well with all of it.  


One Sunday we slipped away just Scott and I with two older kiddos.  These are special times for us and they rarely happen.


Croquet and season passes to the amusement park helped keep everyone happy.




Four days a week we had two that swam for an hour on swim team.  This was Ellie's first year and she did amazing.  She has turned into quite the swimmer. I never got a picture of Luke.  Probably because he drug out of bed minutes before he jumped in the water.  It was a good way to wake up.


Leah, Sam, and DonLi also ran in a running league two mornings a week.  They would all ride their bikes so I didn't have to do the usual drop off and pick up.  Some mornings it would be up close to 90 degrees when they were running.  One day Sam told Leah he was leaving before it was over.  It must have been bad because Leah just followed him home without complaint of leaving early and not finishing and of course DonLi was happy to join them.

We live less than an hour away from this beauty.  Scott will load his hikers up and go hiking for the day.  They have done some pretty long hard climbs.  I am happy to stay back with the little less adventurers and look at the wonderful pictures when they return.




This picture in the snow was taken in June.  Crazy huh?


Sparky smiling for the camera.



Game nights.

Fun time with cousins in Texas.


Joel had the great opportunity to serve God using a talent that God blessed him with.  He traveled with a team to Pisek, Czech Republic and spent 12 days leading basketball camp and getting to play some ball with the local teams.  I think it made a huge impact on his life.  We were so proud of him.




I think one of the most exciting things that happened this summer was Jasmine finally had her birthday.  She joined our family last August right after her birthday.  She had to wait for every person in our family to have a birthday.  She was a little excited when hers finally came.  She is now our big 6 year old.



The final shabang of the summer was a trip to Ruidoso, NM.  That is where Scott's dad spends most of his summers.  This summer he got sick and had to go home.  He is doing much better but not up to traveling back to see us.  Scott's brother, Mike and his wife, Jan came to fill in for Popo.  We had a wonderful time with them.  The kids ate up all of their attention.  We really missed Popo like crazy but thanks to Mike and Jan we had an amazing time.







The highlight of the trip was driving the golf cart around.  They all had fun with that.


We really enjoyed the beauty of White Sands.   There isn't any better place for photos and sledding.


We all love you Mike and Jan.  You helped us make some great memories.




And here we are.  The crazy couple that still believes that God is a wonderful, great God.  We will follow Him to the ends of the earth.  We feel blessed beyond measure and so, so thankful for His amazing grace.  God truly loves each of us and has a beautiful plan for our lives.  He rescues the broken hearted and places the lonely in families.  He used two normal people to gather our children up and love them with all we have.  Please, please pray for those who don't yet have someone to love them and give them hope.  Let me know if you would like to give a child a chance at life.  As we wind down the last couple of weeks until school starts my goal is to savor the last few moments of us being all together.