Summer Catch Up

Whenever I get behind on doing  blog posts I want to quit! I'm still tempted to just type up  journal entries and put them in my journal!!

We did have a fun, but busy summer. Here's just a few of the highlights.

 Jared and Maren came up for the 4th of July weekend. We spent one day in Seattle at Pike Place Market. It was really fun to be together with them. It always does my heart good to see them SO happy and still SO in love!!

 We went hiking with them one day and enjoyed the beautiful Olympic Forest.

Knowing this was going to be our last year at the Lake house for the 4th of July everyone went all out with fireworks. We had a great show!!

 It has been 5 years since our Stake did trek. We went to a different place this time, Ensign Ranch and it was SO nice. It seemed like things went smoother this time and the kids did so well, with very little complaining!! I was the official photographer and Russ did most of the videoing.

 Our fearless Stake President....just a "little" prejudice.

 Before the Women's Pull I was ask to speak to them. I told them that one thing I've learned throughout my life is that ... I Can Do Hard Things!! I related several stories about myself and others and encouraged them to turn to the Lord and He would always be there for them.

When we returned home from trek Lindsey's family was here to greet us. We got to watch 2 of our angels for the night while Tyrel and Lindsey had a little get away. We enjoyed hanging out at the Lake house, crabbing & going to the beach. So happy they were able to come for a visit!!

 In August we went down to Rexburg for Zayne's blessing. What a HUGE surprise when we arrived at Lindsey's house and Kristy surprised us by driving there with the kids!! We were SO happy to all be together!! We went to the water park, the rodeo and some kind of Fair Days in Ammon, Idaho.

 Halter is DEFINITELY a mommy's boy.

 What a special day to see Zayne, our 7th grandchild blessed by his faithful father. On the same day he was blessed we were able to sit in on Jacob's setting apart as the Ward's executive secretary.

 The happy parents, and rightly so!!

 So happy Jake, Crystal & their family could come.

 This picture was taken right before my mom passed out. Fortunately we were right next to her so she didn't fall on the floor. It was such a SCAREY moment. We called 911 because we couldn't get her to come to!! SO thankful she was OK and my sister & her husband drove them there!!

This was one of my companions on my mission, Naomi Craw. She married one of our Zone leaders, Steve Craw. They live in Driggs, Idaho and have raised 4 sons. They spent one night at our Lake house and we had them over for dinner the next day, as we were still at Jacob's. It was SO fun to catch up and hear about their lives. Though they've had some challenges in their life, they've always stayed faithful. I loved being companions with Naomi & we got along so good. 

 Jacob, Janette & Zayne headed to our house the day after Zayne's blessing. As you can see we enjoyed the Fair & the food!! Zayne was starting to smile a lot and it was SO adorable!!

 One of the ladies I VT had 3 of her kids at the County Fair showing their rabbits. They were as cute as their animals!!

One day Jacob and Janette went to Seattle and brought me back this beautiful bouquet of flowers!

 We enjoyed Adam and Jessica's family here for a visit. What a cute family they have!!

 Maren graduated from BYU with her degree in Public Health!! So proud of her and all her hard work.

 This last entry could be one all by itself! On Sept. 11th we closed on the sale of our lake house. As sad and hard as it was, I'm SO grateful for all the wonderful memories we've made there. We purchased this land and house below in 1999. We finished building the house above in the summer of 2001. I'm not sure where all those years went...they zoomed by, but we'll be forever thankful that we were able to share it with so many people. We pray the new family that purchased it will love it as much as we did. I feel SO blessed that it was a part of our lives and will cherish those years always:)

The house that was on the property when we purchased it.

 This was our last morning there after spending the night. Our faithful friends, the Rice's who have a lake house also a few doors up, came to take Russ on a typical morning ski run with the morning fog still lingering. 

The day we came to start packing up the house we had 18 new mole hills in the yard!! Russ got out of the car and said, "this just sealed the deal!" He is NOT going to miss these lawn destroyers!!

 Our last day at the lake!!

It was a way BIGGER job than we thought it would be to move!! What do you do with a fully furnished house & shop when you already have one? Some of the things went with the sale, we sold some, gave some away & kept some of the things that we couldn't part with. We're hoping this will help simplify our lives though.

We'll be looking for a new place to hang our sign!!