Summertime in review

I was such a sporadic blogger this year. I feel like I took pictures of so many things I wanted to blog about, both to share with my friends, and also to journal my year for myself. I thought I'd take time today to just get a few of those things recorded before I forget! Please pardon all the pictures....but I was sorta click happy this year.

As many of you know I was released from the Young Women's presidency in church this summer. It was such a bittersweet thing for me. I adore those girls. I love them like litte sisters and want so much for them. I was so sad to leave. On the other hand, being called to the Primary Presidency is not without blessings itself. I get to serve with one of my very best friends, and the children I serve include my three beautiful daughters. The time I have had in Primary so far has truly been such a joy.

One of my last activities with the Young Women was our pre-camp cookout at the YW President's house. We made S'mores with GIANT marshmallows. The result was sort of a mess. But fun none the less. What does "none the less" even mean, anyway?

This masterpiece is the S'mores volcano created by our President.

One of my first activities with the primary children was a neighborhood parade where the children got to decorate their bikes or scooters, and we rode around the neighborhood. My camera died so I only got this one picture of Monkey, but it is hilarious. This was ENTIRELY her idea. We have this clown wig floating around from last Halloween, and she insisted that she should be a clown in the parade. That girl cracks me up.

One of the best parts of summer was the time spent going to soccer games - I spent far too much money on soccer tickets, and went to more games than I should have. Actually, several of the times were with tickets that were given as gifts, so I guess I splurged only a couple of times. Anyway, it was so much fun, even if our boys sadly went home during the first round of the play-offs, after having such an incredible season. Sniffle.

I may or may not have taken an embarassing amount of pictures of this guy:

I love our mascot LEO almost as much as I love Chris Wingert!!

The girls each got a chance to meet LEO at our city soccer complex on picture day this year:

As the summer wound down we continued our annual tradition of going to the County Fair with Grandpa and Grandma. The kids spent some time in a fun petting zoo - and this camel even "kissed" Cowgirl right on the cheek when she wasn't paying attention. It was pretty funny.

Monkey was terrified of the pigs. I guess they are much bigger and uglier in real life than on cartoons! She wouldn't get near the pens. I kept trying to get her to get a closer look. Then she saw this one:

To which she exclaimed, "LOOK! There's a MOLDY one!" I would have fallen on the floor laughing if the floor wasn't covered with farm animal poo.

This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken ever. My dad is in poor health, each year a little worse than the last. In order to allow him keep going to places with us on occasion, he has invested in a motorized wheelchair. I adore this picture of Cowgirl and Monkey walking with him through the fairgrounds.

We had a lot more going on this summer, but I'll save that for another day. And for the record, I do have a son. He is just at that age where he's not into getting his picture taken, so although he was at the fair, and went to a soccer game with his dad, and is generally part of all our family activities - my pictures don't reflect that! I'm going to have to do something about that!!

Hope the trip down "summer memory lane" wasn't too boring! And now on to the Holidays! Yipee!!