Hooray for Summer Fun!

The Blakeley's came to visit! We loved having them here with us. Life didn't slow down for us though. We were still in and out and everywhere while they were here. I loved all the late night talks and just being together through out the day. Kenny even fixed a hole in the floor on our stairs. He loves projects and couldn't help himself.  He helped my dad out with a couple of things at Jessi's house too. They got to be good buddies.  Everybody loves Kenny and Amanda!

It was great to spend so much time with Melissa Jordan too.  It's silly that we live so close to each other and we rarely get together. Amanda was always the party girl that got us all together and out of the house to play.  We miss that!

We went to Lee Lee's Asian Market just the three of us, no kids!  It was so much fun and we came home with yummy food! Not the jackfruit in this picture, however. It is always fun to see all the foreign fruits and veggies.

Amanda and Melissa, two of my best friends!

Freddy and Andrew got to go to a Diamond Backs game with their buddies from church. They had a great time!

I got a little time with Gavin and Cadie's gang at my parents house for Freia's baby blessing.  It is so fun to play with their babies! They really are the cutest!

The Littlest Pet Shop toys were left out by Sabrina Blakeley and Lucy Jordan, so of course the big kids had to play with them. It was pretty hilarious.  They named them and had a story going. It all ended when someone blew up the house that they were all playing in.  Poor Littlest Pets.

Meanwhile, the older guys were playing games nearby, laughing at them.

The twins fell asleep on the floor like this. I love that my kids are such snugglers.

The girls loved every minute with Molly and Megan! Laney and Susanna have missed them tons and tons since their move to Maryland a year and a half ago.

There was lots of swimming at the Jordans.

And gaming when Jolie Bailey came over.

Megan, Jolie and Zanna

Tons of giggles and love.

Megan, Zanna and Sabrina

Sabrina had to get in lots of Daniel time. He is so sweet with little ones.

They made pizzas at the Pottles.

Kenny and Chop baking the pizzas

And lots of slime making.

Mia Allen, Megan and Zanna

Kendal, Laney, Averi, Daniel, Heidi and Molly all hanging out in the girls room. I love that my kids have such great friends!

Averi, Molly, Laney, Daniel and Sabrina

It was a week and a half of nonstop partying! We can't wait to have them back again!

Fourth of July Swing!

We have always missed the Fourth of July Swing Convention, since we are usually in Utah, but this year the convention was the weekend after the 4th, so we were able to attend! It was Sara's first convention and she had a great time.

It was Tim's first time competing as an adult and also his last time before his mission.

One of the favorite parts for everyone is the social dancing in between and after the competitions. I love seeing the kids all dancing together, with Jessi and with total strangers. The West Coast Swing community is so kind to the kids and really looks out for them as well as helping them to learn and improve.  

Susanna is so brave and will ask the champs to dance. She was killing it with this guy!  They had a crowd watching them.

He kicked his foot up over her head in a twirl!

 Everyone especially went crazy when they went down in to the splits together, all unplanned, just social dancing. It was pretty awesome!

Sara competed in the novice category and got a champ for her partner. They didn't place, but they did great, especially since she is such a beginner.

Tim and his partner did great too! They made it to the finals, but didn't place.

Daniel killed it in juniors.  He and his partner got second place!

Heidi and our good friend Brandon Strong won first place!

Daniel was so cute about winning. He won $75 and then sweetly gave it to Pat and George for supporting him in dance and for all the time and money they have put into helping him progress.

We love Pat and George!

Thanks for bring the joy of West Coast Swing into our lives!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Our first full day at home was the 4th of July. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Alger's to watch the fireworks. Josh was able to see a bunch of Algers and Elys for the first time in 2 years. It was fun to watch all the hugging. Sadly, I didn't get very many pictures of all the hugs and welcome homes.

Josh and Nan

Josh and Bubba

Josh and Gavin

Benson, being shy

He was just a baby when Josh left.

And he got to meet Freia and Daphne, for the first time ever.

When we got back home our good friend Kallie came over to see Josh.

Temple Trip and Fun with Friends

Everyone, except for the little girls, went to the temple on Friday morning. Richard took Sam, Josh and Tim to do endowments and I went with Sara, Andrew, Freddy and Daniel to do baptisms.

We enjoyed our time together in the House of the Lord. 

The Salt Lake Temple is so beautiful!

That evening we met with a couple of choir friends, Isaac Lyon and Alex Contraras, at Highland Glen Park. It was a pocket of heaven hidden in town.

Sam taught Zanna to skip rocks.

They made some new friends. Three guys hanging out at the park asked our group to join them in spike ball and then Frisbee football. 

It was a little chilly watching them, so my sweetie kept me warm.

Isaac had to leave early so he didn't make it into the pictures.

Alex is between Sara and Daniel. Reggie is in the back with his arms up. Talmage is in the blue shirt by Andrew and we can't remember the name of the other guy next to him.

Saturday we spent a little while exploring Orem Mall.

I think Drew's face expresses pretty clearly how he felt about wearing a University of Utah hat. Ha!

Richard is such an animal!

Laney found this lovely coat. Hmm...

Saturday night  we watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from our friends', the Craigs, front yard.  It was beautiful weather and so relaxing. Sadly, they were out of town so we didn't get to visit with them.

Sunday after church we took Sam back to the airport and then came home for a Sunday nap.  I walked in and found Richard sound asleep and snoring like this. We needed a picture of it. He didn't even do it on purpose, he was just trying to block out the light. So funny!

That evening, our dear friends, the Bytheways, came down from Salt Lake to spend some time with us. We sat in the front yard visiting and laughing, again trying to soak in every last minute of beautiful weather with good friends.

Bethany and Susanna

Kim and I went for a long walk for some mom time. It was wonderful!

Other than Sam, we were missing Bethany in this picture, who had fallen asleep. It's always tons of fun when we get together. Love you, Bytheways!

The boys' choir friend, Becca, also came over to visit Sunday evening. There was a lot of laughing and silliness, of course.

It was a great last day for an amazing vacation!