Summer Highlights

I am going to need separate posts to cover our trips this summer to California and then the Bond family reunion at Bear Lake, but I thought I would start with a general overview of some of the things that we did this summer. Putting it all together like this makes me realize that we did fit in some really fun things, even though sometimes it felt like all we did was constantly clean and show our house. Here are some of our summer highlights:

At the beginning of summer the kids and I went to the park with Grandma. It was so cold that day that we all needed jackets.

We visited Grandpa at work.

Went to the aquarium up in Sandy on one of Kendall's days off.

There were trips to the park and several nature walks. On this day the kids found a baby bird that had fallen out of the nest. I didn't let them touch it, but they entertained themselves for a long time bringing it worms and insects, building a shelter around it, and then leaving it so the mama bird could come find it.

We celebrated Adriana's 6th birthday in June, Miriam's 4th birthday in July, and Kendall's 4th 29th birthday in August.

Went to Great-Grandpa Bond's 90th birthday party (and GG's 80th birthday luncheon, although I didn't get any pictures of that). Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma arrived in a limousine. When it came to pick them up my grandmother, who is also 90, quipped that the neighbors would all think it was a hearse coming to take them to their final resting place.

The girls attended princess ballet camp. Each day featured a different ballet (and princess), and then the last day was a princess ball, with real princesses who also happened to be ballerinas. Convenient, that. The girls absolutely loved ballet camp. After the princess ball, Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to McDonald's. The Springville McDonald's has a great play place.

We played at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma made the girls an awesome little play house, with real windows and a door, a mailbox that you can put mail through, and all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and flowers that can be picked off. They've had a lot of fun playing with that with their friends throughout the summer. Thank you, Grandma!

For the 4th of July I took the kids to the balloon festival here in Provo. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the black hot air balloon is a big Darth Vader head. We stood in line for a ride to go up, but they stopped literally the person in front of us. Maybe next year. My siblings, spouses, and niece who live in Utah all congregated at my parents' house for a Fourth of July dinner. We made ice cream, played games, and did sparklers. It was a lot of fun, and we're hoping this becomes an Alford family tradition.

We couldn't miss free Slurpee day at 7-11 on July 11th. That's definitely a Sawyer family tradition.

On the way home from California we stopped in St. George. It was rainy so we didn't want to do anything outside, but we did go by Brigham Young's summer home there.


It's a rare day that goes by without some form of dress up in this house. The girls enjoy making everyone "so pretty."

No summer is complete without lots of time to just take it easy.


We went to the World Folkfest in Springville with Grandma. I hadn't realized that the dancers were actually from all around the world. Grandma let the girls pick one toy from Romania (where Kendall served his mission) and one treat to try. Of all of the exotic and tasty things they could choose, they both just wanted a snow cone. And yes, in that picture Adriana is attempting to eat a rock. I have no idea, either.

Darren got his first haircut. You can see what he thought of the whole process of having to hold still while Mom came at him with scissors. I was sad to see his mop of curls go. He looks so much older now.

We went to the zoo up in Logan on our way back from Bear Lake. It was mostly birds, but there were a few mammals (like this albino porcupine), and there was a great playground where we stopped and ate a picnic lunch and let the kids burn off some energy before completing the last let of our drive.

We once again took advantage of Thanksgiving Point's $2 Tuesdays in August. I took the girls and my niece and nephew to the Dinosaur Museum. We were excited to see that they had a new exhibit since the last time we were there, on the Science of Motion. We're big fans of museums with lots of hands-on things to do, touch, and explore. This museum didn't disappoint.

The Saturday before school started we went to an end-of-summer party with some friends. The kids had a blast playing in the pool and with the slip 'n slide.

Considering I didn't even post pictures from California or Bear Lake, this was still a lot of pictures to wade through! Overall we had a fun first "official summer vacation," now that Adriana is in school. We managed to survive the stress of trying to sell our house. For those who haven't heard, we have made the decision to stay here for at least another year. We had a few opportunities at the end of summer where we could have sold our house had we wanted to, but we feel this is the best decision for us at this time. Now to focus on getting organized and back on a schedule!