A big ol' DUMP

Whelp, I am SO BEHIND! Ack. Summer started out pretty boring . . . and then July came and got a wee bit busy and it just hasn't slowed down . . . So here's a big dump of all our summer happenings, up to Yellowstone:

Ben, Lucy and I went on a gorgeous hike on the 4th of July. Miles was on the front-range, Jonas of course gone, and Emmy was meeting up with friends that day and so it was just the three of - plus our two dogs. It was a super pretty (although way too many mosquitoes) hike - loved it!

Ben brought up some MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) from his Army stuff and he and Lucy enjoyed their lunch. :) I had a few bites . . . Not bad, really!

That next weekend, following the fourth, the girls and I headed up to Midway. Emmy was to start FSY the following Monday. Lucy brought her friend and neighbor Genevieve along and so that was fun. We were there for a couple of days at my parents and then I drove Emmy (picking up her friend and roomie Holly in Layton on the way) to Logan for FSY at Utah State. I drove all the way up to Logan, got Emmy and Holly settled at USU, drove back south and met my parents (who had Lucy and Genevieve with them) in Orem, and then drove back home to Montrose. It was a long day...

Then Lucy and I headed back up to Utah a few days later to pick Emmy back up. Actually, we got to my parents' home on Friday and then on Saturday Lucy and I headed up to Layton - where we met up with Emmy at Holly's house. Emmy and Holly had The Best Week Ever. They LOVED FSY so much! Yay! They even had a special guest drop in and talk with just the girls - Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Lucky them! Emmy said she had said a prayer that morning and that Elder Uchdorf addressed everything she prayed about. Sweet. :) Lucy got to stay over that night with Lila (Holly's sister and one of Lucy's best friends, even though she moved - boohoo). Emmy stayed with Holly as well and even got to spend a couple of hours at Lagoon on Saturday.

Heather, Holly and Lila's mom, was kind enough to bring the girls all the way down to Orem - where I met them on Sunday afternoon and then we all drove back to home. The rest of the month was filled with a week of Csilla and I running our last slime camp ever (it went great), followed by working all week the next week. Then came August, which I get to in my next post!

While I was taking Emmy and the girls to Utah, Ben was able to meet up with Paul F. and go on an epic adventure together. They backpacked in Friday night and then summited Wetterhorn, a 14er, on Saturday - and hiked out that same day. It was a lot of awesome miles hiked and climbed and I was so happy Ben got to do this!

Lucy and Emmy (and photo-bomber Emmy) having fun at my parents' pool.

Emmy and Holly geeking out over their cute dorm for the week. :)

Lovin' it.

Emmy was SO EXCITED to tell me about Elder Uchtdorf. I told her to take his picture and she did. :)

Emmy loved the girls in her group so much. They all got along so great. They roomed with four other girls, who they got along well with, but didn't click like their FSY group. But it all worked out for sure! 

Some posts from her FSY group and friends:

And, yes, this happened to Emmy at FSY - her first little kiss. :) Haha, cute! And her cute besties, Abby and Layla (sisters) made her this cake when we got back home. Love it.

Cute friends, Lucy and Lila.

Slime camp . . . nevermore. :) But it was a great time - a MESSY time. But Csilla knows how to make those kids clean and it was awesome! I had a lot of fun with Csilla and our kids (36 of them!!!) were pretty great kids, really.

Ben went up one weekend to celebrate his dad's 80th. His siblings were all there and so he had a really great time! This is the only picture I got, though:

Joe and Ben went on a great Saturday morning ride. (I'll need to get more pictures from this weekend...) 

Miles made it over for Sunday pictures and lunch. So that was pretty cool.

Jay, Aiden's dad, sent me a few pictures of Miles' time with them this summer:

I am so glad Miles had such a good summer with the Bugarins!

This was Miles as he was about to drive back to Montrose and leave the Bugarins - and not see them for 2 years, sniff, sniff. These are Aiden's brother: Evan in the middle and Alex on the right. I think they really liked having Miles around, too.