This summer:
*Dray fractured his right pinky finger after pulling a tall table over on himself at subway. A surgery involving pins, a handful of casts and splints, and several hundred dollars later, he still has a crooked (but functional) little finger. He's definitely the most accident prone of all three children. I'm just glad that he's okay.
* We've had lots of fun visits with family this summer, which the kids always love. Alan, Ellie, and Dray especially enjoyed Josh's extended stays.
* Here we are spending family night at Organ Stop Pizza. After a few songs, Dray plugged his ears and said, "It's too loud. Let's get outta hear!" Still, it was a fun evening.
* Ellie and Alan were in a summer sport's camp with their cousins for three weeks. They really enjoyed being with their cousins, but didn't enjoys the sports aspect so much. Alan even went so far as to say that, "it was like being trapped in Walmart for four hours every day." Just to clarify, Walmart is his least favorite place to be, ever. He also asked, "Why are you making me kick a ball around for hours? I want to be a scientist!" Ellie also didn't appreciate the athletic part of camp. She made me promise to put her only in swimming and drama camps next year. So, there goes my hopes for future full ride athletic scholarships. ;) Oh well, at least they had something to do for three weeks, whether they loved it or not.
* We spent a fun 4th of July with Crandall cousins in Tucson. Laurel and Bill rented a ranch in Tucson (which was a really great idea.) The kids painted ponies, went horseback riding, played on a water slide, and petted a variety of furry and feathered creatures. We ate tasty barbecue too. It was fun to spend time with family. While everyone else went camping that night, we stayed in a hotel (Dray had to keep his splint clean and dry- which would not have happened while camping.) While in Tucson we visited the Tucson Children's Museum, watched fireworks under A mountain, and went to the International Wildlife Museum. It rained most of the time, which cooled off the air quite a bit. Gosh, I love Monsoon Season. It's nature way of saving us Arizonans from insanity. Just when we feel like curling into a heat-induced fetal position, nature provides us with a brief respite that somehow tides us over until fall.
* The kids and I went to Safford (or Pima, to be exact) for Pioneer Day, where we watched a parade (which consisted mostly of people on horses throwing lots and lots of candy, a couple of firetrucks, and a few floats.) We also watched a great pioneer pageant and some incredible fireworks that exploded and sparkled right over our heads. The weather was around 70 degrees that evening, which felt wonderful. We also spent some time with my brothers. Dray roasted marshmallows and played drums at Chad and Selena's place. The kids rode a dune buggy at Aaron and Erin's house and played with his super well-behaved Labrador dogs. We had lots of country summer fun.
* Ken and I have new ward callings. I'm the ward historian, which I am super excited about. I'll just pretend I'm working at a newspaper again and take lots of pictures. And like always, I'll satisfy my curiosity by getting all up in people's stuff. :) As far as I've read, it mostly involves keeping track of big ward events, important anniversaries, service projects, deaths, graduations, weddings, missionary experiences, etc...
Ken is a Cub Scout leader for the Wolf Den, which is the most recent calling we had in our last ward.
* We are loving our new home and ward, and as always, are extremely thankful for so many things, especially family, our health, and the gospel!
