The in between parts

Welcome to Idaho sign by Paisley

I know summer isn't over yet but before the business of back to school begins, I wanted to make sure to record all those things we have been doing "in-between" the big events of the summer.  We have played hard this summer and had so much fun!  Here are a few of the little things that made up the day to day.

Berry has become buddies with our adorable neighbor

Learning Russian games and dances at Summerfest

Visit to Grandma Betty

Spud wrestling cousin Nels

Visit from our dear friends, the Bakers

Getting settled in our cute apartment

Lots of bike rides...

... and cold treats!

Picking huckleberries

Eating huckleberries

Treats after picking huckleberries

Playing in dirt

Finding a house

Playing in the rain

Curly making clothes for her doll

Beautiful Sunday walks

Celebrating our 12th Anniversary!

Lake Reunion 2014

"Deep Roots, Many Branches" was the theme for our Lake Reunion this year.  We all gathered at LLL Ranch for three days of fun.  While we mostly played, we did plan a few activities that centered around our families heritage, such as a kids game of "Do you know your grandparents?", skits about different ancestors and a "Heritage Dinner" potluck where everyone brought a dish from a country we come from or an ancestor's recipe.

The Super Slides

The great thing about the LLL Ranch is that there is plenty to do and open space for kids to run without parents having to worry.  The kids played with their cousins all day, every day and had a blast.  They also never got into any arguments, which I thought was amazing for three days of playing nonstop.

Great Grandpa Lake eating with the kiddos

 I wish I had taken a picture of the food at the "Heritage Dinner."  We had a wide assortment of dishes - green pepper lemon jello, cream of wheat supreme, streussel kuchen, spaetzle, enchiladas, english scones, and carrot cake.  It was fun to hear where the recipes came from and also memories of eating many of those dishes at Grandma Velma's house or growing up in the Lake family. 

 Seeing the skits each family presented was very fun for adults and kids alike.  I learned many fun stories from our ancestry.  One of the more memorable stories was of Fisher's German grandfather who escaped from a Russian P.O.W. camp by pretending to be a Polish soldier.

The weather was beautiful and everyone the most courageous kids (and adults) braved the freezing, cold waterslide.  Ba and Ryan made a "blob" which was like a big waterbed that kids could play on.

Besides the waterslide and big slides, there was ziplining, paintballing, s'more roasting, golfing, game playing, crafting, make-believe, ping pong, pool, and lots of fun.  We really did have a wonderful time!

Paintball casualties

mmm s'mores

A plethora of cuties!

Family Tree artwork

circle o' cousin love

Oma and Grandpa

Cute Bow n' Arrow craft (Thanks Stacie!)

Service project - Staining the shelter

Visual family tree

Birthday Bonanza

June and July are Birthday months around here - 3 birthdays in 3 weeks.  We added to the party by having a Lovell family "staycation" in the middle of it all.

With all the change (moving) in our family this summer, the plans to have a Lovell reunion at Lake Powell were scrapped and everyone (except poor Nate who was also moving) met in Idaho.  We spent a day at Island Park, before seeing an amazing production of "Les Miserables" at the Playmill. We visited the ranch and a few brave souls went water-skiing and tubing on what has been the coldest day of the summer (I was not one of them).  When it warmed up we went to the Splash park and the pool.  We played games, watched soccer, talked a lot, and ate too much good food.

Picnic at Mesa Falls

Beautiful view of The Tetons

K-Rae & Diego at the ranch

Berry and Lyssie back to their old tricks

Sleeping on the trampoline

Baby S loving the Splash Park

Curly was lucky to celebrate her birthday with Lettie this year.  Since they both have birthdays near the 4th, we made it a big party all day long.  We hit the parade, played outside, watched a movie, had cake, and topped it off with fireworks. 

At the Parade

 

Bubble blowing contest after parade

Curly the witch

 Curly and Lettie both enjoy Harry Potter books right now, so Shar and I had fun making wands for everyone and letting them choose a wand at "Olivanders"

The wand, choosing the wizard

Excited for ice cream cake!

Spud's wand really did work :)

 The celebrations on the 4th were the finale to having family here.  We did get to have an encore in the form of a spontaneous and fun visit with Cayenne and Mark's family when their car broke down a few days later. 

With everyone gone, Lou's birthday was a bit more quiet, but we had fun playing mini golf and enjoyed a lazy afternoon reading a good book.  Lou really wanted an Olaf cake and thanks to a trick I learned at a Relief Society class a few weeks ago (and some taffy from the parade), it actually turned out looking like him.   We had fun making it together.

  Lou is our actress and puts her volume and energy into everything we do.  She and Curly are best friends and I love watching them play with their little siblings.  It's never boring around here.  They are all growing up too fast!