Silver Creek Plunge

Our kids love going over to my parents' house on Fridays. They get to swim, play, and eat a snack. It's the best day of the week.

Caleb loves his grandpa!

On Saturday we drove about 2.5 hours to Silver Creek Plunge. It's inside the Boise National Forest and it is quite beautiful. 

After a picnic lunch, we went on a little hike. Greg made sure that everyone had a walking stick.

It evolved into Greg being a wizard and all of the kids chosing a special power. There may have been more playing than hiking...

Cute little Caleb

Greg and I love to hike, hopefully our kids will learn to love it too.

You could see the Sawtooth Mountains on our hike. Pretty cool!

Then we went to the hot springs pool. Not very many people were there and we swam for hours. The water was toasty, but I prefer that over freezing cold anyway. It was a fun day!

The girls kept putting bows in his hair and telling him he was pretty. Poor Caleb!

Emily insisted on submitting this story to the Friend, so we mailed it in!

I'm glad these kids like each other!

Lazy Summer Days

Our kids love to go to the park! We have found a few parks that no one else really goes to so the kids have it to themselves! This is one of our favorites, it is called Mountain View Park, but the kids call it "Mirror Park" because it has lots of mirrors on the playground equipment.

A boy with his ball and some books. 

With a little more time to fix everyone's hair, I've gotten more adventurous with hair styles. This is what the kids call "Jasmine Hair". 

It's the tiniest braid in the world, but I can finally braid Abby's hair!

We read lots of stories together and now that Emily is quite the little reader herself, she loves reading to her little sisters. They're making memories!

Forts are always a favorite around here, especially on a rainy day!

My world!

Our kids love Fridays because they know that they get to swim in Grandpa and Grandma Flake's pool and it's movie night. "How many more days until Friday?"

During the week we have to be creative with how to get wet because it's so hot. It was almost 100 degrees yesterday. 

We filled up the biggest bowls we had with water and the kids played and played for hours.

This is what you do when you don't own a pool and it's hot!

Emily has 3 girl cousins who all have birthdays within 4 months: Katie (April), Emily (May), Hazel (June), and Delaney (July). My mom made this awesome confirmation dress out of her own wedding dress that she wore 45 years ago. Each of the girls had a turn wearing it for their baptism. It was really special.

Emily's Baptism

Emily looked forward to her baptism day for months and months. Finally May came and she turned 8! Due to the Coronavirus, our stake put all baptisms on hold. Emily was patient though and knew the day would come soon.

During the months that she had to wait, she read her scriptures and developed a love of The Book of Mormon. The prophets she read about became real to her.

She tried hard to be helpful and obedient so that when the day did come, she would be ready for baptism!

Finally the day came! We got word from our Primary President that our stake was going to start performing baptisms again. We were all so grateful!

We scheduled an interview with the bishop and decided on a date for her baptism. It was a happy day!

Emily would have loved to have lots people at her baptism, but due to the pandemic, the bishop asked us to only have our immediate family there. 

It was really important to Emily that her grandparents were there. So we decided to do a short program at our home before the baptism and then stream the baptism and confirmation.

Words cannot express how excited this little girl was to finally get baptized!

She was so well prepared and seemed to really understand the covenants she was going to make.

My mom made this confirmation dress (for the granddaughters in the family) out of her old wedding dress from 45 years ago! It was really special to Emily and she did NOT want to change out of it!

This baptism dress was the same one that I wore on my baptism day 28 years ago.

Emily was baptized on July 9, 2020. She had to wait almost 2 months to get baptized, but the day couldn't have been anymore special. Her grandmas gave beautiful talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. Emily and her sisters sang, "I am a Child of God" and her parents played "I like to look of Rainbows" on the piano and violin.

After our short program at home, we drove over to the Goddard Chapel where she was baptized and confirmed. I love this picture because it really captures how happy and excited she was. She was beaming!

We were able to stream our program and baptism for the family members who weren't able to attend. The only other person there at the church was the bishop (and the people who filled the font for us). The bishop said she was a pioneer because she was the first person in our ward to get baptized during the pandemic.

When we first got married, Greg and I didn't know if we would be able to have any children. Emily was our miracle baby and we have always been so grateful for her. She is such a great example to our other kids.

We are so proud of her and her decision!

Emily with Grandpa Flake

Emily with our family and Grandpa and Grandma Burr. What a great day!

The Burr Reunion

The day before we left for the Burr reunion, our Primary leaders drove around to all of the kids in the ward and brought them ice cream. 

The kids were so excited all day long and couldn't wait for the ice cream truck to come! It was fun!

Over the 4th of July weekend we had the Burr Reunion. Everyone was there and we all had a great time!

Our Airbnb was in Sterling, Utah which turned out to be a great location and very beautiful. We spent some time in Gunnison (about 10 minutes away) playing water games at the park.

Since Gunnison is a small town, they still had their 4th of July parade and the kids LOVED it!

My boys

Some cousins with grandpa and grandma at the parade.

These cousins just played and played and played the entire reunion: Vanessa, Meric, Emily, Leslie, and Joel.

Ultimate frisbee at the park...I'm pretty sure my team won!

Vanessa, Joel, Emily, and Caleb

Suky, Leslie, Blake, Millie, Abby, and Meric. These kids love their Uncle Blake!

Cute little friends

Until next year!

We drove right past the Manti Temple on our way home. So pretty!