Ending the Summer Right

SANDY POINT- At the end of July we took a family trip to Sandy Point State Park. As we were driving up to pay for parking, we saw a family of bobcats right outside of our car window. Pretty wild!

Here are Greg and Emily building a sand castle.

Cute little Abby enjoying the water.

 Leslie was NOT a fan!!

DAD AND MOM BURR VISIT- The next day Dad and Mom Burr came up from Utah for a visit. 

We had a blast at the park and the girls were in heaven having their grandparents around!

Abby got filthy at the park, but she was being so cute...

ABBY WALKS!- I have to be honest, I was starting to get worried Abby would never walk, but finally on August 2, Abby took her first steps! She was 15.5 months old!

BOISE RIVER- That weekend we took the kids to the Veterans Memorial Park. It was hot, but a good time. Then we went exploring by the Boise River. I love going on nature walks in the summer!

Here is an awesome bridge we found on our nature walk. The girls loved pretending to be princesses while we explored.

GREG'S JOB- There are many advantages to Greg owning a cleaning business: he is really good at cleaning bathrooms, mopping, etc. He has a new hobby now though: folding toilet paper. At first I just thought it was cute, but I really look forward to going to the bathroom now...

FUN F.H.E.- Last week we had a special F.H.E. on missionaries. I showed the girls pictures from my mission and then we watched the movie about the expansion on the Provo MTC. The girls thought it was so cool that by the end of the lesson, they both decided they wanted to serve missions!!

Emily writes: "Missionaries do hard work."

COUSIN TIME- Later that week we went up to Horseshoe Bend and spent the evening at Dad and Mom's place. Emery, Savannah, and Caroline were there making it particularly fun for our kids.

Abby with her babies

SEAMAN'S GULCH TRAIL- That weekend we took our kids on a hike up Seaman's Gulch Trail. We got there at about 6pm, but it felt like it was 100 degrees outside. We were all sweating about 2 minutes into the hike. 

We hiked up just far enough to see the awesome view of Boise. No wonder Boise is the "city of the trees".

TREATS- Greg really wanted to roast smores with our kids this summer, but as it turns out they don't really like smores...so we made sugar cookies instead. This is what happens to your mouth when you eat a cookie with black sprinkles...gross!

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE- It was a fun weekend hanging out in Horseshoe Bend with my parents and sister Bethany's family. In picture: Alice, Emily, and Leslie.

On Sunday night Greg played his violin and Bethany played the left hand while I played the right hand on the piano. It was a fun time and we weren't half bad! 

Cousins: Leslie, Alice, Emily, Grace, and Charlie

The cousins had fun playing at the park Monday morning.

Then at about 10:30am it was time to get ready for the total solar eclipse!

We got out chairs and blankets and our awesome eclipse glasses. We had a great view from dad and mom's front lawn. 

It was really amazing to witness. It got cold, dark, we saw stars, and it lasted for 1 minute and 14 seconds. It was honestly, the coolest thing I have ever seen!

All the shadows on the ground were in the shape of a crescent moon.

It was so amazing to witness and I'm so grateful we all got to experience it together. What an awesome way to end the summer!