Happy Birthday America!

God bless America - land that I love!
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above.


From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans, wide with hope.

God bless America, my home sweet home.
God bless America, my home sweet home.

On the 4th of July, we drove up American Fork Canyon. It was a gorgeous day and everything was so green. I loved the tree-lined road with the trees as a canopy over them. We stopped at Tibble Fork Reservoir and got out to hike around and take some pictures. We loved it! So beautiful. Some cooperated more than others for pictures - what is a photographer to do?!

These two are always so photogenic and very cooperative with me.

After 8 months of marriage, these two "newlyweds" still look very much in love, no?! They're pretty much inseparable.

Pretty girls on the hillside.

Great looking group shot! Love the backdrop.

Grandma and Kaitlin perfectly coordinated for the 4th and looked good doing it.

After 50+ years of marriage , these two sweethearts are still very much in love! They are also pretty much inseparable.

These two siblings do not look like they even like each other very much, but I assure you they do! Always hamming it up for the camera.

Loved this family of ducks on the water. Lots of people fishing, and others in boats, rafts and canoes. We want to come back with our smaller rubber raft and get in.

Couldn't get very many to actually look at me, but they're enjoying their time on the bridge.

I wanted a nice shot of the three kids. Two are always very accommodating - can you guess which one rarely is? He delights in acting up when the camera is around.

We had red, white and blue pancakes for breakfast. Delicious! I didn't get a picture, but they were red velvet and regular pancakes stacked, with blueberries on top. They were a hit. As is tradition, we made homemade root beer. It lasts all day, and a favorite at the end of the evening to eat what's left as a slushie. We even made root beer floats later in the afternoon. We also had fruit pizza for lunch, which I intended to be red, white and blue, but had peaches that needed to be used up!

Even my rose bush outdid itself for the 4th. Look at all that color.

Kennedy in her cute holiday shirt.


The 4th of July is a favorite holiday and we enjoy spending it with family. We're always sad to see them go. We enjoyed some great fireworks in the neighborhood when it got dark, and also got to see some of the ones at Thanksgiving Point.

Birds

Many of you know of my love of birds. Isn't this one just so cute? I am fascinated with them and the way the mama bird constructs a nest? Nothing short of a miracle. She works hard for her babies. A few weeks ago I kept hearing chirping outside one of our windows so went out to investigate and found three baby birds stuck in the window well. They looked like they'd been there a few days. I think during a bad windstorm, they must have blown out of their nest and the mom didn't know how to help them. She was in a tree very close (at least I assumed it was her from all her hovering around and loud chirping). The birds would try to fly out of the window well, but could only make it about halfway up and fall back down. They weren't big enough to fly on their own yet. We rescued them and put them out in a tree, but then worried what would happen when they tried to fly away. We all took turns holding them - and several neighbors also - and then let them go on the ground near our raspberry bushes. We're not sure whatever happened to them. We were hoping they could eat bugs and things off the ground until they got big enough they could fly on their own. I hope they survived.

Cherry Hill

We love Cherry Hill and hope to make it a yearly tradition. We got there on Friday about noon and set up camp. We were gifted a new tent and hadn't set it up yet. It was pretty little - especially compared to the others around us! But that's okay; we just had to sleep in it. Savanna slept with Julisa in a separate tent, and Julie slept on a comfy bed in the back of the van. Me, Kayden and Kennedy slept in our cozy little tent, and we all had mats or air mattresses, so it was pretty comfy. We all did great! Paul and Julie took care of all the food while we were there, so it worked out great for us! They had yummy food. We enjoyed the many things there are to do there and had such a great time. Lots of laughs and great company. We hope more can join us next year.

While there we . . .

went miniature golfing. Such a fun course and we split into three groups. There might have been some goofing off while waiting for our turns.
Swam in the pool and tried to avoid getting sunburned. Can you spot the boy who has actually seen the sun this summer and so put on sunblock and was good to go? The more "seasoned" boys wore swim shirts. Worked on perfecting the dive. Kayden and Kennedy worked on this for a long time, and got really good.
Spent a good share of Saturday on the waterslides and loved seeing grandma go down Cardiac Canyon. We were amazed that not only did she try it, but she went several times! Climbed the rock wall. Kennedy and Kayden were experts and zipped right to the top. Made "jiffy pop" popcorn for the first time. It took lots of concentration. Enjoyed all the attention in the pool. Catching a nap when we could.
Relaxing on the lazy river. Enjoyed the cherry trees and wished we could reach the top of the trees to pick them! All the lower ones had been eaten already, although they were not quite ripe.
Stayed up all hours in the night talking and sharing secrets. These two BFF's were excited to be together.
Enjoyed being with his buddy again. Played aero-ball. It's harder than it looks. It's a great workout, though!
Hit several balls at the batting cages. We learned that Kayden and Kennedy are naturals and that they should start playing this sport immediately! Seriously, they didn't miss a ball and had a great swing. And Kennedy had never picked up a bat before. I think we better look into signing them up.

Scout Camp

It's time for scout camp again. Kayden was so excited and could not wait. A week away with just boys -- no shower, playing in the dirt, getting to shoot a gun, archery, woodcarving, etc. -- heaven for him! Hopefully he brushes his teeth at least a few times. We told him there would be something in it for him if he did (along with dirty socks and underwear, and not coming home with clean ones!). He did not want me to come and see him off, and especially did not want me to take any pictures, but I did both. His friends were happy to let me get pictures of them. Oh, what a difference between boys and girls!
I liked this shot of the group of boys studying the map. Think they'll know where to go when they get there?
We are really grateful for leaders who sacrifice a week off work and away from their families to spend time with all these crazy boys. We hope they all have a fun week and don't drive the leaders too crazy. We'll miss this boy around the house and it will be much quieter, although we won't have to be on edge all the time wondering when he's going to scare us next!

New smile coming

This will be one of the last pictures of Kennedy's cute smile as it looks now. She has to get braces. She doesn't have room in her mouth for teeth coming in. The orthodontist is putting spacers in, trying to create room before braces go on. He may have to pull some teeth if it doesn't work. At first she was really excited to get braces (she just knew she'd have to miss some school to go to appointments!), but now she's quite worried. They will go on in about four weeks. We wanted to take pictures of her at the orthodontist appointment, but she would not allow the camera inside. She did consent to one picture in the car before going in. When she gets them on, I will be sneaking the camera in to document the progress!