I used to think teachers got summers off. Now I know that you get a lot of time off but there is also a lot of training, evaluating, and planning that goes on in the summer time. It seems like it has flown by as we have worked hard and played hard. I am taking 21 credits this summer so I feel that a large part of my summer has been spent reading books and doing assignments. But we have fit in a lot of fun as well. For Father's Day we gave Jeremy sky-diving which he did with our nephew Garion. Of course, we had to play the song, "Live like you were dying..."



Robyn did swim team again this summer. I have a love/hate relationship of her needing a ride to the pool at 6:30 in the morning. So swim meets on Saturday mornings and periodic running work outs to get ready for cross-country in the fall. She took a few days off to go to the Manti temple pageant with me and her friend Collette. We camped in the city park and enjoyed heat, rain, and cold all within a 24 hour period. I had always wanted to go to the pageant and this was the last year.

Allison works at Chubby's some nights along with her many other activities. She went to EFY at BYU with her friend Kaori. They have been planning this for years.

Then Allison had student council camp at Utah state the following week which she loved. They have had a few activities this summer such as marching in the parade or lighting the G as well. She came home from STUCO camp in time to join Robyn and I for the Strawberry Days Rodeo. The week of Strawberry Days makes me grateful for out smallish town.


Jeremy had a few photo trips in June plus his Mayo trips every other week. For awhile he was gone a lot. Drug seemed to be working as tumors stopped growing and even decreased in size a bit. His liver is having a hard time though so he is taking a hopefully short break and allowing his bilirubin levels to come down.

This year we spent the week of the 4th in Washington State. We were spoiled as we flew there and slept in hotels every night. The rest of the family might disagree about the spoilness factor as some of the hotels especially the hostel were more of an experience than anything else. We drove out to the San Juan Islands where we stayed on San Juan for two days and then Orcas for a day. We hiked around, kayaked (Robyn was convinced I would kill her when she was my kayak partner), saw everything we could think of and enjoyed being lazy and being together. We saw a few of Jeremy's high school friends, got doughnuts at Sly's, watched fireworks in Poulsbo (along with a police officer involved shooting right next to us), watched fireworks at the Indian casino, explored down town Seattle, looked at lots of tidepools, and rode on the ferry's. A great trip.



Girls said this camp was the best ever. Allison was a stake YCL and she enjoyed being more of a part of the planning process this year. Robyn came home covered in misquito bites. What I was proud of was that they packed and got themselves there. Then unpacked, did a swim meet, and cleaned the office before we came home from our trip. Love these girls!



We came home to a wonderful visit with my brother Peter and his wife Kathryn and their two kids for a week. We even had a mini-Hall reunion as Jeremy's sister's and brother's family came over along with his cousin for a Sunday night get together. I love having family around and getting to just hang out. We were able to hike Timp caves with Peter's family which is always beautiful.

Then Jeremy and I to celebrate our 25th anniversary a little early went to Washington D.C. for a week while the girls went to girl's camp. Jeremy noted that by the end of the week he had walked over 50 miles. We went to Mount Vernon, all the monuments (I went back several times to re-live my West Wing fantasies of running the mall), almost every museum even the National Bill Engraving Building, Union Station, the Capitol, National Library, National Archives, and the National Zoo. As Jeremy said, if there was a plaque, we saw it. NASA was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 so on Friday night they projected the launching and landing of Apollo 11 on the Washington monument and shut down the mall so tens of thousands of people could watch it. It was amazing. We even got to go to the waterfront one night to try to cool down, eat pancakes at Eastern Market and one night we visited with some friends of Jeremy's who moved there. It was super hot and humid so we just had to embrace being constantly sweaty and gross. The metro and busses were super helpful to cut down on the walking but nap time was a very real part of our day!

Spencer is doing great on his mission. He has had a few ups and downs with companions but is working through them. He is enjoying the tourist season and all the activities on Temple Square.


And then just all the odds and ends of summer time. Getting snowcones, going to the lake, working in the yard, and just having unscheduled time. Allison had youth conference this last weekend at Heber Valley and that is our last planned get away for summer. I almost cried when I realized that its the last Sunday of July as my free time is ending soon but I am going to soak it up as long as I can.