Summer time

When Joel's parents got called to Panama on their mission, we decided that we would have to go visit them.  I filled out all of the passport information and took some passport photos.  Here are their mug shots:

 Emery

Natalie

                                     Ammon (with braces)

Wesley

 Caroline

 Savannah

                                                      and  Preston

Savannah's Kindergarten Graduation (she was very excited!)

 Holding the official diploma

 With her classmate Gage Howerton

And her teacher Mrs. Larson

                                         Lillie and I at the start of the Newport, Oregon Marathon

The beautiful Yaquina Bay Bridge

Wesley had the camera and took a lot of pictures (of course they are a bit blurry because we were running so fast!)

 After the marathon we had a great week staying at a rental house right on the beach.  The kids even swam in the freezing waters.

 Joel and the five older kids even walked across the bridge.  They said it was very scary with the fast moving traffic and narrow sidewalk.

We also went to see the Yaquina Lighthouse.  

 Preston and Caroline were buddies

Beautiful Natalie

 The beach by the lighthouse was covered in round black rocks.  Each time the waves crashed, it sounded like loud clapping.  Very cool

throwing rocks

 Emery and Savannah loved climbing all over the rocks.

Preston (before braces)

We were all a little cold most of the time we were in Oregon (the highs were in the 60's every day), but it was Joel's favorite weather.  He even asked me if I wanted to move there...but I need more sun and snow.  

We took another trip down to Utah for the kids BYU summer camps.  Ammon and Preston were gone from Monday morning until Saturday morning, so we were able to spend some time with the younger ones.  We showed them around temple square, then we all went to see the Joseph Smith Movie (except Caroline, who was bored of it after 20 minutes).  Then we went to the Lion House for dinner and the reflecting pool in front of the temple.

We finished off by going in to listen to a few songs by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (we didn't see Uncle David).  They even sung "Consider the Lillies of the Field".  It was so much more beautiful to listen to it live, then on tv during conference. 

After going to, EFY, Football Camp, Gymnastics Camp and Basketball camp, with a trip to the Hoogle Zoo, Temple Square, the new Bean Museum and the Provo Rec Center (for the great pools and water slides), our kids were wiped out.  We even got to spend time with Ashely's family (for a great dinner, the zoo and swimming), and Stephanie's family (the zoo).
My little baby and my big baby even sleep the same.

When we got back Preston got new braces.  He didn't eat much for several days.

 Ammon got his braces off, and celebrated by eating everything he missed for the past two years (lots of corn of the cob and apples).  He looks good.

For the 4th of July, we went to the annual Gemtek Boise Hawks Baseball game.  It was very hot, but we still had a good time.  We even had a great barbecue dinner.

Emery and Wesley got to run the bases after the game ended.  They loved it.  It all ended with a great fireworks show (that Caroline hated because she hates fireworks).