LIFE . . . according to ME: Summer Fun, Part Two -- the exciting conclusion

Jilli took summer tumbling and did awesome! She moved up two levels during the summer and was praised for ability to catch on easily, pay attention and listen. If was fun to see her excel at something new.

The Smith family reunion is something that I have missed out on for many years since we lived in NC. I was so excited that I would be able to attend with my kids this year. Many of the Smith crew gathered at a privately owned wooded area, complete with a multi-level tree house, and spent three days together exploring, getting wet, paint balling, eating, visiting and sleeping in tents. It was awesome -- all except for the last night when half the kid campers were throwing up all. night. long. Amazingly, though, not even that could put a bad taste in my mouth (get it? haha) -- I'm already looking forward to getting together with these great people again next year and doing it all over again (minus the sick part).

I love getting together with friends and reminiscing about old times. Katie and Camille are some of my all time favorites and I'm so happy that I got to catch up with them. Hoping a lot more reminiscing is in my future with more good friends that I haven't seen in ages!

And a summer just isn't complete without a trip to the Merrill's cabin and Bear Lake. How grateful we are that they allow the entire Olsen family to take over/enjoy their cabin for a few days.

I love July 24th. Here we are enjoying a firework show from the comfort of Beth's backyard.

But I mostly love Pioneer Day in Mendon! I love the races, the parade, the food, the entertainment, the ball games, the firework show -- I love it all! At the end of the night, even Nate admitted, "Now that's a great city celebration!"
Nate and I ran a 5k early in the morning and the kids each ran races in their age divisions. All of them did well -- Jilli took 2nd overall in her bracket, Mac and Jax took 3rd in their different ages and Beckam followed close behind Jax in their race.

Hiking the Y is always a fun and tiring activity. Glad we could do it in the company of Bethany's family!

We spent lots of time at parks, especially Jilli, while we waited for the boys' practices to be over.

Since we are locals again, I was adamant that the kids needed to experience the Cache County Fair. We were only able to stay for a half day, but it was great while it lasted. It was country livin' at its finest!

Bert had planned a trip to his home town of Boulder, UT to show us all the sites and history of that town. Only 100 people live there year round (200 in the summer), but the beauty of this town was awesome! We all loved seeing firsthand, the place that is clearly very dear to Grandpa Bert's heart.

Way back before we moved to UT, but knew we were moving, I bought 7Peaks Pass of All Passes. While in the beginning it was a pain to set everything up, in the end we loved and used those passes over and over at the water park and fun center. I swore I'd never buy them again, but I may just have to eat my words next year.

We attended the BYU football scrimmage, but didn't last long -- between the family behind us who continued to kick our chairs, the heat and the kids' constant complaining that they were hungry/thirsty, we were lucky to make it through the first half.

And nothing says "summer" like late nights, sleeping in and sleepovers.

We squeezed every last minute of fun out of this action-packed summer, but some of my favorite times looked like these -- just playing together in the backyard.