Grateful

As I was sitting in church today we were singing a hymn... I don't remember what it was, but it was about gathering together and worshiping Jesus Christ.  I looked over at my squirmy kids and the scattered crayons and saw the kids whispering a bit too loudly for sacrament meeting and I just felt so incredibly grateful to be at church at that moment.  I thought of all the places we could be at that time.... and all the places most of the world would be at such a time... and felt that it is such a wonderful thing that instead we are at church singing praises to God and recommitting ourselves to following Him.  We are far from a perfect family (as noted above) but we're trying to teach our kids about something bigger and more meaningful than they could be learning anywhere else.  I thought about how if everyone in the world would do that... what a different world we'd be living in.  This church is a wonderful thing.  Then Lizzy got up and gave a talk,  her first ever in sacrament meeting, and shared about how she found strength in Jesus Christ.  She bore her testimony about His willingness to lift our burdens and lend us strength.  I thought about how I wished everyone could know about His love and His gift.  I'm feeling grateful that our kids have church leaders who are helping them to learn and grow in ways that we couldn't do alone.  The fact that a 12 year old can stand in front of a large congregation and share her thoughts about Jesus Christ is a testament that great things are happening in the church.  It really is a beautiful thing.

Ordinary Days (Summer Version)

 I went to home depot and spent $15 on some PVC pipes and elbow, and T joints.  It may have been the best $15 spent this summer.  The kids got creative.  We had some marshmallow guns,  pole vaulting and then an awesome homemade sprinkler system.  Several days of entertainment.

 Remember warming up on the cement after playing in the water?   I do.  This is what summer looks like to me.

Lizzy went to her first ever girls camp.  It happened to be encampment, which is a much larger scale camp that only happens once in a decade.  They were able to go up to the boys camp and do all kinds of adventure sports, art work, take classes and eat like queens.  Lizzy says here favorite was river rafting!!  She also had some wonderful spiritual experiences and the opportunity to learn more about herself at camp.  I love the youth program in our church.  

 I know.  It's a picture of kids at the dentist, but seriously.... is he not the cutest?

Yeah... cute again!

 Lizzy and her BFF at the temple.  

Ward party with awesome face painting.  Yes... it's pretty creepy.

Family Favorite

In an interview of cousins and siblings about the favorite thing we did this summer at the Brown Family Reunion, everyone had different things to say, but all of our little family picked the same place.  Crescent Lake.  We love it here.

Visitors

 We decided Washington was too beautiful to leave this time of year... so we decided we wouldn't leave it this summer and instead would see how much of our family we could get to come visit us instead.  We were pretty successful.  Aaron's uncle Steve and his family stopped by while they were passing through.  (No picture).  Then at the end of July Camille and Matt and family came and stayed for a week.

 We took a few outings to the beach, ate out a few times and hiked.  The older boys (and Dad's) also did a backpacking trip.  Mostly though it was just good times having fun with my favorite sister.  For two girls who are different in many ways... we find much to laugh about.  We sang Saturdays Warrior just like the old days and just to drive Aaron nuts.  It was definitely a good time.

A week later... we hosted the Brown family reunion.  We did a day in Seattle, and at the Ballard Locks.  The rest of the week was primarily spent on the Olympic Penisula where we rented a place  to stay and went exploring our favorite places.  We visited the Animal Game Farm in Sequim, Crescent Lake and Rialto Beach.  

These two boys were my favorite.  They had so much fun playing together.  Just one adventure after another.  In this one they put on their helmets to go search for slugs.  They found quite a few.  They didn't pick them up or anything, just found them and then came to report.  

Canada

This is why I really need to keep up on blogging, because it is so easy to quickly forget the details about things.  Right after Rainier, we came home for a weekend and then the next Monday left for our trip to Canada.  

We first arrived in Vancouver and spent the morning on Granville Island then over the Stanley Park.  

All powerful Sam controlling these birds. 

Playing on the shoreline at Stanley Park.

Next day we took a tram up to Grouse Mountain.  This ended up being one of my favorite days.  No crowds and beautiful mountain air.  Not to mention... just fun.

Lumberjack show at Grouse Mountain. 

After seeing some of the shows we decided to have a family game of frisbee golf.  That doesn't sound all that adventurous, but honestly was my favorite part.  Such beautiful views and such a fun way to see some of these wild flowers.  

Back down the tram.  Did I mention that Lizzy found the tram TERRIFYING!

After Grouse Mountain we had a little time so we headed over to Lynn Canyon just so we could walk across this huge suspension bridge.  It's a little nerve wracking to go across, but worth it for sure.

Then we took the ferry over to Vancouver Island.  

We headed first to Buchart Gardens.  Not sure what to say here... it really is as beautiful as everyone says.  (It's weird though but I actually think when all is said and done I like the wild flowers in the mountains just as much.  Don't mention that though because this place costs a lot more.)

We had so much fun at this evening concern at Buchart.  I think the name of the band was 10 Strings and a Goat Skin.  Very entertaining group.  

These pictures are from downtown Victoria.  It's quite a lovely town with lots of old buildings.  

In downtown Victoria we also visited Beacon Hill Park.  It's a fun park with so many different places to enjoy.  Here was the fun petting zoo area we came across.

We visited this cool looking castle called Hatley Castle, but we couldn't go inside that day.

So... we headed over to this Fisgard lighthouse and Fort Rodd Hill.  

We had fun here learning about the defenses that are kept at this Fort and the ways this old battle equipment was meant to protect the island.

Last but not least we spent our last day at the Sooke Potholes.  I feel bad we don't have a picture of Aaron here, because this was his favorite place we visited.  He and Andrew had a blast jumping off of rocks.  I think Sam jumped once too.  I guess I was burned out at this point.  :)

And then of course... the ferry ride back down to Anacortes.  The ferry winded around the San Juan Islands, giving beautiful views.  We had fun looking at the scattered houses on the island and a herd of deer on another and I kept pestering Aaron to make sure he got a good picture of the sunset we were enjoying.  Here are a few:

That's a pretty dang good one Aaron.