Yesterday was the first day of Autumn and, even though fall is my favorite season, it left me wondering "Where Did Summer Go?" Seriously it seems like summer went so quickly this year, maybe because most of June it rained and summer didn't seem to get here until July. I cannot believe that I did not even blog all summer long and when I thought about fall's arrival I stopped and wondered what did we do this summer. I got out the camera and looked through pictures that I took so now instead of individual posts of our summer you get one long post of a few of our summer's highlights:
One of my co-workers, Aaron Smith, works at an elk ranch and their family invited us out to see the elk. It was pretty cool. There were so many of them. It rained most of the time we were there but it was still a great time. Notice the younger kids pose for pictures but not my older boys, had to just take one of them whether they liked it or not. Harleigh hung out at the Smith house quite a bit this summer playing with Aly and Annie. In fact one night I went to pick her up and was informed that there was no Harleigh Davison there only Harleigh Smith and that I could go back home, without a little girl named Harleigh. Finally she did agree to come home with me. Thanks Kara for letting her hang out with you guys so much this summer, she loved it.
We took a trip to the zoo with my sister-in-law Rima when her granddaughters were here for the summer. Brynn and Addi are a year older and a year younger than Harleigh so she loves it when they are in town. Rima's daughters, Eraleigh and Timmorie, joined us and so did Kim, Brentlie, Courtnie, Kaydn and Emma. The kids had a lot of fun but it was HOT that day.
The kids enjoyed the back yard. Harleigh and Jayce set up the pool and kept it up for awhile in the back yard, emptying and moving it every other day. Jayce decided to set the tent up for a week and sleep out each night. Harleigh and I attempted it one night but it was the night that there were hundreds, okay, maybe a dozen, ambulances going by. Since we live so close to the hospital we REALLY got the full affect of the siren. Harleigh would almost get to sleep and another ambulance would go by, she'd wake up and start giggling, then Jayce would start making siren sounds and she'd giggle even more, finally we ended up in the house. Here is a picture of Harleigh and Jayce in the pool. Jayce showing off his six pack abs and Harleigh just waiting for me to put the camera down so she can throw a water balloon at me.
What would summer be without the 4th of July parade. Harleigh and I walked down to our usual spot, the intersection by the Courthouse, to watch the parade. We took a few pictures of the officers that I work with, we've just started an Honor Guard for the police department, this was before their new uniforms came in so Dustin Hirschi and Kellen Whetten didn't have their "full" attire on. They have their uniforms now and they are pretty impressive to watch. Eric Wheeler was a having a little too much fun on the four wheeler and we couldn't pass up getting a picture of Bart Smith picking up candy while on his bicycle, but I did miss the picture of him giving the candy to a little girl.
Harleigh and I also went down to Idaho Falls to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. We had a great seat. My cousin Joy lives near the airport and saved us a spot in a parking lot close by. We backed the pickup in, the girls played games while I visited with Joy and her husband Lynn, we watched the fireworks, and were on the road ahead of most of the traffic, it was GREAT!! Definitely will be something we try to do next year.
We went to another parade in St. Anthony at the Pioneer Day's Parade on the 24th of July. First we worked at the DARE car wash at Ray's and then went up to St. Anthony for the parade. Harleigh had to wear the DARE t-shirt she got for helping at the car wash, she thought it was pretty cool.
We also went to the Blue Angels airshow in Idaho Falls. Brodie and Todd are a part of the Civil Air Patrol so they worked at the airshow. On the Saturday Harleigh, my sister-in-law Tammie, and I just parked the car nearby and watched the airshow and actually had an awesome view without the crowd. Brodie and Todd worked until later that night, came home exhausted and sunburned and got up and went to it again early the next morning. Todd called me and told me he could get me in a back gate and I could avoid the parking crowd so we headed down again. I LOVE going to an airshow with Todd because he was in the Air Force so he can tell me about all of the planes and makes it so much more interesting. I just don't think they would be as enjoyable without him. It was awesome seeing the Blue Angels, they put on such a great show!!
We took a ride to Bone to see the HUGE windmills. We've always wanted to get close to them and they are so big. Harleigh wanted to pose like a windmill when we stopped to take pictures. We even saw a deer nearby.
Jayce turned 15 on August 4 and wanted to celebrate at Heise. I took the day off of work and took the kids along with two of Jayce's friends to Heise. It was WONDERFUL, we had a great time and soaked up lots of Vitamin D, maybe a little too much since we came home with some sunburns that reminded us of the fun we had for a good week after. Jayce also got his driving permit this summer, he still has to have someone over 18 in the passenger's seat with him but he can drive now and in February will be able to drive on his own, just a little heads up if you are on the streets of Rexburg.
This one makes me laugh because even though Jayce and Harleigh fight CONSTANTLY he was right there to watch her jump off the diving board and just in case Jayce couldn't handle things his buddy Jake was right there watching over her too.
And summer wouldn't be complete without the annual police department campout. We went to Big Elk Campground again this year near Palisades. The weather was great and it was SO nice to get away. We always have a great time. Harleigh has a blast playing will all of the other girls there. This year we were entertained by our cooks. Not only did we get some good food but check out their attire, it was VERY entertaining. Not only did they cook up a good dish but they even played some horseshoes. Lets just say those shorts were VERY, VERY short!!
Just like the campout summer wouldn't be complete without a float trip. We finally were able to go the weekend before school started. We rented a boat from BYU-Idaho and then headed to Island Park. We floated twice down Box Canyon and then headed to Warm River to float from Warm River to the Ashton Bridge. This is one of my favorite things to do in the summer.
And with the end of summer comes back to school pictures. The kids started school the end of August. Harleigh is in the 3rd Grade this year.
She even let me fix her hair that day and wanted me to take a picture of it.
Jayce is a Sophomore at the new Madison High School. Can we just say that the new high school is HUGE!! Don't you love Jayce's smile! My boys seriously HATE these back to school pictures.
And here is Brodie, the Senior, VERY, VERY happy for his picture. I goofed and the first picture didn't turn out so I had to take another one and can't you just read what he was saying "are you serious, another one!" Oh I love my boys!!
And there you have it some of our highlights from this summer. Not everything was captured on camera and there was so much more that I wanted to do this summer with the kids. I just can't believe that summer is over and it is now fall. Like I said ...."Where Did Summer Go?"
