Summertime!

In addition to our trip to Safford, and our trip to Sprucedale next week,
Here are a few of our other summer activities.

It was this hot in the shade on my mom's porch in July, so we spent a good amount of time swimming with family and friends either at my parent's house, or Brimhall pool.

And, a little light saber action!

Ward Water Party
Our ward has a traditional water party in our neighborhood park each year. Several families throw their hoses over the wall, and they rent bounce houses and slides and have a big BBQ. The kids all had fun soaking each other. It was lots of fun.





Canning Applesauce

Our poor little apple tree in our front yard (strange place for an apple tree if you ask me) was just FULL of apples. The branches were getting so heavy, one finally broke. Many of them were small, but they were starting to fall off the tree and make a mess all over the drive way and sidewalk. So for FHE one night, we decided to pick the apples for canning. We filled an entire box of good apples, and 1/2 of another box of bad apples! Later that week, Mindy came over with her canning expertise and equipment and we spent the day canning applesauce. We ended up with 6 quarts and 12 pints of yummy homemade applesauce! Not bad for free apples!!

We also have this pear tree in our front yard, but we didn't realize the water was shut off to it when we first moved in. It's been growing nicely since we turned the water back on to it,

but the pears are still very small and hard.

Maybe next year we'll be able to make some yummy pear sauce too!

4th of July

We went to Safford/Thatcher to visit Kenny's parents for the 4th of July. Kenny's Dad actually picked up the 2 older boys a few days earlier. I have been told they went fishing, and shoooting guns, and did lots of swimming in the backyard. All I know is they had a blast! When we showed up a few days later, the little boys were happy to see their big brothers and cousins and join in the fun.


On the 4th we went to the parade in the morning in downtown Safford. I grew up in Utah, so 4th of July means big parades and festivities and fireworks. Safford's a pretty small town, so it was a much smaller parade that was done in about 20 or 30 minutes, but still fun to start the day! My battery died in my camera, so thanks Monica for the pics!

That afternoon, we had a big barbeque and let the kids swim and play in the backyard. Kenny's mom also helped me fix a skirt I had brought with me that needed some sewing help. That night, we went to the fairgrounds for the fireworks. They had a free concert by a country band named Savannah Jack, which was pretty good. (One of the guys plays on the freecreditreport.com commercials.) They played some cover songs, which were fun, as well as some of their own songs. We bought the kids some glow necklaces which kept them all busy until the fireworks started. They put on a great 45 min fireworks show, better than I had expected for the small town! It was a very happy 4th!

Kenny's New Calling

Guess what Kenny's calling is in our new ward.... Assistant Scoutmaster, for the Deacon's Quorum. Big Shocker, Huh!! He first served in the Young Men's a few years ago with the Priests, then the Teachers, now he is with the Deacons. He's pretty excited, he loves serving with the Young Men! Young Men's is always a time consuming calling, but at least he's finished with school now and even tax season shouldn't be too bad. There are 3 other leaders assigned to the the Deacons, so he only teaches the lesson once a month . Also, they really encourage longevity in youth callings in our ward, so he'll probably still be there when Tyler becomes a Deacon in a little over a year!