The end of summer

I've been saying it all summer but this has been a weird summer. Camps, trips, appointments, here and there. I never felt like we had the long lazy days with anything to do. There was always somewhere someone had to be. I didn't like it. It went by fast which is nice because summer is too long but I kind of feel shorted. But that's just me. The kids had lots of playing with friends and lemonade stands and gas station runs, sleeping in, hanging out at grandma's, popsicles, and bored moments in between my running around here and there.

On our last free Saturday before football starts, Justin planned a day trip to the Uinta mountains. It's the best place to get away from the 100 degree heat at home. The kids had never been there and it had been years since I had been up there as well. These are the mountains the people notoriously get lost in (my aunt's neighbor's son has never been found. I thought about him all that day) and home to Utah's tallest mountain peaks. But what makes the area special and beautiful is the water.

James was mad he wasn't the leader as we hiked around so this is the best picture I could get of him.

Apparently half the state also thought it was a good place to get away from the heatwave as it was so crowded. It took a little driving around to find a spot to eat lunch. We ended up on Boneyard Road. I hope it gets his name from the rocky and bouncy dirt road and nothing more morbid.

From there we went to one of the many lakes in the area for some fishing and rafting. The kids played in the cold water (many arguments about just how cold or not cold it was ensued) and in the hammock.  

Then we ate dinner at a cute diner in Kamas and got rained on real good on the way home. It's been like 34 days since we had rain and it felt so nice.

Erica spotted this old phone at DI and there was no dissuading her. She loved the buttons and the cord. She thought it was neat I got to use phones like this "in the 1900s". She made me feel old and cool at the same time. She uses it to play school secretary and doctor's office.

She fulfilled a dream of hers by doing a 3-day cheer camp at the high school.

She got to perform at halftime oft the high school game. She thought she did terribly but I thought it was pretty cute.

This is James out back whittling a stick with a pocket knife he got from Justin's dad. He only cut his finger twice and needed one band-aid.

And that basically wraps up our summer even though we have at least a couple more weeks of 90 degree weather. School starts tomorrow!