McCall with Sommer...and eight other little people...

I have wanted to take Sommer to McCall for EONS. This year, I just decided we'd have to go in June when the cabin is in low demand because in July and August it will likely never happen. We went as soon as her kids got out of school, arriving in McCall on June 20th. We crammed a TON of stuff into the van with four bikes hanging off the back and a car topper on top.

I can't make a drive for eight hours because I get too sleepy at the wheel, so we left the 19th and stopped in Colfax, WA which is about half way to stay the night. We went to a really cool park in Colfax.

I love Betsey's eye color. A lot. She is so lucky! (random pic I took...)

While swimming in the hotel pool, Betsey was testing how far she could go. I was sitting fully clothed poolside reading a book, but thankfully she wanted me to see how far she could go, so I was all eyes on her while she gradually got deeper and deeper. Then all of the sudden the pool did a dramatic increase in depth and she was flapping around getting deeper by the centimeter. Quickly I realized she was worked up and getting deeper, so I ran into the water and saved my girl. Phew! It was such a quick thing but could have been scary. I got to her before she breathed any water, thankfully. With all the hotel pool swimming we've been doing (by this time we'd been at the hotel for six weeks in Puyallup) I was pretty laid back, but I realized she usually has a floatie or life preserver on so I don't have to worry. This was not the case this time because all that stuff was buried in the car.

My loves in the morning cuddling. Sigh. This pic is so yummy.

I have a passionate love for the Palouse. That are of WA is just so beautiful, the rolling hills with green or gold color that sways in the breeze. The blue skies and clouds. I just love it. No picture I take does it justice...especially with an iphone. Never fails though that I can't stop gawking at that part of the state.

Arrived at the cabin and the table was not where it normally is. Threw me for a loop!

Bets and Leo in the bathroom. 

Leo getting into the only drawer he can get into.

Our first jump into my favorite body of water. It was June, so it was COLD.

Talmage, Eden, Wyatt and Ruby on the dock and Kesley and Alice in the boat. The kids had a great time playing in the boat, sand, and on the dock and a little bit in the freezing water. They also went down a ways to a stream that enters the lake and has a lot of little fish that they like to try and catch.

The weather was nice and warm most of the time and we had the kids eat outside when it worked.

Leo in the tubby.

Betsey and Leo actually played cards. It was to die for!

We taught the kids how to play speed and they really got obsessed, just like I was as a kid. Some kids were more natural at it than others. 

Leo was the last person I wanted to take to the beach, and it was amazing because I would wheel him down and he literally sat there, strapped in the stroller for like an hour almost every day. Just sat there watching things. It was so nice. He turned out not to be too bad, tough crawling, at the beach. He wasn't trying to eat sand and he was relatively happy down there.

I was surprised he liked the freezing water.

One day, like fifty yards from where we sat at the neighboring dock, we saw this boat totally submerged in the water. they were trying to pull it to shallow water but it eventually was beached. I don't know how the emergency people did it, but the fireman boat pulled up and got the boat back on the surface of the lake within an hour or so.

Betsey rediscovered sand castle building.

Didn't bring a bike for Betsey so she had fun riding with Leo.

Had to take our friends to the famous Ice Cream Alley!

I can just tell this is early morning...nothing like a six am wake up on "vacation"!

The kids had so much fun on the rope swing in the backyard. It seems like they literally spent hours out there daily and it never got old. 

Bike riders!

We went to Brown's Park on a bike ride and Leo and I played in the grass and practiced walking. He took some of his first steps there, I didn't get pics because I decided to facetime with Chris instead so he didn't miss out.

So pretty.

At the park they ahve these netted areas where they are growing fish I guess to release into the lake eventually. The kids had fun watching them because there were so many.

The big kids did a lot of impressive sand castle building too.

Leo decided to give me snuggles.

Here you can see that there are these logs that are standing up by the fence, buried solidly in the ground so that they are super sturdy and the log steps raise the kids up to the level that they can mount the rope swing on their own and launch themselves. Major adult favorite because it spares being out there constantly helping kids on and pushing them.

Ice Cream Alley swing.

My bestie cousin joined us by staying next door at the Anderson Cabin for most of the week. Sommer and Trina got along great, they are both teachers and we just had fun hanging out all of us. It made me so happy, I don't get to see Trina enough and she is my McCall staple and I'm just glad that it worked to mix company. 

Bets, Wyatt, Talmage, Alice, Leo and Kesley.

More swinging.

It was a great week. The only thing that would make it better is if we had perfect weather the whole time and if we fast forwarded two years to when Leo is more self sufficient. Otherwise, Sommer and I had fun talking, sitting on the beach, playing cards and being with our kiddos. We left McCall the 27th and picked Chris up in Boise on our way to Colorado...stay tuned.

Alice gets braces...

Took the kids in to get consults at several orthodontists and felt the choice was obvious to go with Orthodontic Excellence due to their ability to convince me of the ortho needs my kids had. I felt maybe Ruby would be ready for braces, but she looks good and can wait longer while all of her adult teeth come in. Alice on the other hand (who I only took in because I was told that if I got her examined and quoted now they would honor the price forever) was in need right away because some of her adult teeth had no room to come down and were turning toward the roots of her adult teeth that had already come down. So. She gets to have braces twice! One round now to help everything come in right and then later we'll do it again. It isn't that fun of a thing to deal with, and I hate paying for it but I wish I had had braces when I was younger and so I am glad we are taking care of it.

Betsey's Dance Recital...

Betsey did her first and possibly her last year of dance this year. She did the classes at the YMCA and it was a little Beginning Broadway class so they did lots of movement and little acting things. It was super cute. Her dance was to "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and she was by FAR the most clueless dancer on that stage. She was adoreable though!

Her friend, Eve Eugenio was in another class at the Y and we did some pics at my house to save $$. 

There is a picture just like this of me when I was little!

Oma came down to see the dress rehearsal. 

Betsey's other friend, Mayce was a dancer too.

Unconditional Love...

My Bets loves to wear makeup and fuss over her appearance. A lot. She is very consumed with being pretty. I certainly don't fuss over how she looks unless it is picture day. :) 

Recently I asked Betsey, "How much do you think I love you?"
She said, "Six."
I said, "That's a big number, yes. How much do I love you when you are sweet?"
"Six."
"Yep. What about when you hit your sister."
She just shook her head, no. (Enter mommy broken heart because I love her ALL THE TIME!)
"Betsey, I love you all the way even when you hit your sister. I love you six even when you make a bad choice. How much do I love you when you call someone a brat?"
"Six."
"That's right. Six. How about when get me a drink of water?"
"Six."
"Yep. What about when you are happy?"
"Six."
"When you have knots in your hair?"
"Six."
"What about if you scream and wake up Leo?"
"Six."

Now we have had versions of this conversation dozens of times and she uses different numbers, like seventeen or fifteen or five. Whatever number she chooses I go with it. She loves it, and I mean it.

Another weekend away for meeeeee...

The beginning of June I went to Utah a second time for one of my favorite people's wedding. My dear friend, Amy Smedley got married to Julio Duran. She has been so patient, dating and putting herself out there and genuinely pursuing a beautiful life for herself while wanting to be married and have a family of her own. I have admired her these years, with her fancy career, travels and commitment to her neices and nephews who think she is the best thing to ever walk the planet. It was such a pleasure being with her on her special day...and it doesn't ever hurt to fit in a little more Mimi, right?!

First look at these pictures Chris sent me from his outings with the kids...made me miss them. So glad they are lucky enough to have a dad take them to do fun things in my absence!

Tacoma Waterfront

His poor head. Ask his dad how that happened...dressed head to toe in the Keim hand me downs...thanks so much for those...

While in Midway, I went with Natalie, Mimi, Nana, Jensen, Ellie and Sam to visit Mia. I love all the cute things people bring there and wished I wasn't empty handed. Hopefully she knows my heart was full. I tracked a guy down who will make her a custom concrete headstone and I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Mimi has a brother-in-law who is an amazing artist and he is going to design it. I love her little pink metal sign too. It's perfect in the meantime.

It is really beautiful there.

In true McDonald fashion, they installed a salon sink in their laundry room because it is John's dream come true to have his hair washed by someone...okay, just Mimi. So this was the inaugural washing. He was definitely digging it. I had to get a shot. Felt like a personal moment if you know what I mean, but the kids were around so they kept it g-rated. The BEST thing ever that I wish I had been quick enough to capture on camera was when Mimi had her turn. Mimi has more hair than the average person, so John starts spraying her hair and dumps a bunch of shampoo on there and starts scrubbing it around, but no matter what he does he still has a majority of her hair (under the first layer) totally dry, and getting goopier because he kept trying to add more soap to solve the problem...so eventually, Mimi goes stalking with 1/4 wet and soapy and 3/4 dry and snarly hair to go finish the job in the shower. I couldn't stop laughing. I guess that salon chair is for John, not so much for Mimi!

I was so excited that Amy made time for a little girly talk over lunch the day before her wedding. Another mission friend, Nanci Schade (now Nanci Dickman) came into town, the three of us lived together for two months while I was Amy's companion and it was such a great time in my mission. Nanci and I always served in the same areas and we were only two months different in the mission so we are close too. It was just so much fun to be together. I love them both so much and treasure our past experiences and love hearing about their lives. Nanci is pregnant with her fifth baby...another boy, so four boys and a girl...just like me! Julio dropped Amy off so we got to meet him real fast...

The three of us...

My aunt Jody invited Mimi and I up to Park City because she was staying at a Marriott timeshare place right by the Alpine slides in a ski in and out resort. What a place! It was so fancy! Constant activites and the pool was warm and I just loved it there. 

Mimi's cuties with their cotton candy...

My cousins, Julianne and Jeanelle Jacobs were such fun hostesses, they made us a dutch oven and BBQ dinner and we ate poolside and then roasted marshmallows. It was so sweet of them.

This pic should be funnier if you could see what they are lovingly looking at. Mimi ended up coming home from Costco with a big huge TV for John to mount on the wall. They got it installed and had a happy, cuddly, gazing at the TV minute.

The wedding day was super special and I am so grateful I was invited. It was a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake City Temple, followed by a nice dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, way up high, overlooking Temple Square. It could not have been a more lovely day. 

Oops, I'm not exactly looking in this pic!

Me, Amy and Nanci.