Oh what do you do in the summer time....

Mmmm....snow cones, swimming, shopping, camping, family reunions, backyard layouts.....I could go on and on.  There are just things you do in the summer that make it summer!  And most of the times it is the small simple things that make it the best.    In fact, I wont even confess how many stops to the snow shack we have made!   The summer has begun and already we have had lots of fun stuff to do.  I think the girls have something going everyday!  If they are not with their friends they are with each other trying to make fun.
Kelsey started her summer with EFY.  (Sorry, if I posted pictures of that it would only be Kelsey's pictures of way to many different people that none of us know but her!)  Sam has already had one session of swim lessons and has another to come in July.

Swim lessons for Sam

Riley had a week of British soccer camp.  The kids were all divided up into teams with different country names.  She was on the England team.  All week they worked together to learn new skills and earn points for their "world cup" tournament that was held on the last day of camp.  This is the second year she has done this and loved it again this year!

Riley showing her team spirit

Riley with her team

Riley with her coaches.  Yes, they are all British.

 

Rachel has not had her big event for the summer yet, although last week she and her friend did put on a small Day Camp for all the neighborhood kids.  That in itself proved to be a big task for her!  But in July she will go to stay on BYU campus for four days for a basketball camp.  I dont know if she is more excited to stay in campus housing and eat at the Cannon center (like Kelsey does at EFY) or to just play basketball for a week.  There is no reason these girls should go back to school in September and say that they didn't do anything this summer.   It seems that if there is a day that they are "bored"  I get to feeling guilty and take them somewhere.  This week we went to an Extreme Sports arena with olympic trampolines and foam pits.  They played so hard that the were all dripping sweat by the time we were done.

Supposed to be a pic of Riley climbing the wall but Rachel just had to be in it too!

Jumping from one tramp to the next

Rachel

A very sad Sam in time out.  Dont feel to bad for her.

Jumping off the wall!

Fun stuff.  Now its onto family reunions, youth conference and girls camp.  This is the stuff memories are made of.  I love the summer when we can play together as a family!

I cant help but think of the primary song...

Oh what do you do in the summertime
When all the world is green?
Do you swim in a pool
to keep yourself cool
or swing in a tree up high?
Is that what you do?
So do I!

Jr. Miss Santaquin

This year Rachel decided with her best friend that they wanted to sign up for the Jr. Miss Santaquin pageant.  I was a little surprised at her interest in doing it because I would never have thought that dressing up all pretty and walking across a stage waving to judges and an audience would have been something that Rachel wanted to do.   For a whole week before the pageant, Rachel and all of the other girls spent time each day learning a dance and working on posture and their walks.  They also completed a service project as a group.  When the night of the show came Rachel was glowing.  She both felt and looked amazing.   The night was a long one for an audience member and Dan may have bribed the girls with money to never do it again but it was worth it to see my girl on the stage smiling like the world was hers for the taking!  As Rachel was walking across the stage waving to everyone I was so happy for her.   At the end of the her walk she stopped at one end of the stage to draw a question out of a bowl to answer.  Her question was "Why did you want to enter Miss Santaquin this year?"  Rachel, as honestly and as eloquently as she could said "I wanted to do Miss Santaquin this year because I wanted to ride on the float in the parade.  Thank you."  Ahh, I love this girl!

Getting ready to preform their dance number "New York, New York"

Quick change and set to walk the stage.

After the dance performance I sent Kelsey in to the changing room to see if Rachel needed any help with getting ready.   Kelsey came back quickly and very dramatically expressed concern for her own life in entering that room.  She said there were so many mothers in there helping their kids that she felt she nearly suffocated from hair spray inhalation and that she almost lost an eye from a "bump-it".

One of her Miss Photogenic pictures

Wearing her crown and 3rd attendant sash!

Good Job, Rachel!  She will get to ride the float this year for the Payson Onion Days over Labor Day weekend and she did inform her dad that he would be sitting through it all again next year :)