And That's That

 Well, the kids have been back in school for a week now, so I suppose it is officially official. Summer is over. Wahhhhh!!!

Just kidding. Life goes on, right? We had a blast the last couple of weeks and we completed our bucket list, so that's good. 

About a week before school started, we went back to school shopping. I let the kids choose a first day of school outfit and new shoes, but that's all we buy in the way of clothing. It's still so hot that they just wear their summer clothes anyway. We do our real back to school shopping in October when everything for fall and winter is on clearance because summer clothes are back in the stores for next year. Haha, just kidding. But seriously, why do stores operate that way?! So weird. I learned the October shopping trick from my aunt when Laylah was about to start preschool 6 years ago. She's a smart cookie.

We still needed some supplies though, as well as a few new backpacks and underwear, and necessities like that. So we spent the day shopping and went out to Applebee's for dinner because we had the handy free kid's meals from the library reading program. It was a fun day and I loved that we got so much done in such a short time because of our time crunch (ie. I am a procrastinator and school started in a week).

 We went to several movies at the dollar theater in American Fork because our Pass of All Passes gets us in for free! I love those passes.

We also had to say goodbye to our Auntie Kaylie whom we love and cherish and will miss like crazy. She left to go up to school at USU. Go Aggies!

PS Kaylie is actually 2 inches taller than me. No wonder everyone thinks I'm 5'9''. I'm always wearing giant heels.

And here is documentation that we did actually go camping at least once this summer, as promised back in June. I despise camping because I hate to be dirty. I hate when my kids are dirty and I hate that it takes so much work for such a short little trip, and yeah. I'm just a Negative Nelly, so there.

Also, it rained. A lot.

And why not? Why not add a whole lot more mess to this ridiculously short camping trip?

But guess what? The kids had fun, and they loved it, and nature really is beautiful and smells nice, so it was fine. I just like to be negative (haha).

 We went with Andy's brother Ryan and his family. My kids adore their twins.

Here's Jonah playing soccer with a really tiny ball and three 2-year-old blurs chasing after him.

Ryan looks super duper happy to be here. I actually think he just didn't know I was taking a photo. He was the positive one the whole trip while I just sat and whined.

Snugly wuggly kids

Andy and I had Magnus between us. It was super comfortable. Oh wait.... no it wasn't.

The kids found this little clearing behind our campsite and were playing "Indians" for 2 hours. They're so funny.

Pretty pretty mountains. Utah is a lovely place.

Here's a view of the valley as we were driving back down the mountain.

Aaaaaaaand, the awesome clean-up. Everything was muddy. Yuck. I was thrilled to cross that activity off of our summer bucket list.

And here are the fruits of our shopping labor. These bags sat on my dryer for a week before we got it all out and organized it and put it away.

Kids get excited about everything. I love it.

After my last post, we ended up not going boating at all because the weather took a turn for the worse, so we did some indoor activities instead. We headed to Trafalga and climbed the rock wall, played laser tag, went mini-golfing, and played arcade games.

After that we went to another movie at the dollar theater. It was a great way to end the summer, even if it wasn't boating. I love my family.

The next day, we did some cleaning, chores, and general getting ready for school. We put backpacks together with school supplies, we painted nails, we relaxed, we read books, and we stayed dry while the rain raged outside (what is with Utah this summer? It has been so wet!) We also had a few soccer games and we just spent time together as a family before school had to go and start and mess up all of our good times.

But seriously, even though this summer flew by, it was sure a good one. Definitely one of the best.

Next up: Back To School Celebration!