Provo Temple on a Saturday.

I know, I know, Will turned 12 almost two months ago. 

Somehow, it took us that long to get him to the temple. 

Too many Dad-involved scout trips and stuff.

Yesterday, we made it happen.

Family names and all.

It was wonderful.

                                                              Dang, I love this kid!

July, Documented On My Phone.

 Molly and Hannah hopped on Front Runner 

and trekked up to Fantasy Con...

 One of Molly's last wishes was to get a Kong Kone from Macey's.

 We went to the Bean Museum where our Wildabeast came face to face with another Wildabeast...

 My friend Lizbeth and I made a delicious 

Banana Cream Pie from scratch.

No instant pudding involved whatsoever.

 Hannah fell for another cardboard man.

 More Kong Kones...

 My little friends left me love notes glued to boxes. 

All of them ended in giving me hugs :)

Awesome.

 Michaela made a dinosaur landscape for her friend's birthday cake. We realized that it looks pretty "iffy" in pictures, 

but it was pretty amazing in real life.

And finally, last night, we officially moved the last of Judie's things from her newly sold home in Midvale, to a storage unit in Provo.

It's good to have her close again.

There you have it-July.
I'm gearing up for next week's Girls Camp.
Yay.
Wish me luck.

Five Days.

Will and his dad went to Scout Camp this week.

Talk about a hole in my heart :)

I cherish this one, lone, non-teenage kid of mine.

The one who tells me he loves me about 10 times a day.

The one who's not afraid to still hold my hand

 and give hugs in public (gasp). 

Yup, he's a keeper.

I had to make do with the other 4 :) this week.

Not as much love and appreciation-

but they're keepers too. 

Most of the time...

Some more so than others...

That can change at any given moment...

I joke.

 Really.

 

Our Adventures With Molly...

...have come to an end.

This morning, after only three weeks this time, 

Molly boarded Allegiant Airlines and headed home. 

Year round school didn't allow too much time together this year.

Last night, we headed up Hobble Creek Canyon 

for one last hurrah.

We survived a little bit of rain, and had a whole lot of fun.

Goodbye Molly.

Till next year.

Scenes From A Sunday Dinner.

That's All. No words. Just Pictures.

Salt Lake City Fantasy Con.

I have to admit I don't get it.
But I have a daughter who loves these things.
This past weekend she worked as a host at the Salt Lake City Fantasy Con.
Another event  in which you dress up like it's Halloween and then everyone takes pictures with everyone.

Hmmm. I seriously just don't get it. 
But no matter.

We tease Michaela that she is going to find her one and only at a Con...
She says we are probably right. 
Should that worry me?

She's the one with the license plate on her back. 

(See? You don't get it either...)

-photo courtesy of KSL

Anywho, reality starts tomorrow 

when a job becomes the number one priority in her life.

Oh yes, it's good to be young.

Celebration of Eagles.

Last night, we attended an event 
not really knowing what we were in for. 

We had received an email the week before

that invited all interested Scouts to join a choir 

that would perform on July 3rd. 

Knowing I had one boy who loves to sing in choirs, 

I signed him up. There were many hours of required rehearsal time but since it was just for one week we thought it was doable. 

Still, clueless, we attended the performance. 

What it turned out to be was something awesome.

They honored 4 men with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and 44 men with the Outstanding Eagle Scout Award. 

Sounds boring, I know, but look what they threw in:

Tanner James, one of Michaela's classmates, and a contestant on last season's The Voice, opened and closed the show. 

He was seriously fantastic. 

(Why that didn't translate on the TV show, I don't know, but Wow!)

Will marched in with one of these banners 

and then couldn't help sneaking peeks around it...

Jason Deere

Another great surprise was 

The Nashville Tribute Band performance.

I love these guys and their music

and I came home and promptly dug out my CD's.

If you don't own Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet

you are missing out.

An octet from the Motab, performed You Raise Me Up

and God Bless America- beautiful.

My thyroid doctor was honored with an 

Outstanding Eagle Scout award. 

Larry M. Gibson, 

1st Counselor in the YM General Presidency, 

awarded the 4 Distinguished Eagle Scout Awards.

There were lots of group numbers...

...including the audience favorite, Ma, You Earned Your Eagle!

(Will is dead center)

Despite 13 hours of rehearsals, 

Will will be the first to tell you he loved it.

And I second that feeling.

God bless the Boy Scouts-

Happy Independence Day.