Weekend

Congrats, Luke and Jessica! While Ben was away at Luke & Jessica's wedding, we kept pretty busy around here. Spencer painted a fence at the Metzger Farm.

Eva painted a barn. Rebecca painted, too, and danced and babysat.

When he returned, Ben had a souvenir from the wedding: a Soviet-era gas mask! It's a little bit uncomfortable, but that didn't keep us from having a gas mask fashion show. Thanks, Papa!! I believe it's already made it to school for show and tell once, and it's only Tuesday.

Eva's Rocco Tricks

Horse Show

It was a week of horse highs and lows. Last Sunday, Eva's favorite horse Comanche had to be put down because he was old and sick. But she got to go to the stable several times this week, and today she participated in her first show. Here's Eva with Quincy. I'm not sure Quincy can even feel Eva on his back. She probably doesn't weigh any more than the saddle and blanket, but she does her best to let Quincy know who is boss.

Here she is waiting for the judge's feedback.

Eva, Quincy, and Becky had a successful morning. We think Becky is the best horseback riding teacher in the whole wide world.

Eva's First Horse Show

Last Week of Summer

It's been a long week because the kids' friends went back to school on Monday, but their school doesn't start until this coming Wednesday. So there hasn't been anybody to play with. But we managed to find a few things to do. We watched movies.

 Played Legos.

 Dressed dolls.

 Played with the camera.

And had school uniform fashion shows. Just a few more days, and the kids will be making new friends, eating lunch at school, and learning, learning, learning.

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

 Rebecca turned 14 today! She went ice skating with friends last night and went to her very first dance tonight. It's so fun to watch her grow up into such a nice, happy young lady.

Eva's Room Remodel

Before:

 After:

Lakeside

 The kids all got unlimited ride passes to Lakeside for completing the library summer reading program, so we went on Tuesday. This crazy ride (the one above) is one of those free-fall rides where you ride up a big shaft and then they drop you and you scream for like half a second before your lungs and vocal cords cease to function. Ben hurt his leg somehow. Maybe somebody from Lakeside will read this and send him a check for lots of money. Maybe.

 This ride is called the Round Up. It's one of those rides that spins you until your back is glued against the green pad and you can't move except your cheeks go flapping in the wind and you worry about drooling. The kid who was running the ride meant business. He said there were 2 rules: no leaning forward and no lifting your feet off the floor. And he also said that if anybody broke even just 1 of the 2 rules he would stop the ride and everyone would have to get off. And he was serious because somebody on our ride lifted one of his feet up, and the kid stopped the ride and everyone had to get off. By the end of the evening, that kid had all the visitors to the park trained, tipping hats, and saying, "Yes, Sir!" He's just the kind of guy we need running our public schools... I also like the above photo because it shows us what Ben would look like if he had a moustache. I think a gun holster would add to the look.

This ride is called the Matterhorn. It was nice.

Swim Team Party

 Spencer just finished his first season on the Barracuda swim team, and there was a potluck party to celebrate. After eating way too much food and swimming for a while, the coaches got down to business and presented awards.

 Coach Jonathan gave Spencer an award for being on time, for always helping with the lane lines, and for making huge improvement over the season. He's moving up to the next level next month. We're proud of our fish.

Corn

My dad is so good at growing stuff. He takes after his mom. Someday I want to take after both of them. I thought my garden was looking pretty good this year--until I saw my dad's corn and tomatoes this afternoon. I don't have a single red tomato yet, and he probably has a hundred. And I don't have any corn at all. But I do have really cute caterpillars on my lettuce. That's something.

Rocco thinks that Rebecca is super cute and that her cheeks are yummy. Rebecca puts up with Rocco's affection much more tolerantly than I do.

Look what we found on the lettuce

Cupcakes

 Eva and Marie made cupcakes for a tea party this week. It always helps to make beautiful pink cupcakes if you look beautiful and pink yourself.

Temple Field Trip

 The wonderful primary leaders in the Broomfield 1st ward organized a temple field trip last Monday. We got a tour of the temple grounds and spent a lovely morning there. Then we had a picnic on the field across the street.

 This is new. The bride's bench area has been remodeled, and now there are these nice pillars and hanging pots behind the temple.

 Look at all those good-looking, standing-up-straight-hands-at-their-sides kids.

It looks like these future missionaries have important things to discuss.

Bec's Big Trip

 Rebecca went home with Kaylyn after the reunion and spent some time in Forest Grove.

 They made a delicious dinner with lots of fresh produce from Michelle's garden.

 They visited the ocean and found lots of sand dollars.

And then Bec flew back home to us after when we couldn't spare her any longer. Thanks, Adam & Michelle!

Idaho

 The Terry reunion in McCall, Idaho, was lot of fun. We stayed in this cute little cabin by a lake. We saw not-too-shy deer running through the campground and were initiated by those horrible No-See-Em bugs. Ew.

 Then we moved over to these posh digs next to the Payette River. Laptops for everyone!

 How many kids can you fit in a barrel hot tub? I think there were at least 8 or 9 at one point. Did anyone take an official count?

This is my favorite picture from the week. The house had a bar, and the girls just loved playing "restaurant" in there. Looks like a good time.