July 2011

What an amazing month we had in July!  We’ll just call it our “no work and all play” month, even though the weekends were a crazy blur of work – unpacking from the last week’s adventure and getting ready for the next week.  Here’s a look at our month week by week:

Week 1 – 4th of July Freedom Run in Provo and Finch Family Reunion at Bear Lake

We started the month by running a 5k together as a family.  My sister Kim and her family were visiting, so they joined us, too.  It was lots of fun!  The race route follows the Provo parade route, so it was fun to have people cheering for us the entire way. Going out for breakfast afterwards was even better. :)

We spent the next 5 days at Bear Lake for the Finch Family reunion and had the best time playing at the lake, hiking the caves, playing games, doing skits and just enjoying being together for a few days.  The time passed much too quickly.

Week 2 – Boy Scout 50 miler

Bryce and Devin traveled to Zion’s National Park and spent the week hiking more than 50 miles through some beautifully scenic country.  Devin says the hardest day was the day they hiked 20 miles, but couldn’t choose a favorite part – he says all the hikes were beautiful.  Devin did a great job conquering his fear of heights when he hiked along a sheer cliff face for several miles.  Bryce says his favorite part was hiking in the water through the Narrows on the last day of the campout.

Week 3 – Pioneer Trek

Seth and Autumn flew by themselves to spend the week with Grandpa and Grandma Ririe (where they had many awesome adventures including the zoo, bowling with cousins, sleepovers with cousins, playing store, and playing in Grandma’s garden) while Bryce, Devin, Megan and I went on Trek.  It was a really tough experience, but one we are so glad we got to do, especially together.  We trekked 37 miles in 3 days and gained a much greater appreciation for all that our pioneer ancestors endured for their faith.  It was sure nice to come home at the end of 4 days and take a nice, long shower. :)

Week 4 – Ririe Family Reunion at the Oregon Coast

We joined Seth and Autumn and the rest of our Ririe family in Oregon for the last week of July and had a great time playing on the beach, skim boarding, hiking up the dunes (and running down again), climbing on the rocks, playing games, sharing talents and (most importantly) celebrating Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th wedding anniversary.  It was so fun to be able to get everyone together again and spend some time together – the days went by much too quickly.  We also celebrated Devin’s 14th birthday this week – holy cow the kids are growing up too fast!

Well, that’s our month.  Bryce is definitely going to have a shock to his system when he returns to work full time this week.  Hard to believe we only have 3 more weeks until we are back to school. Blech!!

We also got Autumn’s dance pictures from her Just Dance studio – here’s a couple to share. :)