The Sounds of Summer

It is a struggle for me to blog in the summer. Writing involves quiet time, and that is not something I have found a lot of lately. I am not complaining! I enjoy the crazy and free-flying days of summer; but there is also something beautiful about the schedules of the school year that allow for some quiet time -- especially when it comes to writing -- I do love to write and document life as it happens. 

We are to the point of the summer where I am starting to crave some solid quiet. I kind of require a bit of solitude to fully recharge my energy, and to regain my ability to be pleasant and social. I enjoy people, but I definitely need to fill my cup full in order to handle lots of social interaction. My life has been filled with many more people than I have been used to, and I can feel a desire to recharge myself, so I can be the kind of person I want to be.

The quiet is coming. Meanwhile, I will enjoy the final days of summer, as the sun sets into the fall of another school year. Oh... Fall. I LOVE it when it is fall! Bring on the pumpkins and autumn leaves! WooHoo! 

At the beginning of summer we went up to a beautiful cabin in Cascade. It was such a wonderful and rejuvenating time. In the cabin there was this book... The little book of Quiet. I really enjoyed reading it out in nature, while I was serenaded by a choir of song birds.

 

I love this quote in the picture below... it is so true. I remember in high school people used to think I was so quiet. I was quiet, but not shy. What I was really doing was observing and soaking in everything and everyone around me. I have practiced over the years to become more comfortable with my own voice, and expressing my thoughts and opinions more freely. Now I am very comfortable with sharing my thoughts and feelings... the real trick is getting me to stop. ;) 

We have attended a bunch of missionary farewells. The high school choir (Encore) sang at each of them to support their fellow choir friends. Each one was a sweet and powerful experience. We have such wonderful young men and women out their sharing the gospel! 

Daniel and his friend ended up twinning it. 

 Before it got so hot we did a lot of hiking... the kids brought some friends along.

Here is David wearing his Spudman shirt... perhaps one of the most creepy-looking shirts I have ever seen! Is that a potato with a body? Weird?

 We enjoyed some really glorious nights outside.

 I am grateful that Daniel is so strong, so he can help Henry when he is not feeling so strong.

 Ahhh... brothers.

 Cute face, creepy shirt!

 Being out in nature is so enlivening.

 Idaho really is a lovely place to live!

 Henry is a fearless climber!

 The sunset was amazing.

 Sammi learned how to make some of the BEST cookies! The secret is butter-flavored Crisco. Yummy!

David allowed William to do an oil change on his car. William watched a youtube video, and with some guidance from David, he did it!

 The cabin we stayed at in Cascade was SO great. I for sure want to go there again!

 The balcony was where we spent much of our time.

 The interior was so cozy and comfortable!

 David made a fire to keep us warm.

 This was our room... what a great view to wake up to!

 I loved that the TV could go up and down, and be hidden behind the couch.

 David and I went for a walk down to the lake, but we could only get so close because of nesting birds. It was still a pleasant location.

 Interesting thought from the Quiet book...

 We went up hiking in Cascade.

 We went up to two different lakes.

 There was still snow!

 The trail was so lush and glorious.

The only problem was the road to and from the start of the trail. It was terrifying! We went in my van, and my van was not made for such treacherous trails! Once we started up, we could not turn around for 3 miles of insane rocks and ditches. We were all on the edge of our seats the whole time. David did an awesome job calmly trying to maneuver around so we did not do damage to the van, but we sure scrapped the bottom multiple times. Some roads are not made for minivans!

 We had to brush up right next to the bushes sometimes, to avoid the ledge.

It was worth it though.

We still enjoyed the journey, even though it was crazy! 

Walking through the woods. 

Yikes! The road was really, really, CRAZY! 

We found some adorable little pinecones. 

The cabin was so fun, there was even a record player, so we listened to Nat King Cole on record!

 We spent some time down at the beach of the lake.

 The boys were brave enough to jump in the freezing water.

 There were a bunch of sailboats out that day.

 Ahh... rock chucking.

 
The brave boys enjoying the cold water.

Nature is so magical. 

Henry was in heaven.

The lake was so calm and still when we first got there. 

Now for a total switch in topics... we have enjoyed watching the videos the Church has produced regarding pornography. The videos are SO good. We watched some of them with the (age appropriate) kids, and then we had very open and straight-forward conversations. We may have so much garbage openly displayed for our children, but I also think that part of the answer is to be incredibly OPEN with the whole family regarding these difficult topics. I have no problem discussing such things with my kiddos, and they are just used to my total frankness by now, so it makes it almost enjoyable to talk about hard things. I hope my children always feel they can talk about the hard stuff with me.

 Henry was enjoying a day in the sun.

David has this amazingly curly hair. He has always kept it short, so it is fun to see what his hair is capable of.

David often brings me beautiful bouquets of flowers. He told me a story he heard of a father talking to his son. The dad says to the son, "Son, do you know what is cheap?" The son asks, "What?" The father responds, "Flowers." The father then goes on to say, "Do you know what is expensive?" The father answers, "Divorce."

Flowers do hold some very powerful magic in them!! I sure love flowers, and it always makes me so happy when David picks out such beautiful bouquets!

 We have spent time playing in the river. I love having the river so close to home. Good times.

We have been trying to get our home and yard in order. David rented a jack-hammer to demolish a huge stone statue that has been in our yard forever.  It was quite the feat! I am so glad it is gone! WooHoo!

 Henry is pretty cute when he sits still. :)

We have enjoyed going to the temple together. We need all the strength and power from Heavenly Father that we can get. Trying to walk the path of remarriage with a mix of 9 children is certainly not for the faint of heart. I am sure I will write more about some of the challenges we have faced, but I will really need some quiet time to write about those kind of delicate details.

 Love is worth it though. Love is worth the hard!

 Daniel doing the Lion King pose. 
We went and watched the new Lion King movie in 3-D. It was... interesting. I think the live stage musical is WAY better than any of the movies.

 Sammi and Henry being silly.

We had our piano tuned for the first time and it sounds great. We still do not know where the piano came from, and who the miraculous and angelic anonymous gift-giver is. Whoever you are, we love you SO much! The joy this piano has brought into our home is priceless and precious!

 Sammi has enjoyed going to the Singles Ward, and dating. Her birthday is today, and she is 18! How is that even possible? She is set up with a Nanny position as a job, and she is preparing for her mission.

 She went to an activity to welcome new members to the Singles ward. There are some fun people there!

I love that Sammi still snuggles with me.

David likes to eat a special treat of ice cream, milk, and Honey Bunches of Oats. Ice cream is sure a favorite treat around here, so he fits right in!

 I have been working on making or room a little more cozy. It is coming together nicely.

 I found this pillow, and it was a must have. ;)

William stuck this happy ball on my van antenna long ago and it still lives. We almost lost it on our crazy dirt road drive to the mountains -- it even fell off -- but we stopped and retrieved it.

 I love this guy. He is so willing to just get in there and work hard with me to get our house in order. I love that about him! We have been working SO hard lately to go through all of our things and reduce the amount of stuff that we have.

We have been going through the painful process of cleaning out the garage. We want it completely empty, because we are going to slightly remodel it, so we can use it as a game/playroom. We had a shed built in the backyard, and we have a storage unit. It has been a tedious slow-paced event. It has been an emotional process of going through all of our stuff together, and we have been very ruthless on what we have thrown out. We both had things to let go of from our past lives. We have both had reasons to pause and reflect on the past, as we let go of excess baggage that weighs us down. I saw a show that says you should only keep things if they give you a "spark of joy." With that in mind, we have cleared out an insane amount of junk. Why do we gather and collect so much stuff?

We had a junk hauling company come and take away our unwanted stuff. There was SO much, it ended up being quite expensive to haul!

As we were clearing out the garage, we both found our old quotes that we used, when times were tough. We both had them hanging on our walls for a time, as inspiration to continue forward, before we were married. (Mine used to be the bottom of my bunk bed that I had back in the day with Charles.) We were for sure being prepared for each other in our different trials. Both of us clinging to our faith, and to Jesus.

There are only a few more weeks until school starts... and then I hope to write much more often!

Until then, I plan to enjoy the sounds of summer! :)