I used to take so many pictures when my kids were toddlers. They were just cute, brushing their teeth, eating lunch, going to the park. They loved to get their pictures taken. When you try to take pictures of teen/tweenagers doing everyday things you get eye rolls at best and stuff thrown at you at worst.
So, I just don't have as many pictures as I used to. Arden was the only kid in summer 2021 that was excited to get her picture taken. Cora was not a fan, but Daxton would actively run away if he saw me even looking like I was thinking about taking a picture. But anyway, I'll give you what I have. Here we go:
First up! Memorial Day Trip to Bear Lake. Arden brought her friends Emily and Allie. They brought cute dresses and wanted to have a photo shoot! Somehow, I got volunteered to be the photographer, but I am not good at it and have only a cell phone, but here are some of the hundreds (literally) of photos they made me take:
They weren't ready for this one, but I thought they looked cute in their matching towels.
I guess I felt like I had taken a lot of pictures, but I only got Arden and Co, but everyone else was there too...just not documented on camera. Oh well.
There was such a pretty sunset one night!
We went and hiked the Limber Pine trail one day (no pictures?) and we played at the Lake another day. We brought paddle boards and kayaks and stuff and it was super fun. Brant, Nikki's husband was a great sport and threw all the girls in the water and they couldn't get enough of it.
There was the huge rubber band thing that someone brought where the kids would run back and forth and throw themselves against it, and I was sure someone was going to get a concussion but no one ever did.
The girls spent a lot of time painting their nails and making bracelets. Somehow they talked the bishop into letting them paint a stripe on his hair? He's such a good sport.
Another night, another beautiful sunset! The last night was a talent show. Arden and her friends did a dance to "Cruisin for a Bruisin" from Teen Beach Movie (yes, they still love the songs), and there were some magic tricks and some singing (Cora and her friends sung a song) and us leaders introduced the youth to the Marcarena. Good times.
And of course there was the nightly fire and smores!
Sometime during the summer I went for my annual mole check and they found another pre-cancerous one they wanted to dig a big hole around. At least it was on my shoulder and not my face, right?
We went to a baseball game or two, of course! The boys were there too, I promise!
Arden does like to read books! And watch sunsets! She used to take the dog for a walk on the trail in our neighborhood to a view spot and she would read a book and watch the sunset. She took a picture.
We went to watch the fireworks at the golf course. Dax had invested in a fancy light saber and wanted to bring it and play with it in the dark. I tried to take his picture, and he didn't have time to run away so instead he just pulled his hat down over his face. But I swear that is Dax:
We had a couple of pool days with our friends the Hibberts, which are always super fun and relaxing. Dax was here too, I promise.
I didn't really take many pictures until our next trip to the cabin with the Wongs. We made our first trip to the Bridgerland Adventure Park! They have a big ropes course and a zip line and some tubing hills. But Dax was the most excited to try the ax throwing. He did pretty good! Here is him posing with a bullseye he did (sorry he is so small!)
Here is Cora up on the ropes course, she's so brave!
Arden was killing it on the ropes course. She still has some great balance and good upper body strength from her gymnastics days, so she is built for this:
We also went to the Pickleville Playhouse on this trip! The show was called "Becoming a Bona Fide Bad Guy," and it was pretty funny! None of the boys (Dax or the three Wong boys) or Cora, wanted to be in the picture, but little Grace did, so Arden went with her:
The Young Men had a camp...at Bear Lake. Well, up at Beaver Mountain. Preston was not in Young Mens, but they wanted as many dads to come as they could get, so he tagged along. They did a hike (see picture, taken by Preston), went up to Bloomington Lake and swung on the rope swing, and did a lake day and even went to Minnetonka Cave:
He does exist! Preston and Dax are on the left in this picture. I do not know why Preston is wearing shorts and a t-shirt inside of the freezing cold cave? He would be perfectly happy if temps were in the 60s all year round (whereas I am most happy in the upper 70s), but I'm sure he was a little chilly but probably fine.
A little later in the summer, we had my work party at the zoo. Arden thought she was too old to come, but Cora and Dax still came. Here he is, I have no idea how I got him to look at the camera and smile? But yay!
And looook! Me and Cora got to feed a giraffe! Giraffes are my favorite animals, so this was supre fun for me. And Cora looks happy too!
In August, school started to loom. Cora wanted to go early and figure out her locker. It was haaaard at first, but she got it figured out eventually! She's so happy! How is she is junior high??? Cora spent a lot of summer playing with friends and also soccer kept her pretty busy.
Dax loves music, and was kind of going through a retro phase when he was listening to a lot of classic rock kind of stuff. A Queen cover band came to the Sandy Amphitheater, and I asked him if he would want to go with me and he said yes! He had a good time and we got another picture of the kid!
He came home and listened to Queen pretty nonstop for a couple of months (I still haven't fully recovered).
I guess I felt like I had taken a lot of pictures, but I only got Arden and Co, but everyone else was there too...just not documented on camera. Oh well.
The next time I broke my camera out was Girls Camp! Yup, I'm in Young Women again! Cora was 12 so this was her first girls camp, and it was fun to get to go to camp with both Arden and Cora. We camped in tents at a site at Rendezvous Beach at....Bear Lake. But can you ever really have too much Bear Lake? I say no.
Us leaders had our own tent, and so it was me, Char, Adriann, and Bridget, and we had a great time in our fancy tent with cots. We even got shushed by the girls in the nearby tents late at night once or twice, bwahaha. Here we are in our circle.
Ooh, it's so pretty! Use your sunscreen, kids!
As far as day-to-day summer, this is the battle I would face each day. Each. And. Every. Day. Especially with Daxton, who loved to play video games (Minecraft, Fortnite for a while, a little later NBA2K). And he also doesn't like to clean stuff. Or put laundry away. Or read books. You get the idea. I didn't take any pictures of the daily negotiations.
Arden spent a lot of the summer busy being in "like" with a boy from school. They got together with friends a few times and even held hands! (Yikes!) Dont tell her I told you.
Cora's team won the Strikers Cup tournament over the summer! Yay girls!
And just like that (and a few dozen more days of screen time negotiations), and summer was over.
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