Where Have We Been?

Another two months without a blog posted! Does anyone else go that long? It's been a busy summer and the blog was the first thing to be neglected. What made it so busy? I'm not quite sure. I taught a few music classes to children in the neighborhood (Millie loved it!), we've all had our turns being sick, and now I'm finally gaining control of my life again: the dishes are done, the laundry pile is small, the stack of mail is GONE, the bills are paid, the toys are organized, the carpet is vacuumed, dinner is planned, the girls are supposedly sleeping, and instead of taking a nap, I'm going to blog! What a feeling! This NEVER happens!

So, here are some highlights from our summer:


PLAYING IN THE BACK YARD


I love that the girls are young enough to get complete satisfaction from a $6 swimming pool from Wal-mart.

We played outside with our neighbors almost every day. I'm not sure that life will be the same for Millie when they move next week. Okay, I admit it, I'm going to miss them like CRAZY!



Cheap fun!

Gracie has (by default) passed up Millie in bike progression. She rides the BIG wheel!


THE MONARCH MIRACLE



Our monarch caterpillar turned out to be a beautiful butterfly. I kept marveling at the symbolism that it displays: We can experience miraculous change in our lives because of the atonement of Jesus Christ.



CAMPING WITH THE YORGASON FAMILY



This was a spontaneous camping trip, and since we never went camping as a family growing up, it was fun to see that my siblings can actually handle it (maybe they were more surprised about me). I hope this is the start of a family tradition!




4TH OF JULY PARADE & WATER GAMES

Our neighborhood has a small parade every year--the kids always love it. This year's addition was a water dunking contest at the park afterward. Paul was the first to go, and he somehow convinced others to join in the fun. As soon as they started suggesting me to get dunked, I was out of there! Luckily, I had a real excuse of why I needed to be home. :)




THATCHER FAMILY REUNION

The second annual Thatcher family reunion was a great success! As you can see, we had a pirate theme.

Gracie the Pirate

Millie was trying to help Jack with his hairdo

The marshmallow blowgun game was a lot of fun



The slip-n-slide was Millie's favorite event. It took a while to warm up to it, but I'm glad she overcame her 'wimpy' tendencies that she inherited from her mom. Here's a film:




DESIRE'S BAPTISM



We loved having the missionary discussions with Desire in our home. She was so incredibly sincere as she learned about the church. When the Elders asked her if she would like to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized into his church, she replied, "yeah, wholeheartedly." I was so touched. Her baptism was a sweet experience to take part in. She has become a good friend. And we've never known better missionaries than Elder Garcia and Elder Williams.



LAGOON

We all went as a family for a few hours, then we came home, put the girls to sleep for a nap, and we went back as couples for a fun date night. We got into Lagoon for a great deal since it was "bounce back." However, after cutting the costs of Paul's new phone breaking while on the wild rapids ride, it wasn't a cheap day. Oh well! Millie can't stop talking about the rides.







Almost a Year and Finally Crawling

Now that Gracie learned how to crawl, she just wants to crawl to Mommy and gesture for me to pick her up. Isn't she supposed to be crawling around to explore? At least she isn't crawling toward the stairs...unless I'm at the bottom of them. Yikes!