that's a wrap!

Summer's over?! That went by so fast. I was just getting started. I always have grand summer plans, like getting my house completely organized, getting in shape, and being the perfect summer teacher/mother (Science experiments! Cooking classes! Sewing instruction!). Uh-huh. You know when a character in a movie decides to complete some fantastic goal, and there is a montage of them working out or studying, and at the end of the 30 second montage, they are winning that race or receiving that degree whilst everyone claps wildly?? Why can't that be me? I thought my montage of eating nachos and playing Pathwords on Facebook obsessively was going to reap big returns, but so far no. Dangit.

Squash bugs crunch so satisfyingly
between gloved fingers as
you yell at them to die.

I did garden a lot this summer. We put a pond in. I discovered what mosquito larvae looks like. THOUSANDS of mosquito larvae. They're really gross, in case you were wondering. I squished many a squash bug after they killed most of my pumpkin plants. I also had to inspect the underside of each leaf on my remaining pumpkin vines and scrape off all of their blasted eggs. I often thought to myself, "Why am I not just buying pumpkins?" But then, after all my hard work, killing and scraping, this came to be:

LAAAAAAHHHH
My beautiful white pumpkin, complete with
glowing heavenly aura and choir of angels

This will save me, I don't know....at least five whole dollars! Sweeeeeeet.

Another source of pride is my favorite flower of all time that is blooming so nicely right now, my Hibiscus:

Aren't they the best flowers ever?? Am I living in Hawaii?! Not sure.


I love it when the playhouse gets covered with overgrown grapevines.
(They're overgrown on PURPOSE, Mike. Mike?! Where's Mike?
Thanks again for the shutters, wherever you are. I still love them!)

Here are some other things we did this summer.....

We got passes to Seven Peaks and went often:


We paddleboated and camped at Heber Valley Campground:

Alex, cousin Teylor, Isabel

While there, we went on a hike. My mom has a tradition of letting each grandchild pick a beautiful spot to have their personal picture taken. So Paul chose his:


We celebrated the Fourth:

Grandma Browning and her amazing United States jello


Finally! Using the patriotic wigs I got on clearance last year

Nothing says freedom like a red, white, and blue mullet


Roasting marshes and eating s'mores by the bucketload



Being engulfed by smoke = Fun

Maddie celebrated her 13th birthday and I died a little bit inside:


We went to Gardner Village, and it was closed. Sigh. So we went back the next day:


Maddie went on a 3-week trip with Grandma Browning and some cousins to Kentucky/Tenessee/Missouri, and our household got surprisingly peaceful. I had no idea she was causing most of the fighting. Huh. She had a good time, though:

(Maddie's in red)

One day we decided to go on a lovely picnic in the mountains. Since we were buying some KFC for my grandma anyway, we decided to get some for our picnic. Paul ordered two gallons of rootbeer. He was thinking of liters, but it turns out that gallons are much different than liters, volume-wise. After balking at our receipt which was $11 more than it should have been and being handed FOUR half-gallon jugs of rootbeer one by one, we realized the mistake. Uh, kids? Get ready for some serious rootbeer drinkin'.

Paul slipped his bird in this picture so I wouldn't be able to blog about his folly, but he didn't realize what little respect I have for my readers' sensibilities. The camera died immediately after taking this picture, which was just as well. The rest of the picnic went downhill from here. Summary: I insisted on going to Aspen Grove when Paul wanted Vivian Park, I didn't know you had to pay to get in, there were no available picnic tables, we sat on the stairs of the weedy amphitheater among gigantic ants, and Paul and I sat in angry silence as we watched the kids half-heartedly play. There's your picture.

We went to the Oquirrh Mtn. Temple open house:

Paul spoke freely in the designated area

I fell in love with the houses in Daybreak! They're like cute and quaint Sugarhouse houses, except huge and new. Oh, I love that neighborhood so much. But it was almost too perfect, ya know? Like Stepford Wives perfect. Some Daybreak:

There's a little house on a pole in the middle of that garden!
CUTE!

One morning Alex woke up with Kate Gosselin hair:

There's lots more stuff - Provo River canoeing and Bear Lake with my parents, Yuba with the Brownings, and barbecues, barbecues, barbecues. Lots of fun stuff. Whew. Now I'm tired. Maybe it should be over, after all. Time to work on my amazing school year montage.