Summer Visitors and Activities

It's hard to believe that summer has come to an end! As I've been looking through photos from this summer I decided to condense a whole bunch of activities into one post, lest you get bored.

Here goes...

Early in June my good friend Kim came to visit for a bit from Indiana. We met Patrice for lunch and had a great visit. We missed Loretta who was our other pal in high school but didn't come to visit until later in the summer. It is so fun that we still see each other (usually at least once a year) and still consider each other our best friends. These ladies are wonderful!

Ryan's sister Traci and her family came to visit in June, so we had a Harper BBQ. It was so fun to get all of the Harper cousins together (of course we missed Mikkie!), they don't get to be together very often and they have such a great time together. I love the picture of Ryan and his brothers and sister.

We went to the zoo! It was HOT and we were dismayed to find out that our zoo no longer "carries" lions or hippos. Some of the new exhibits are neat though. I love the photo of Sophia consulting the zoo map as if she would be our tour guide (top left).

Olivia got to be in the Steel Days parade with her soccer club (Xtreme). Sophia and Coleman enjoyed the parade (and all the free candy) but were especially excited to see Liv.

Loretta and her cute kids came to visit from Alabama!  Patrice and her kids live in Davis County and we met at Loretta's parents house for a yummy lunch and let the kids play. Each of us has an oldest daughter (and they all wear glasses, they thought that was cool). The girls swapped Cinderella stories about all they had to do to help with the younger kids and around the house, so they wanted a picture with the babies on their hips (see bottom left). It was so fun to see them all! This day we missed Kim, who had returned to Indiana with her three kids. Between the four of us there are 14 children... amazing!

Our good friends the Reis' came from California to visit... we spent as much time as possible with them and went to the Scera pool and Discovery Park. Olivia and Madi and Brandon and Coleman would move in together if they could (and often plot how one of our families can move so we can live by each other). They are finally starting to grasp the concept of needing a job in order to live in a certain place, but we enjoy whatever visiting time we can with them.

Matt and his family came out from Connecticut for a couple of days and we met them and Lindsey and her boys and my mom at the This is The Place Heritage Park. I am sad that I didn't take any pictures of Matt's cute boys! They have a ton of activities there including pony rides, gold mining, a train ride, a barber shop (complete with a free shave) and a bunch of other "working" shops with people in period dress there to explain it all. My kids liked the mountain man and I liked the pharmacy full of natural remedies. We all liked the "saloon" that sold ice cream. One of my kids asked if all saloons sold ice cream back then :).

This year some of the descendants of Sophia Mason Crook (who my Sophia was named after) decided to add a marker in the Payson City Cemetery for her. She is buried somewhere in Davis County (where she died) but as most of her descendants settled in Payson they felt it appropriate to put it there. She was a remarkable woman of great faith and determination. We went down with Grandma Cole to see the marker and after wandering the cemetery for what seemed like hours, we found it! Maps and coordinates in that cemetery seemed to be helpful at the entry gate, but when we got into the cemetery we got all turned around. It was still fun to be with Grandma and enjoy a cold ice cream cone with her after we were done at the cemetery. She is a great lady and I feel blessed to have such a close relationship with her.

We had a full, fun summer... but alas, it is time to get back into the groove of school.

**What are your summer highlights?