Eli's heading to Oregon!

Kip called me the night of the 17th and invited Matt and I to go to the temple with Eli.  I was so touched that she invited us.  Matt was still up at girls camp so he couldn't come.  He wanted to go to the Draper temple.  It was nice because it was a very small session.  The spirit was so strong.  There was no doubt in my mind that Clay was there with us.  Eli has been called to the Oregon mission.  He leaves in August.  He will be such a great missionary!!!!

Brent, Becky, Eli, Kip and me

Eli joked that we could photo shop Matt into the picture and pretend that he was there. 

 I decided to not go up to the cabin on that Friday with the rest of the Richins family.  It was such a blessing because I was able to go to the temple with Eli and we were there for Eli's farewell.  All of our Minnesota friends came down for the farewell except Wendy.  It brought me to tears as I walked in the church and saw all of our Minnesota family.  It was so great to be together.  What a wonderful support we've been to each other.  They have been such a blessing to our lives.

We left for the cabin right after Eli's farewell lunch.  Matt was going to be able to say goodbye to Eli before he left but I would still be at the cabin.  So I had a tearful goodbye with Eli.  He's such a great kid!  I'm so proud of him!!!!

Great Times at Girls Camp

 Matt took off a week to go to girls camp.  He felt really strongly that he needed to be there.  It was right before the cabin so I didn't know if I could pull everything off.  But we decided that it was important to take our family up to girls camp and let them spend some time with Matt.  We went for a few days.  The leaders and girls couldn't have been nicer about our family being there.  We stayed in our camper and I felt so spoiled because everyone else was staying in tents.  They did have showers but they were ice cold.  We didn't have any hook ups for our camper so I did the ice cold showers.  They were freezing but I was so dirty it was worth it.  The boys had so much fun!!!!  Everyday was filled with activities.  The girls were so sweet to invite the boys to do everything that they did.  One day we had access to the obstacle course.  The boys were so brave and did everything they could.  Bridger got a big blister on him palm from the rope because he was determined to make it all the way across.  Chase loved the rope swing.  After swinging across a couple of times he decided to cook off so he purposely landed in the water.

 Every afternoon the girls would have "lake time."  Sophie practically lived in the lake because she loved fetching her ball in the water.  She would jump off the deck and swim out to her ball and then bring it back.  It was a great way to wear her out.  Sometimes the boys would swim out with her.  They had an awesome zip line that dropped you into the lake.  At first Bridger didn't want to do it but after seeing Matt and Chase do it, he decided to try it.  It looked scary to me but they are daredevils.  They loved it!!!!

Matt on the zip line.

Bridger dropping into the water from the zip line.

Chase dropping into the water from the zip line.  

 It rained and rained on us but luckily there were moments that it cleared up and we were still able to have lots of fun!  We had such a great time and it was wonderful getting to know the young women better.  I loved visiting with the leaders.  They are amazing women!!!1

Awesome Boys!

Bridger came down one morning dressing in the purple fuzzy socks and he has his ear phones in.  He was singing Imagine Dragon songs.  I called him my little hip hop buddy.  Then the other day he was running around the house with the red gloves on, shooting his bow and arrow.  He said he was being Robyn Hood.  I just love his imagination!  

Chase was given a reading BINGO card by his teacher on the last day of school.  Chase is trying to get black out by the end of the summer.  There are lots of different ideas of where to read.  One of them was in the bathtub.  Chase liked the one of reading under a tree.  I just love to see him reading.

Camping with some Great Friends!

A few of our neighbors organized a little camping trip (Okelberrys, Transtrums, and S. Anderson).  The Okelberrys reserved four campsites.  We were in a secluded area up the canyon.  It was so beautiful!!!  We went up Thursday afternoon.  The first day and a half it poured on us.  We cooked and ate our food in the rain.  By Friday, all of our stuff was soaked and I had run out of warm, dry clothes for the boys.  Plus I was freezing.  So I made a quick drive down the canyon and came back home for a warm shower and to pick up supplies.  The Okelberrys and Transtrums cooked dinner on Thursday night and on Friday night.  I've never had such delicious food camping!!!  The Okelberrys fixed cordon blue in the dutch oven with yummy cheesy potatoes.  Then we had a cobbler for dessert.  Then on Friday night, the Transtrums fixed ribs.  I'm normally not a rib person but they were incredible!!! The meat was so tender that it just fell off the bone.  They had coleslaw to go with it and then strawberry shortcake for dessert.  How awesome is that!!!  I feel like we got off easy because we had to fix breakfast one morning.  We did French toast with bacon and strawberries.  I felt compared to the dinners, my breakfast was inadequate!  It was so fun to spend some time with our friends.  We thoroughly enjoyed their company.  Belina brought up a funny jelly belly came that we played one night.  I laughed so hard my side hurt.  Every night we would sit around the campfire and roast marshmallows.  Belina brought up a sword or some kind of weapon for all the kids. So they created this fun game that kept their attention for three days.  It was so awesome!!!  Bridger loved camping with his best friend Brody.  I love the picture of Matt and Bridger sleeping.  I caught them taking a nap together and couldn't pass up the moment to capture it.  

Fun at the Water Park!

I love this picture of the boys.  I love how they have their arms around each other.  I love the big smiles on their faces.  Life is good!!!!

We hadn't been to the water park yet so we decided to take advantage of our passes and go for a couple of hours.  We had so much fun that we ended up staying for half the day.  We rented a couple of tubes so we could do more slides.  But the boys had the most fun playing in the wave pool!  I love what great buddies they are.  They have so much fun together!!!!

Marilyn's Retirement Party

 Marilyn's school district changed their policy and got rid of the majority of the librarians.  After much drama, Marilyn decided to retire one year ahead of schedule.  So mom put together a surprise party for Marilyn at a park.  She arranged for Marilyn's friend, Madge to bring her.  Marilyn was very surprised!!!!  She was touched by all the people that showed up to give their love and support to Marilyn.  We're excited for Marilyn to retire.

Even Nolan and Barbara came.  

Lagoon with Angie and the Girls

 Angie really wanted to take the boys to Lagoon with the girls so we worked it out for the boys to sleep over at Grandma A's house.  Unfortunately Matt and I had to work.  The boys had so much fun with Angie and the girls.  Angie let Bridger play a game and he chose a basketball one.  He mainly chose it because of the prize....an octopus hat.  Just what every kids wants.  But he is so happy with his silly hat.  Chase loved going on the bigger ride with the the girls.  Bridger isn't tall enough for a few rides.  But he loves to go on the other crazy rides like Wicked and The Fire Dragon.  The boys are both dare devils!!!

Angie was so sweet to meet me after work at the hospital.  Bridger fell asleep on the ride home.  He put his hat over his eyes so he could sleep.  It cracked us up!!!!  Thanks Angie for the great day!!!

July 4th BBQ

Mike's fire department was putting on a July 4th BBQ lunch fundraiser.  So the A's all met at the park for a yummy lunch.  We got mixed up on the time so we were a little late but it all worked out.  Once the boys had eaten their lunch, they went and played in the water.  The fire fighters put up the ladder and then spray all the kids with the hose.  The boys had so much fun running through the water!!!  

We've loved having Angie in town for a few weeks this summer.  Ashtyn and Mikayla are excited about going to EFY next week.  After the BBQ, most of us went to the movie Despicable Me 2.  Even Mike, Amy and Megan came with us.  Charlene was sick with a cold so she wasn't up for it.  The movie was so cute.  I loved listening to Matt and the boys laugh!  

 Later that night, we went over to Mom and Dad's. Their neighborhood was doing a little July 4th ice cream social.  We visited with their neighbors and then enjoyed a great firework show! The boys loved the sparklers!!!