Last weekend we went out to Yechats, a beach in Oregon, to hang out with Paul and Kari. We got to see some awesome rock/tide formations, play some fabulous Apples to Apples and Balderdash, and have a wonderfully relaxing time on the beach.
On July 25, Larry's sister, Sherry got married to Jeff (he's the tall one). It was a wonderful day with almost everyone in town for the big event. This is a picture of all of Larry's family with all the grandkids and almost all the spouses. Now 8 of the kids are married with 5 to go.
Here are the original Dickinsons!
With family in town, the cousins really got to have a lot of fun together. They went to Enchanted Village ( a small amusement park near us).
Derek and Dallin were best buds this summer. They would even hold hands and talk Star Wars.
While most of the adults were rafting, we had "Cousin Day" at my house with all the grandkids. They had a blast playing together and we had almost no conflicts. It was a fun day for the 15 cousins.
We spent three weeks in Utah, so these next ones are from June/early July. Larry took the kids to the Hill Air Force Base Aviation museum while I had a BYU roommate sleepover. The kids had a blast, and I don't think I've laughed that hard or stayed up till 2:30 for a very long time.
We visited Temple Square and the kids really enjoyed the Church History museum. They have a great kid's section there.
Derek built his own temple.
We took a tour of the Conference center.
We stayed at Paul and Kari's house and were able to go the the Orquirrh Mountain temple open house while we were there. I hope it helps the kids look forward to being in the temple again when they are older.
Miranda just LOVED Paul and Kari's Rex and Roxy. She even brought along Diamond- her favorite stuffed animal dog. Miranda was in heaven with all the pets she met while we stayed at people's houses.
Part of our trip involved two days at Lagoon. I could not believe what Miranda wanted to go on! She is so daring! The kids enjoyed Lagoona Beach, too- especially Derek.
Lindsey and Spencer loved this space ship ride and went on it about 12 times in a row.
We did a campus tour of BYU. I wish we would have began with the Bean Museum because the kids just loved it. We also got to ride in the golf cart around campus, get candy in the bookstore, and drag Jeff along for the ride.
One of the first things we did when we got to Utah was to go camping with my family. We went to a hot springs. Spencer just floated around for a couple hours while Derek did the waterslides over and over. I sat this day out with Kara on deck.
I just had to include this picture of Miranda with her clay cat she made. It is one of her most prized possessions now.
The first day that the kids were out of school, Larry started his Sabbatical. We celebrated by going to the beach. It was a lot of fun.
Here are all the Swansons! Where did all those kids come from??
Miranda and Kenadie sharing a chair at the campout.
Lindsey enjoying a bag a chips. The kids got to eat all sorts of junk food while we've been out and about...Here are a few more things we've done this summer...
1. Visited the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery and the Pioneer museum near La Grande- I highly recommend both!
2. Stayed overnight with Larry's cousin, Eric.
3. Stayed with my childhood friend, Lori- toured Idaho Falls, saw a muskrat, visted BYU-Idaho campus, saw the new Rexburg temple.
4. Watched the 4th of July fireworks on my parent's front lawn. Tried to light our own dinky fireworks- Derek's hand burned on a sparkler.
5. Celebrated my grandma's birthday on July 4th- saw the Hyrum parade and had a big family dinner.
6. Visted the Botellos- a family Larry helped convert on his mission. The kids loved their turtle, named Bubbles (she was fast!). We went the Spanish branch with them where the dad is the branch president. They are an AWESOME family.
7. Visted Cove Fort, took the tour. I found out that pioneer girls would save their hair that they cut and put it in a box to later use for their dolls- among other things...
8. Stayed up playing Killer Bunnies with Paul, Kari, Sherry, and Jeff- and heard about Sherry's job doing therapy at the prison (it takes a special kind of woman for that).
9. Had a roommate BBQ at Julie's house after the sleepover- very fun and yummy.
10. Went to the beach for the Dickinson reunion where 32? out of 36 of us got sick. But it was still fun adding ourselves to the throw-up list...
So what now??
Larry goes back to work on the 13th, so we are squeezing in a camping trip before then. We're also getting the lawn ready to seed (it was majorly destroyed during construction). We are planning a trip to Bend on the 21st, then Larry and I leave for a week in Mexico on the 29th- no kids! I think I will need a break by then!!
