We've had a great summer so far! Here's some things that we've been up to......
Hiked Mt Major on a hot day
It was Ollie's friend's first hike!
He made it!
Parker was so excited after the hike to jump in the water, he invited us all to swim at his house.
Tim baptized Teila Richards
We had a day at Lake Canobie
Record breaking heat
We spent most of the day at the waterpark, but ventured out for rides between swimming.
Ollie loves to play games
Aaron was in charge of a service project (one of 7) at the North Shore Stake Youth Conference.
He organized a new trail build between London Bridge and Castle Hill Rd.
The kids ate lunch and played around after the service at our house
Here was the whole crew!
Tim participated in a youth Orchestra that visited 2 nursing homes and played fun music for them.
It was really a really cool service and the residents were very grateful!
Our cactus in early summer bloom
Ollie and his buddy, Parker, jumping on the trampoline
We are grateful for our home
One thing I was proud of was that I cleaned out the kids backpacks right away after school ended, saved treasures like this picture AND immediately bought all the Fall supplies, washed their backpacks and packed them READY for the first day of school! I've never done that before. I feel so prepared :)
My summer goal is to take the kids hiking every week.
Cora and Ollie and I walked to the Man of the Mountain lookout, Artists Bluff and the Basin in one day.
Artists Bluff Loop (1.5 miles)
The Basin
On the way home, we took the scenic route and visited the Indian Head lookout
This was also the site of the Betty and Barney Hill Incident
Do you think they were abducted by aliens?
We visited the Christmas Store
Youth Conference Dance
After Youth Conference was over, we got to have the Kennedy brothers over after church.
They made a silly video with Aaron called "Big Booty Bartholomew" complete with costumes. :)
We enjoyed the beach at Plum Island
One of the cool things about Plum island is that the sand has purple sand streaks in places!
It's very cool to see
We swam at Gerdy's house one day - another HOT one.
Bryant's birthday is July 3rd. My parents and siblings always remember him before Independence Day.
Still miss you "Big B!"
Ollie got to have 3 one hour swim lessons in 3 days.
He's now able to swim out to the dock at the town beach all by himself!
The Relief Society (AKA: Me, Jeni Lloyd & Dahiana) were in charge of the annual 4th of July Breakfast
Jeni & her husband Eric, with the missionaries and Dahiana and I all blew up balloons and decorated like crazy the night before. I thought the breakfast turned out quite fun!
Here's our friends, John Westwood (Nate's husband) and Shelly Bursell (who I will tell you about later in the post)
We were invited by my friend's Nate& John to stay over at a vacation home they had rented near Mt. Washington in the Bretton Woods ski area.
The first cog railway in the world, built in 1866 is close by, which climbs to the top of Mt. Washington (the highest peak in the Northeast)
Nate Westwood
Allie and Sanchit and Salil came out for the fourth of July weekend.
Nate's invite was last minute, but perfect timing, because the house had plenty of beds for us all.
3 Miles to the top at 5 mph
Family Photo at the top
We had PB&J's and other snacks packed for the steep 5.5 mile hike down.
Everyone agreed that the first gorge looked like Lord of the Rings - striking, beautiful scenery!
At the bottom of the hike, gratefully! It was very steep.
The younger kids had a hard time the last half with shaking legs and a few falls, but we made it!
We visited the Omni Hotel together after the Cog Train Adventure.
Look at that porch!
The Shrivastava Family
We were sad to say goodbye to Salil when it was time to go
While Scott and Cora were at girls camp, the boys had some epic Minecraft time
Ollie and I went to the library for the Wildlife Encounters show
Turns out that it HURTS frogs for you to hold them. The oils in our skin burns their skin.
If you hold a frog, best with gloves or.....less than 5 seconds.
Cora really enjoyed girls camp!
Lisa Little even came up from Connecticut as a surprise!
Scarlett, Vanessa, Lucy and Cora
First year skit
The boys and I visited the Aviation Museum of NH which is only 15 minutes from our house, that we have nevertheless, never visited. It's like a one room museum with some interesting artifacts.
On the way home, we found a place that sells dry ice (very rare here!) and decided to make our own soda at home. There was no root beer extract at the grocery store. Guess they don't do that here. We decided to go New England style and make maple soda instead.
Our very dear friends, Shelly and Dave Bursell, moved to Utah. This was their farewell social at their home.
Dave fell 18 feet from a ladder just 2 months before (the day before their open house to sell the home) and shattered his heals and broke his back. It was a terrible, terrible injury. 2 months later, he defied the odds and was starting to get on his feet (with boots) the very day of the move.
Their move was full of unexpected and unwelcome surprises, the injury being the worst, and other disappointments during the move and travels....but they made it to UTAH!
Hammock Time
Tim was recommended deviated septum surgery 2 years ago.
We waited a bit, but with mission/college coming right up, decided now was the time!
He said he notices a definite difference in his being able to breathe out of the left side.
The surgeon said that the blockage was congenital and good that he did it now.
Cora performed in the ensemble of ANASTASIA
She looks forward to the Windham Actors Guild summer children's theatre performance every summer!
Anna and Cora: Besties
at Hampton Beach State Park
We decided to hike Lonesome Lake after Mt. Pemi was socked in with clouds.
It was a steep, but short 1.5 miles up.
I accidentally took a longer route back, but it was beautiful.....and full of bugs!
Probably took a 3 mile route back, which pushed us right up to Cora's rehearsal time.
Whoops! Beautiful hike though!
Lonesome Lake
Saturday Anastasia Performance
An evening game of HOTELS. Lasted a LONG time, but I ended up winning finally.
I took a spontaneous trip out to UTAH!
Dan picked me up at the airport and I got to spend a couple hours on Barley Way with Brad, Dan and Janet. Seth just entered the MTC one week before. Brad is headed out in August! It was fun to see them!
I had a real fun filled few days with the Parkers
Scott, Brooklynn, Adam and Melissa and I were treated to an AJR concert by Scott!
It was a blast!
Here we are eating Mexican before a float trip
It was good and filling!
Floating the Provo River
It was really hot out, but good thing because the water is frigid, so it's a perfect combo.
Numb bums and feet are quickly warm each time you get out. :)
Half Way Point!
You can to get out half way down to avoid a dangerous bridge.
Outlet was at Vivian Park. The whole trip was about an hour - was a great adventure!
G&G Parker treated us to a shuttle drive to make it a smooth trip.
We all met up at the cabin in Millcreek for the July 24th holiday
So fun to be up in this special place
Hummingbirds galore
So many butterflies
Family Photo 2025
Missing the Morgan kids, Scott and T.A.C.O, Nancy & Jackson Parker, but it was so fun to have Kent's whole family & Annika, the 4 siblings and Mom & Dad together
I got into Boston at 2:30 am and managed to make it for our Relief Society Temple morning at 9:30 am. It was really nice to see my dear friends and be in the temple together. Some of us had lunch at Mario's after - that's our tradition. :)
A family photo! Love when we catch one of these!
- thanks to Simeen Brown for taking the photo.
We got to spend an hour getting to know Simeen and her family from our stake. She and I connected that we had both lived in Aachen. She was there in the late 80's as a missionary for 6 months. We loved comparing notes on some of our favorite people there, like the Siebke's, and living in Aachen.
Such a fun place!
I forgot to get a photo, but we went yesterday to LIFETIME FITNESS with our friend, Crystal who got us a day pass. I got to attend two swanky yoga classes with her. The kids tried some different activities and we all swam. Fun day. Long ride home though! :) It's way down in Burlington
Today we visited the town beach after chores. Cora and Anna had a sleepover last night.
Ollie was able to swim to the dock and jump off, which was cool! He's one of the big kids now!
So that's HALF our summer! Four more weeks to go!!
Coming up......Band Camp & Young Men's Camp for Tim and Aaron......and Camp Calumet (cross country camp) for Tim
I'm also hoping to "sneak in" wisdom teeth extractions possibly for Tim and Aaron in there. Wish me luck!
